Opinion on Rights

1
Opinion on Rights

• GOVT311 Lecture 18

2
Census 2000 Facts

• Median Income (1999)
• Male, full-time, year-round workers 38,349
• Female, full-time, year-round workers 28,135
• Median Family Income (1999)
• White Only Household 53,356
• Black Only Household 33,255
• American-Indian Only Household 33,144
• Asian Only Household 59,324
• Two or more races Household 39,432
• Hispanic Household 34,397

3
Sapiros Gender Framework

• Can divide issues that divide men and women into
  three categories
• Genetics
• Roles and Norms
• Life Situations
• Can this framework be applied to Race and Sexual
  Orientation?

4
Race

• Genetics correspond to the outer color line
  and Inner color line.
• Outer color line Agreement Whites and Blacks
  should attend the same school, live in the same
  neighborhoods if they want to, etc.
• Inner color line We remain a very divided
  society on issues of personal relationships,
  church attendance, etc.
• Roles and Norms correspond to the intermediate
  color line.
• Distinct divide between Blacks and Whites on
  issues of how to achieve equality
• Life Situation Issues that dont fall in the
  color lines, but are race blind with disparate
  impact on races.
• Welfare, unemployment insurance, crime, etc.

5
Explaining Ethnic Conflict

• Racism Members of one race hold that other races
  are inferior. Fits well with the genetics
  argument.
• Group Conflict Groups (races) compete for scarce
  resources. Group on top wants to maintain
  relative position. Fits well with V.O. Keys
  white backlash hypothesis racial tensions are
  at their highest when races are near parity in
  numbers. Fits well with Roles and Expectations.
• Politics-Centered Approach Fits well with the
  Life Situation argument race-conscious
  politics are the manifestations of partisan
  politics.

6
Issues of Sexual Orientation

• Lets use the Sapiro framework again
• Genetics
• Norms and Roles
• Life Situations

7
Is sexual orientation a matter of genetics?

• Medical research is now underway that is
  providing some evidence that homosexuality is
  fixed at birth
• Framing the issue is vitally important
• We have seen that American society is generally
  tolerant on issues that divide peoples simply
  because of their genetics
• If a gay lifestyle falls into the culture of
  norms and roles then people are more likely to
  be intolerant of a gay lifestyle.

8
Framing matters

• Those that view homosexuality as a matter of
  genetics are more supportive of gay rights
• The percentage of people who believe that
  homosexuality is a matter of genetics has risen
  from 13 in 1997 to 40 in 2001. Number of
  people who know someone who is gay has increased
  from 24 in 1985 to 74 in 2000.
• Support for gay rights are found among younger
  people, females, people who know someone who is
  gay. Not found among those with frequent
  Protestant church attendance, Hispanics, and
  married people
• Similarly, over the past decade, there have been
  striking changes in public opinion towards
  tolerance of gays in the military, allowing gay
  couples to adopt, anti-discrimination laws, that
  gay sex is simply wrong

9
Abortion

• Abortion is perhaps the most polarizing issue in
  American politics. Democrats generally favor
  Choice while Republicans generally favor Life.
• Represents a wedge issue in that often a
  candidates personal viewpoint does not match the
  Party. Also, Republicans tend to be more divided
  on abortion than Democrats, as the Christian
  Right has a strict pro-Life strategy.

10
The pattern of abortion opinion

• Although the two-sides are polarized, the swing
  group of Americans take a middle-ground approach
  to abortion, favoring abortion with some
  restrictions. This is the approach of the Supreme
  Court. Favor Abortion in circumstance
• Mothers health 89
• Defect 80
• Rape 82
• Poverty 44
• Single 43
• Married 43

11
Opinion Stability on Abortion

• In the aggregate, there has been remarkable
  stability in abortion opinions over time.
• At the individual level, we have seen movement,
  with Democrats generally becoming more
  supportive, while Republicans have become less
  supportive.
• Undoubtedly, these trends play into the regional
  realignment occurring in the United States,
  though Wilcox and Norrander (who wrote this
  chapter in their book) do not break out the
  individual opinions in this way.