Racial/Ethnic Context and Public Policies in the States of the U.S. (2000-2018)

• In Event: Local Political Context and Representation

Abstract

The U.S. is a racially/ethnically diverse country, and race has been a major feature of the country’s history and politics. Yet the fifty (50) states of the U.S. differ considerably in the extent and the particular configurations of that racial diversity. Because of the federal structure of the political system, and the related formal political authority granted to the states, the degree and nature of diversity is likely, and has been shown to, have important impacts on public policies across the states.
This paper examines the impact of varied and evolving racial/ethnic diversity, particularly the size of the Black/African American, Latina/Hispanic, and Asian population contexts on states’ politics – especially public policy outcomes, during the period 2000 to 2018. The (sub)policies) considered include (dis)parity patterns of the racial/ethnic groups with regard to dimensions of Education policy -- such as high school graduation, and assignment to ‘gifted’ classes, and suspension -- in the States.
Presenting an array of evidence with visual scatterplots (with state labels noted), and regression analyses, the paper demonstrates overall and consistent inequality or disparate outcomes for Blacks and Latinos, yet complexity of policy outcomes as they affect the several racial/ethnic groups (especially Blacks, and to a lesser degree, Latinos). At the same time, the findings underscore the significance of accounting for the differences in (a) specific policy areas and, relatedly, (b) important differences when examining the evidence from White or an absolute/aggregate (or ‘color blind’) outcomes juxtaposed to relative/disaggregated data, carefully considering differential policy outcomes by racial group(s).

Authors

• Rodney E. Hero, Arizona State University

• Robert R. Preuhs, Metropolitan State University of Denver