Legislative responsiveness under description representation, even at the local level, is often conceptualized as how elites act on or comply with the requests or preferences of minority constituents. In this article, I look at and evaluate a neglected but important dimension of responsiveness. Specifically, I investigate the impact of race on the verbal responses that legislators provide to constituents who speak at local public meetings. Through an analysis of data collected from city council minutes and direct observations of council meetings, I find a lack of evidence for the independent effect of race on legislative responsiveness in these meetings. However, I do find that the impact of race is conditional on the statements expressed by constituents.
BenjaminAndrea. 2017. “Coethnic Endorsements, Out-Group Candidate Preferences, and Perceptions in Local Elections.”Urban Affairs Review53 (4): 631–57.
2.
BodenhausenGalen V.KramerGeoffrey P.SüsserKarin. 1994. “Happiness and Stereotypic Thinking in Social Judgment.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology66 (4): 621–32.
3.
BodenhausenGalen V.MerylLichtenstein. 1987. “Social Stereotypes and Information Processing Strategies: The Impact of Task Complexity.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology52 (5): 871–80.
4.
BrattonKathleen A.HaynieKerry L.1999. “Agenda Setting and Legislative Success in State Legislatures: The Effects of Gender and Race.”The Journal of Politics61 (3): 658–79.
5.
BrowningRufus P.MarshallDale R.TabbDavid H.1984. Protest Is Not Enough: The Struggle of Blacks and Hispanics for Equality in Urban Politics. Berkeley: Univ. of California Press.
6.
ButlerDaniel M.BroockmanDavid E.2011. “Do Politicians Racially Discriminate Against Constituents? A Field Experiment on State Legislators.”American Journal of Political Science55 (3): 463–77.
7.
CainBruceFerejohnJohnFiorinaMorris. 1987. The Personal Vote: Constituency Service and Electoral Independence. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.
8.
CanonDavid. 1999. Race, Redistricting, and Representation: The Unintended Consequences of Black Majority Districts. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
9.
CheckowayBarry. 1981. “The Politics of Public Hearings.”Journal of Applied Behavioral Science17 (4): 566–82.
10.
CobbMichael D.JenkinsJeffery A.2001. “Race and the Representation of Blacks’ Interests During Reconstruction.”Political Research Quarterly54 (1): 181–204.
11.
ColeRichard L.CaputoDavid A.1984. “The Public Hearing as an Effective Citizen Participation Mechanism: A Case Study of the General Revenue Sharing Program.”American Political Science Review78 (2): 494–16.
12.
ConversePhilip E.1987. “Changing Conceptions of Public Opinion in the Political Process.”Public Opinion Quarterly51 (2): S12–24.
13.
Council Member from City B. 2014. Interview with Bai Linh Hoang, May22.
14.
DeFleurMelvin L.WestieFrank R.1958. “Verbal Attitudes and Overt Acts: An Experiment on the Salience of Attitudes.”American Sociological Review23 (6): 667–73.
15.
EinsteinKatherine L.GlickDavid M.2017. “Does Race Affect Access to Government Services? An Experiment Exploring Street-Level Bureaucrats and Access to Public Housing.”American Journal of Political Science61 (1): 100–16.
16.
FazioRussell H.JacksonJoni R.DuntonBridget C.WilliamsCarol J.1995. “Variability in Automatic Activation as an Unobtrusive Measure of Racial Attitudes: A Bona Fide Pipeline?”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology69 (6): 1013–27.
17.
FrymerPaul. 1999. Uneasy Alliances: Race and Party Competition in America. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.
18.
GroseChristian R.MaruiceMangumChristopherMartin. 2007. “Race, Political Empowerment and Constituency Service: Descriptive Representation and the Hiring of African American Congressional Staff.”Polity39 (4): 449–78.
19.
HallRichard L.1996. Participation in Congress. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
20.
HutchingsVincent L.2009. “Change or More of the Same? Evaluating Racial Attitudes in the Obama Era.”Public Opinion Quarterly73 (5): 917–42.
21.
KinderDonald R.SandersLynn M.1996. Divided by Color: Racial Politics and Democratic Ideals. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
22.
KoopRoyce. 2016. “Institutional-and Individual-Level Influences on Service Representation and Casework in Canadian Cities.”Urban Affairs Review52 (5): 808–31.
23.
KrysanMariaCouperMick P.2003. “Race in the Live and the Virtual Interview: Racial Deference, Social Desirability, and Activation Effects in Attitude Surveys.”Social Psychology Quarterly66 (4): 364–83.
24.
KutnerBernardWilkinsCarolYarrowPenny R.1952. “Verbal Attitudes and Overt Behavior Involving Racial Prejudice.”The Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology47 (3): 649–52.
25.
LambertAlan J.CronenStephanieChasteenAlison L.LickelBrian. 1996. “Private vs Public Expressions of Racial Prejudice.”Journal of Experimental Social Psychology32 (5): 437–59.
26.
LaPiereRichard T.1934. “Attitudes vs. Actions.”Social Forces13 (2): 230–37.
27.
LinnLawrence S.1965. “Verbal Attitudes and Overt Behavior: A Study of Racial Discrimination.”Social Forces43 (3): 353–64.
28.
MarschallMelissaShahParu R.2007. “The Attitudinal Effects of Minority Incorporation: Examining the Racial Dimensions of Trust in Urban America.”Urban Affairs Review42 (5): 629–58.
29.
MayhewDavid R.1974. Congress: The Electoral Connection. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press.
30.
McConahayJohn B.HardeeBetty B.BattsValerie. 1981. “Has Racism Declined in America? It Depends on Who Is Asking and What Is Asked.”Journal of Conflict Resolution25 (4): 563–79.
31.
McHughMary L.2012. “Interrater Reliability: The Kappa Statistic.”Biochemia Medica22 (3): 276–82.
32.
MintaMichael D.2009. “Legislative Oversight and the Substantive Representation of Black and Latino Interests in Congress.”Legislative Studies Quarterly34 (2): 193–218.
PageBenjamin I.ShapiroRobert Y.1983. “Effects of Public Opinion on Policy.”American Political Science Review77 (1): 175–90.
36.
PageBenjamin I.ShapiroRobert Y.2000. Politicians Don’t Pander: Political Manipulation and the Loss of Democratic Responsiveness. Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press.
37.
ParkerGlenn R.DavidsonRoger H.1979. “Why Do Americans Love Their Congressmen So Much More than Their Congress?”Legislative Studies Quarterly4 (1): 53–61.
38.
PlantE. AshbyDevinePatricia G.1998. “Internal and External Motivation to Respond Without Prejudice.”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology75 (3): 811–32.
39.
PreuhsRobert R.2006. “The Conditional Effects of Minority Descriptive Representation: Black Legislators and Policy Influence in the American States.”The Journal of Politics68 (3): 585–99.
40.
PreuhsRobert R.2007. “Descriptive Representation as a Mechanism to Mitigate Policy Backlash: Latino Incorporation and Welfare Policy in the American States.”Political Research Quarterly60 (2): 277–92.
41.
RichardsonLilliard E.FreemanPatricia K.1995. “Gender Differences in Constituency Service Among State Legislators.”Political Research Quarterly48 (1): 169–79.
42.
Stephens-DouganLaFleur. 2016. “Priming Racial Resentment Without Stereotypic Cues.”The Journal of Politics78 (3): 687–704.
43.
TateKatherine. 1994. From Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Elections. Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Press.
44.
TateKatherine. 2003. Black Faces in the Mirror. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press.
45.
VerbaSidneyNieNorman H.1972. Participation in America: Social Equality and Political Democracy. New York: Harper & Row.
46.
WhitbyKenny J.1997. The Color of Representation. Ann Arbor: Univ. of Michigan Press.
47.
WhitbyKenny J.KrauseGeorge A.2001. “Race, Issue Heterogeneity and Public Policy: The Republican Revolution in the 104th US Congress and the Representation of African-American Policy Interests.”British Journal of Political Science31 (3): 555–72.
48.
WhiteAriel R.NathanNoah L.FallerJulie K.2015. “What Do I Need to Vote? Bureaucratic Discretion and Discrimination by Local Election Officials.”American Political Science Review109 (1): 129–42.
49.
WilliamsonAnne R.ScicchitanoMichael J.2014. “Dimensions of Public Meeting Participation: Evidence from Florida’s Truth-in-Millage Act.”Urban Affairs Review50 (1): 134–46.
