This Home Page is the public interface for the Fall University of Virginia Department of Politics courses Race and Gender in US Politics, PLAP334 and PLAP534, taught by Prof. Lynn Sanders. Students enrolled in these courses will find information about assignments and additional materials at the course page in UVaCollab. Members of the University of Virginia community who want to follow along this fun-filled fall will find here some active links to public domain materials and to other websites. Feel free to explore.

Why study race and gender together? In political discussions such as those that were rife during the Democratic primary in 2008, race and gender are often treated as analogous: as similar or comparable ways of being different. That is, a black (or biracial) candidate and a female candidate were both considered different from the more familiar white male contender for the Presidency. But each was supposed to be different in a similar way. The challenges that Clinton faced were treated as comparable to those Obama encountered.

This race/gender analogy makes sense in many ways. Women and racial minorities in the United States share similar histories of oppression and civil rights successes. But in fact, in many ways race and gender are not equivalent. For example, most people today think that gender differences are to some extent natural, while racial differences are based in social conventions, not nature.

Our purpose in this course is to examine the degree to which the analogy makes sense and when it doesn't. How much do American women and racial minorities share in their approaches to political life and as the focus of public policy? Does the American political system (broadly construed, to include not only government but also institutions like the media and political parties) treat members of these groups the same way? Or are race and gender incomparable forms of difference? Our course will answer these questions.