Readings for Sociology 43402

Population Dynamics

Spring 2021 [Course Completed]

NOTE: Readings will usually be posted at least a week or two in advance.  If you want to get a feel for what is coming, you can check out the Spring 2020 Reading List.  Readings this year will be similar, with some additions and deletions.

 

Links to Each Section:  [Free ND Access] [Historical Overview] [Environment/Food] [Fertility Concepts & Trends] [Birth Cohorts] [Fertility Issues 1] [Fertility Issues 2] [Fertility Issues 3] [Gender Roles] [Demographics] [Marriage] [Health] [Poverty & Wealth] [Race] [Migration] [The Future]

Free Notre Dame Access

I try to provide most articles as PDF's, but some things are much better viewed online (when I do provide a PDF I usually include a link to the original source). As a Notre Dame student, you can get

Part I of Course:

Historical Overview (Ready)

Discussion Qs:

1. Historically, how fast has world population grown?  The population has not grown evenly across time -- what are some of the historical factors that have caused the pace of population growth to change?  Historically, what role has medical technology played in population growth?

2. What causes fertility to go down?  When mortality first starts to go down, what group typically benefits the most?

3. What are some of the major ways in which world population today is different than it was 50 to 100 years ago?

You can skim Chapter 1 ("Introduction") and Chapter 2 ("Demographic Data") of Lundquist. They will give you a brief overview of what demography is about and where data comes from. All of Lundquist is very good but this readings page will tell you what parts you should pay especially close attention to.

Are more people alive now than have even been dead?  Carl Haub gives the answer in How many people have ever lived on Earth?

What happens to the age structure of a population when mortality first starts to go down?  Ansley Coale's answer may surprise you in How a population ages or grows younger.

The US population hit 300 million in 2006.  The Census Bureau helps place that in perspective by comparing the US when it hit 300 million, 200 million and 100 million.

[Optional]  Here is a  March 2018 update on Haub's estimates. If you want to know what things will be like in the next life, fivethirtyeight recasts Carl Haub's arguments and asks What are the Demographics of Heaven?

[Optional]  The Population Reference Bureau provides a brief overview of many topics we will be covering in the January 2021 Population: An Introduction to Demography.


Population, Resources, Environment and Food (Ready)

Discussion Qs:

1. What are the causes and consequences of population growth?  Besides growth, how important is over-consumption of resources? What are the (real or alleged) effects of climate change today? Why are many people skeptical about the threats of global warming?

2. How are problems like global warming related, or not related, to population growth? Is over-population the problem or over-consumption?

3. People like Thomas Malthus, Julian Simon, Frances Moore Lappe, and Karl Marx have radically different perspectives on population issues.  Make sure you understand their most critical arguments, and think about the evidence that seems to either support or refute their positions.

4. Ross Douthat, Bjorn Lomborg and others agree that global warming is human-made and real but still argue against many of the most prominent proposals for combating it. What arguments support and oppose the conservative case against climate legislation? What conservative solutions are there?

Section I: Overview & Background

Lundquist's chapter 3, "Population Growth," is very good. You can skim or skip most of it but pay particular attention to her discussion of The Demographic Transition (pp. 56-60) and her discussion of Marx and Malthus (pp. 68-70). Here is a scanned copy of the chapter in case your text has not arrived yet. (Sorry, this is the only scanned chapter I have.)

The New York Times explains why the predicted horrors of The Population Bomb haven't materialized (at least not yet). Here is the 13 minute video (which I will either show in class or have you view on your own) that goes with the article.

Time and ABC News explain why blizzards and global warming go together. Fox News reviews other perspectives.

Believe it or not, in much of the US, extreme cold is becoming more rare. XKCD Comics nicely summarized what is going on.

Section 2: Global Warming and Climate Change

You will watch excerpts from An Inconvenient Truth outside of class and then we will discuss it.. (Normally I show it in class but Zoom is too unreliable for long videos. You can watch the whole thing if you want whenever it is convenient.) The Chapter Guide indicates which sections you can skip if you want to.

Skeptical Science examines the errors in in An Inconvenient Truth. Dartmouth physicist Marcelo Gleiser says that after 10 years, An Inconvenient Truth is still inconvenient.

In 2006 climatecrisis.net warned that if global warming continues, the consequences will be catastrophic. Paul Krugman says that Apocalypse is becoming the new normal. The United States military broke from its commander in chief in 2018 and said Climate Change Endangers National Security. Lyndsay Abrams lists 4 myths that climate deniers can now turn to.

So why isn't there greater concern? PATRICK J. EGAN and MEGAN MULLIN warn that people may not be too worried because Global Warming feels quite pleasant -- but only in the short run.

Section 3: Theoretical Perspectives and Policy Proposals

Your text summarizes the Malthusian perspective, but there are several other perspectives worth knowing. "Adding more people causes problems, but people are also the means to solve these problems."  So argued Julian Simon in his famous 1981 essay on World Population Growth: An Anti-Doomsday view.   Nearly forty years later David Von Drehle echoed Simon and warned Don't Fall for the Doomsday Predictions. Frances Moore Lappe's Food First perspective seems to agree with much of what Marx said about population issues and presents these 10 Myths about World Hunger. The 19th Century Irish Potato Famine and today's Global Farmland Rush might seem to support Lappe's arguments.

Bjorn Lomborg has been one of the leading skeptics on climate change.  In 2009, he surprised people when he said the evidence on global warming was unequivocal -- but he says current proposals are misguided and we have to find cheaper and more effective ways to deal with the problem. Ross Douthat and David Leonhart debate the conservative case against climate legislation. Former Secretary of State George Schultz and Ted Halstead say There is a Winning Conservative Climate Solution. In Greta versus the Greedy Grifters, Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman makes a scathing left-wing attack against Trump administration policies but also complements some of the arguments made by Schultz and Halstead.

[Optional]  An Inconvenient Sequel is also available for viewing. I don't like it as much as the original but it has some more current statistics and developments.

[Optional]  The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says 2020 was the 2nd hottest year ever. In December 2020 a study showed that a Hotter Planet is already posing fatal risks. In late 2020 The NY Times graphically displayed how Earth is Burning. The water supply for millions of people is being threatened by vanishing glaciers. Neil Irwin warns that Climate Change is going to have a Giant Impact on the Economy. A 2019 report says Climate Change is Ravaging the Arctic.  A November 2019 UN report says drastic action is only way to avoid worst effects of climate change. Extremely cold weather and power blackouts in in February 2021 raised concerns that Climate Change Means Trouble for Power Grids. (These articles are all from 2019 and later. I could come up with numerous more articles like these, but you can no doubt find them too if you want.)  Despite all that, in December 2020 Al Gore explained why he had Hope for the Future.

[Optional]  NASA says that the Scientific evidence for warming of the climate system is unequivocal and that Human activity is almost certainly responsible. NASA's web pages offer a lot of other information if you want it.

[Optional]  In May 2019, Iman Ghosh presented all the world's carbon emissions in one chart.

[Optional]  Amazon Prime has An Inconvenient Truth and An Inconvenient Sequel if you want to buy or rent them.  Other places have them too.

[Optional]  Paul Krugman says that Australia shows us the road to hell -- and that the political reaction is even scarier than the fires. In 2020 Australia's former prime minister claims that Bushfires Show the Wicked, Self-Destructive Idiocy of Climate Denialism Must Stop.

[Optional]  If you are interested, The New York Times can tell you How Much Hotter Is Your Hometown Than When You Were Born?

[Optional]  In this interactive article, the NY Times shows that 2019 Was the Second-Hottest Year Ever, Closing Out the Warmest Decade.

[Optional]  Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is Time's 2019 Person of the Year. Steven Stromberg explains why the baby boomers' grandchildren will hate them.

[Optional]  Do you wear clothes? Then you are part of the problem, says Elizabeth Cline (who notes that making, washing, and tossing apparel has a big environmental cost.).

[Optional]  Recycling is one way to have guilt-free consumption, right? Not according to Tala Schlossberg and Nayeema Raza, who claim The greatest trick companies ever played was making us think we could recycle their products. Here is their 5 minute video (which I may show in class if I have time).

[Optional]  The Washington Post offers 11 Policy Ideas to Protect the Planet. Francisco Toro says climate politics is a dead end, and we should turn to geoengineering instead. More details on the Shultz/ Halstead Carbon Pricing Plan are in their report The Pricing Advantage.

[Optional]  Donald Trump says he doesn't believe in man-made climate change. A November 2017 US government report disagrees.  The NY Times Editorial Board says Trump Imperils the Planet. Here is a more detailed discussion of the (sometimes very contradictory) things Donald Trump has said about climate change.

[Optional]  David Leonhart says the biggest story of 2018 was climate change.

[Optional]  Sixteen concerned scientists said there is no need to panic about global warming. Yale Professor William Nordquist offers a detailed response and explains  why he thinks the global warming skeptics are wrong.

[Optional]  2016 was the hottest year on Earth since record-keeping began -- in fact it may have been the hottest it has been in 125,000 years. 2012 was the hottest year ever in the US., leading Bryan Walsh to ask Now do you believe in global warming?

[Optional]   In January 2014 Chris Mooney once again made the argument that Winter does not disprove Global Warming.

[Optional]  Phil Plait noted in January 2014 that almost all peer reviewed articles support global warming.

[Optional] Your text summarizes the Malthusian perspective - but if you want to read the original, here is what Malthus himself had to say in An essay on the principle of population. Twenty-five years after Simon, Business Week writer Michael Mandel made similar arguments in What it means to hit 300 million. Thirty years later Charles Kenny basically updated Simon's argument and claimed the bulge in youth worldwide makes a case for optimism. Frances Moore Lappe sees some hope for the Global Food Movement. A group of conservationists says we should go nuclear to save the whales and the rest of the Earth as well. (Nuclear power, that is.)  The NY Times reviews Bjorn Lomborg's 2020 book, FALSE ALARM: How Climate Change Panic Costs Us Trillions, Hurts the Poor, and Fails to Fix the Planet

[Optional] George Will takes issue with the doomsayers, and raises these Inconvenient Kyoto Truths.  Robert Samuelson says there is a dirty secret about global warming - Any realistic response would be costly, uncertain and no doubt unpopular. That's one truth too inconvenient for almost anyone to admit. Four former heads of the Environmental Protection Agency make A Republican Case for Climate Action.

[Optional] Nicholas Kristof claims that optimal use of this miracle elixir  would save 800,000 children's lives a year in developing countries - breast milk. But Zuzana Boesmova warns Breast Milk is only Free if we think Women's time is worthless.

[Optional] Mei Fong contends that China's one-child policy led to forced abortions and 30 million batchelors - and now today China isn't having enough babies and it's birthrate is even lower than it was before the one-child policy ended. Japan isn't having enough babies either, says Catherine Rampell, and this Demographic Time Bomb could eventually hit America too.

 

 

Fertility Concepts and Trends (Part 1) (Ready)

Discussion Qs:

1. What is the average number of children a woman would have, if she did everything she could to maximize her fertility?

2. True or false: Contraception is the main reason women have far fewer children than their biological capacity.  Why? [NOTE: Lundquist discusses this a lot.  See, in particular, the discussion of Davis and Blake's work on the proximate determinants of fertility.]

3. According to Bongaarts, what percentage of couples will manage to be completely successful in achieving their exact family building goals?  What are the unplanned events that make success so difficult?

So, you know exactly how many kids you want, and when, right?  It may be a lot harder than you think, explains John Bongaarts in Building a Family: Unplanned Events.

Even societies that make no effort to limit their fertility have far fewer births than is biologically possible.  John Bongaarts helps us out again by explaining Why high birth rates are so low.

Lundquist's chapter on Fertility has a lot of additional important information. Pp. 244-258 (Starting with "explaining cohort fertility" through "gestation variables") are especially helpful.

[Optional] How many babies can fit inside a pregnant woman?  Slate gives the answer in Womb for More.

 

Birth Cohorts (Part 2) (Ready)

Discussion Qs:

4. Malcolm Gladwell talks about "demographic luck." Explain what he means.  Think about how historical and demographic circumstances have affected various birth cohorts, and how birth cohorts, in turn, have affected the rest of society.  Related to this, why is it that a group born during the depression came to be called the "good times" cohort?  What was the "baby boom", what caused it, and what impact has it had?  What have later birth cohorts, e.g. Millennials, Generation Z, been affected by, and what effect are they having on society?  Some specific things to think about:

            *     What effect, if any, the relative size of the cohort has had on it and the rest of society

            *     The economic and social circumstances the cohort has faced (or will face) as it moves through the life cycle (i.e. from infancy to old age).  In what ways has the cohort been relatively advantaged or disadvantaged?

            *     Some of the unique historical events that have been important for shaping the cohort

            *     What do you think are some of the demographic, social, political, and cultural factors/events that will continue to influence you and/or that you will still remember 20, 30, 40 years from now? Baby Boomers may talk about things like Vietnam, the assassinations of JFK/RFK/MLK, the Beatles and music from the 1960s, Watergate, Joe Namath and Super Bowl III, the 1969 New York Mets, etc. For several previous years 9/11 has been an obvious choice (but do you even have any memories of it?). What else comes to mind?

NOTE: I wouldn't expect you to give extremely detailed answers for every question for every cohort. But an exam question might ask you to go over some of these questions for at least two of the cohorts.

5. There has been a lot of discussion lately about how Generations are in conflict -- in particular, the Baby Boomers are supposedly at war with everybody else. What are these conflicts about? What do you think about them?

6. [Optional but highly recommended; see the optional readings. This could show up as an optional question on the exam.] In her 2016 ASA Presidential Address, Ruth Milkman discusses Millennials and the post-2008 wave of protest. Explain why and how Millennials are different politically from previous generations. Then go over the key details of one of the social movements she discusses.

Chapter 4 of your text ("Age and Sex Structure") has a lot of relevant material. Pay particular attention to the sections on "Problems of young populations" and "Problems of old populations." Useful material on specific birth cohorts (e.g. the Baby Boomers) is scattered throughout the text and I will add more material in class.

Phillip Bump gives his definitions of  where each generation begins and ends.

They were born in the 1930s during the heart of the depression and they grew up during WWII - and they are called the "Good Times Cohort???" Carl Harter explains why. And in this excerpt from the best-selling book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell talks about how Demographic Luck benefited the 1930s generation.

Newsweek sized up the Baby Boomers as they approached 60. Sophia A. McClennen says Millenials are a generation in crisis and it isn't all in their heads. Next up is Generation Z. (That's you.) The Huffington Post claims (perhaps prematurely?) that these are 8 key differences between Generation Z and Millennials.

Not everyone loves your instructor's generation as much as they should. Bruce Gibney explains How the Baby Boomers Destroyed Everything. Kate Heller says 2019 was the year of "OK Boomer" and the Generations were at each other's throats. But don't worry; the Boomers can't hang on forever. Charlotte Alter tells us what the millennials will bring next.

[Optional-Video] Music is an important part of every generation. Audience member Robin Lynn recounts what it is like to be forever immortalized as a 15 year old screaming girl when the Beatles came to America and performed All My Loving. Nobody knew it at the time, but a future rock superstar was on that show too. A quarter-century later, Madonna signed a multi-million dollar deal with Pepsi - only to have it canceled a few days later after her Like a Prayer video appeared. As for your generation, probably no performer has been as influential or as widely imitated as this artist - although some claim that the performances by Stephen Colbert and the Cast of Glee outdid her. Of course, for Baby Boomers, nothing will ever surpass Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan's Original Version.

[Optional] Every year, Beloit College distributes to its faculty and staff the Beloit College Mindset List, which identifies some facts of life that distinguish this generation from those that preceded it. One of its primary purposes has been an attempt to slow the onset of "hardening of the references" experienced by some faculty. Here is what it had to say a few years ago about the classes of 2020, 2021, and 2022. If interested, you can check out Beloit mindsets for other years here.

[Optional] The hate continues as Joel Kotkin asks Are Baby Boomers turning out to  be the worst generation? Bruce Gibney piles on and further explains why Millennials are better than Baby Boomers. Whether you like or dislike "OK Boomer," Lindsey Pollak says you should instead Do Something About it. A 2010 Pew Research Center Report says that Millennials are confident, connected and open to change.

[Optional] Bump (above) had a pretty good take on where each generation begins and end. But back in 2014 he wasn't quite sure what to make of your generation yet. By 2019 the Pew Foundation had a better take on Where Millennials end and Generation Z begins.

[Optional] In her 2016 ASA Presidential Address, Ruth Milkman examines A New Political Generation: Millennials and the Post-2008 Wave of Protest. (You can skim or skip the first 5 pages.) This is an excellent article; don't be surprised if the exam has an optional question on it.

[Optional] Some fear that students are much more needy than they used to be. Daniel Gross offers his thoughts about the It-Sucks-To-Be-Me Generation. But Alex Hendersen counters with 10 reasons Millennials are screwed. Millenials have been called spoiled slackers -- but Stephen Rattner says we are being too hard on them. Age discrimination may be hurting both Baby Boomers and Millennials. Alex Williams explains how you can spot a member of Generation Z. Saturday Night Live gives its take on intergenerational warfare in Millennial Millions.

[Optional] Richard Perez-Perena says there really isn't a baby boomer generation, since the early boomers and the later boomers have little in common.

[Optional] Are today's kids overindulged?  Amy Chua, author of Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, criticizes Western parenting practices and explains Why Chinese Mothers are Superior. But former Harvard President Larry Summers points out that Mary Gates and Karen Zuckerberg weren't tiger moms. Time looks at the firestorm touched off by Amy Chau's book and asks Is tough parenting really the answer? As far as David Brooks is concerned, Amy Chua is a wimp.

[Optional] The low fertility of the Good Times Cohort is nothing compared to what is happening in Japan - causing UT-Austin's John Traphagan to ask is Japan is facing death by demographics? Jonathan Last argues that America's Baby Bust is a serious cause for concern and we need to start having more children.

 

Fertility Issues Part 1: Teenage Sex and Unwed Pregnancy (Ready)

Discussion Qs:

1. To what extent are teenage pregnancy and unwed pregnancy problems, and why?  What are the reasons teenagers don't use contraception more?  Describe the major changes that have taken place in teenage and unwed pregnancy over the last 30 to 50 years.  Discuss possible reasons for these changes, and the consequences of these changes for American society in general and for children in particular. 

2. What policies might be considered for dealing with teenage and unwed pregnancy, and why are they controversial?  For example, what are the arguments for and against abstinence-only education and promoting marriage? [NOTE: In class I'll be providing some supplementary material about historical trends and background that is not in your readings.  The readings should be sufficient to give you a feel for the contemporary situation and the issues surrounding it.]

About 40 percent of all babies in the US are now born out of wedlock -- almost double the rate from 1980 and eight times as high as 1960.  A June 2014 study finds that for people who don't have a college degree, having a child in wedlock has become the exception, not the  rule.  The optional readings have even more up-to-date statistics.

Child Trends summarizes the consequences of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy. 

It may surprise you, but according to this study, Even Grannie had Sex. Today, though, Elizabeth Renstrom notes that sex in high school is becoming less common.

The Pew Research Center explains why the US teen birth rate is plummeting.

Way back in 2003, the Washington Post wrote that Texas teaches abstinence, but the grades are mixed. Anna Quindlen offers her thoughts on abstinence only education. Newer statistics on Texas are in the optional readings.

Some legislators want federal programs to encourage marriage.  Conservative scholar Michael Tanner disagrees.

In 1992, Republican Vice Presidential nominee Dan Quayle blasted TV character Murphy Brown for having a child out of wedlock.  But in 2008, when the pregnancy of Sarah Palin's unwed teenage daughter received a very different reaction, Hannah Rosen asked Why no Scarlet Letter?

[Optional] A 2018 report from Child Trends gives more details about the dramatic increase in births outside of marriage.

[Optional] Declining fertility is actually a major problem in several parts of the world. Indeed, in country after country, actual fertility has fallen faster than notions of ideal family size. Anna Louie Sussman asks what is it that is keepings us from having the families we claim to want? She gives her thoughts in The End of Babies.

[Optional] In Texas teenage birthrates remained high in 2018 and it was again argued that it may be because of abstinence-only education. A 2011 study finds that rates of teen pregnancy are "significantly higher" in states that use "abstinence-only" models, while lower in those that provide a more comprehensive education. A 2016 study found that Purity Pledges often do more harm than good.

[Optional] Belinda Luscombe examines Why are we all having so little sex? The Institute for Family Studies provides additional details on the decline in high schoolers having sex. If you want an even more in-depth discussion (50 pages!) The Atlantic discusses why young people are having so little sex. The Washington Post says It's not just you: New data shows more than half of young people in America don't have a romantic partner

[Optional] Vox explains why there has been a dramatic decrease in the teenage birth rate. Unfortunately, the US still lags behind the rest of the developed world.

[Optional] Since the early 1990s, the US teen birth rate has fallen by nearly 60 percent - but is still far higher than in Switzerland. Child Trends outlines more work that needs to be done.

[Optional] Alanna Weissman describes How Doctors Fail Women Who Don't Want Children.

[Optional] Career-oriented women who delay having children may be pleased to know that waiting to have kids literally pays off.

[Optional] Emily Yoffe reviews the evidence and says Forget Juno. Out-of-wedlock births are a national catastrophe. Isabel Sawhill warns that our biggest social programs, like food stamps, do not reduce child poverty as much as unmarried parenthood has increased it and offers ideas on what to do about it.

[Optional]

[Optional] An estimated 1.5 million unwed mothers in the United States were forced to have their babies and give them up for adoption in the two decades before Roe v. Wade made abortion legal in 1973. Diane Bernard and Maria Bogen-Oskwarek  tell the story of the maternity homes where 'mind control' was used on teen moms to give up their babies

 

Fertility Issues Part 2: Reproductive Technology (Ready)

Discussion Qs:

3. Why has the Pill been controversial? What has its social impact been? What are some of the major arguments for making birth control even more accessible?

4. How and why has the Catholic church struggled over birth control? Why did some think the church would approve the pill and why didn't it happen? What arguments have been made for and against Humanae Vitae?

5. There has been growing controversy about high tech fertility practices. These include, but are not limited to, concerns about the safeness of procedures (including implanting multiple embryos), who should have access to these technologies, the use of egg donors, the destruction of left-over embryos and/or their use in stem cell research, the rights of the parties involved, and whether clinics are going too far in trying to provide "designer" babies. Discuss at least two of these controversies in depth, noting arguments both for and against the practice.

Part 1: Contraceptive Technology

It was the first medicine ever designed to be taken regularly by people who were not sick. Its main inventor was a conservative Catholic who was looking for a treatment for infertility and instead found a guarantee of it. Its supporters hoped it would strengthen marriage by easing the strain of unwanted children but its critics charge that it gave rise to promiscuity, adultery and the breakdown of the family. On the anniversary of its approval by the FDA, Nancy Gibbs reflected on The Pill at 50: Sex, Freedom and Paradox.

A 2012 study claims that free or better birth control could send the abortion rate plummeting. Melinda Gates may have been raised Catholic but she argues  that being able to plan their pregnancies is nothing less than a matter of life and death for the women of the world.

The Washington Post explains how the Catholic Church almost came to accept birth control. On its 40th anniversary, National Catholic Reporter John Allen said Humanae Vitae had shown surprising resilience and that the arguments in its favor are even stronger today than in 1968.  But former Catholic priest Robert McClory  says Church policy has been a disaster. Liberal Catholic Joan Walsh argues that Catholics need to  preach what we practice.

Part 2: Proceptive Technology

Sarah Laskow says that  Making Babies Outside of the Womb has Never been so Easy. In Vitro Gametogenesis (IVG) could someday revolutionize reproduction - but a host of moral and ethical issues come with it.

The Octomom may seem like a bizarre case -- but it raises larger concerns about the practices of US fertility clinics.

More than a decade ago, Liza Mundey warned that there are moral dilemmas  about what to do with the Souls on Ice -- the hundreds of thousands of unused embryos. (More current statistics are in the optional readings. We'll talk more about IVF in our discussion of reproductive rights.)

[Optional] No girls, please.  Parts of Asia have low-tech ways of avoiding unwanted girls - and the methods include murder.

[Optional] People explain why they'd rather go through IVF treatments than adopt. Babies born thanks to IVF include Malia and Sasha Obama. Meanwhile Fertility Clinics are struggling with a growing number of abandoned embryos. Ariana Eunjung Cha notes that American IVF clinics often offer services outlawed elsewhere. 

[Optional] A 2012 study from the National Bureau of Economic Research claimed that the pill made women richer and helped to close the wage gap. Bryce Covert argues the economy can't grow without birth control. Another 2012 study argued that better birth control could cut worldwide maternity death rates by a third.

[Optional] Ashley McGuire is leading a movement where young Catholic women are trying to modernize the Church's image and promote chemical-free natural family planning. Vogue explains Why Millennial Women Are Rejecting The Pill.

[Optional] John Haas explains the Catholic Church's Opposition to Most (but not all) Forms of Reproductive Technology.

[Optional] Controversy raged after a new rule required Catholic Colleges to pay for birth control. Nicholas Kristof said he would like to avoid offending the bishops but if he had to choose he would go with the health needs of the female half of the population. Literally hundred of scholars and religious leaders from Notre Dame and elsewhere said the Obama accommodation on birth control coverage and religiously affiliated institutions was unacceptable (just read the first 2 pages, the other 38 pages are signatures.) 

[Optional] Notre Dame has changed its policy on birth control multiple times, and neither conservatives nor liberals are very happy about it.

[Optional] Jane Brody warns about the misleading promise of IVF for women over 40. NBC says You Won't Believe What Baby-Making Science Could Soon Deliver - but a host of ethical issues come with it. But who needs high tech anyway?  Learn how to get the child you want via the Ancient Art of Making Babies.

[Optional] This lengthy but very interesting piece from the Washington Post discusses how religion is coming to terms with modern fertility methods.

[Optional] Olga Khazan challenges conservative claims that not one woman struggles to afford birth control. Margot Sanger-Katz argues that better contraception could be a key to reducing poverty. But Christine Dehlendorf and Kelsey Holt warn about the dangerous rise of the IUD as a poverty cure.

[Optional] At age 40, Louise Brown reflected on what it was like to grow up as the World's first test tube baby.

[Optional] The Washington Post describes The Booming Fertility Business. IVF often results in multiple births -- and some doctors warn that that isn't healthy. Fertility fraud has many donor offspring pressing for justice.

[Optional] In 2019 NBC News documented how fertility clinics are still struggling with a growing number of abandoned embryos.

[Optional] David Plotz tells you How to find the Right Sperm Donor. Laura Fording gives a Crash Course on Contraception.

[Optional] Some college women are finding that donating one little egg can make them a lot of money - as much as $50,000. You may think that is a lot of money -- but some egg donors claim that women are being shortchanged.

[Optional] Vatican opposition to the use of condoms in AIDS-stricken Africa created a firestorm of controversy. A man who was considered for the Papacy agrees that condoms are the "lesser evil"  versus AIDS and questions other fertility-related church positions as well. But John Allen argues Pope Benedict was right to oppose condoms.

[Optional] Fertile.com gives 15 reasons for becoming a surrogate mother. Growing Generations tells you what its surrogacy requirements are.

 

Fertility Issues Part 3: The Battle Over Reproductive Rights

Discussion Questions: Keeping this down to a manageable number of readings and subtopics is a challenge every year. The optional questions focus on topics that are further covered in the optional readings in case you are interested.

6.  Why was the Tebow family's seemingly innocuous Super Bowl ad so controversial? Why was George Tiller a hero in some people's eyes and a baby killer in others?

7. Is it acceptable or not acceptable for Catholics to support pro-choice candidates and/or organizations like Planned Parenthood? Include in your answer a discussion of the debate over effective/ineffective and safe/unsafe ways to reduce abortion.

8. Why do some object to stem cell research while others strongly support it? How and why do religions differ in their beliefs about when life begins and how do those differences impact their attitudes toward abortion and stem cell research?

9. [Optional] Do any of these issues have personal relevance for you, e.g. do you know people who have had abortions; or people who have refused to have abortions despite the adversity they faced; or do you know anyone with Down Syndrome and if so, what has their life been like? [Note: As always, nobody has to reveal personal details if they do not feel comfortable doing so.]

Note: Variations of the following questions may show up as options on the exam. They are very interesting, but would require you do some of the optional readings to adequately answer them.

10. [Optional] Has the feminist movement universally supported abortion rights? Can you be a pro-life feminist?

11. [Optional] What have been some of the controversies at Notre Dame surrounding abortion? Obama is the obvious example, but there are many others.

12. [Optional] What unique issues does Down Syndrome raise in the debate over reproductive rights?

How did Susan B. Anthony and other early feminists feel about abortion?

There are ongoing battles over whether or not abortion should be legal - but according to the Guttmacher Institute, across the world, abortion rates are about the same whether it is legal or not. In Sept 2019, Guttmacher provided a Fact Sheet on Induced Abortion in the United States -- and found, among other things, that one-fourth of all women may have an abortion by the time they are 45.

Susan Venker says To be Catholic and vote for Democrats in 2020 is just wrong. Ramesh Ponnuru and Robert P. George say Biden's stance on abortion contradicts his Catholicism.  Conservative evangelical David French discusses how to be pro-life in Joe Biden's America. Evangelical minister Rob Schenck explains why he switched from being an anti-abortion crusader to an advocate for Roe V Wade.  Nicholas Kristof asks abortion opponents some tough questions. But Ross Douthat fiercely argues there is no pro-life case for Planned Parenthood (and, presumably, abortion). [There are a lot of other pieces I like very much in the optional readings]

In Leeches, Lye and Spanish Fly, Kate Manning warns about the dangers of illegal and unsafe abortions. Personhood USA counters that a baby is not the worst thing that can happen to a rape victim -- an abortion is.

View Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow's seemingly innocuous Super Bowl ad that ignited a national controversy. William Saletan countered with what he called the grisly truth about the ad.

Bill O'Reilly called murdered abortion doctor George Tiller Tiller the Baby Killer, but Barbara Shelley claims he helped thousands.  William Saletan asks troubling and provocative questions in Is it Wrong to Murder an Abortionist?

Barack Obama's March 2009 decision to expand federal funding for stem cell research exposed sharp religious divides over when life begins. Nancy Reagan and Arthur Caplan praised the decision. Parkinson's victim Michael Kinsley explains what pro-lifers are missing in the stem cell debate. [Several other relevant articles appear at the bottom of the optional readings, including recent Catholic controversies over Covid vaccines.]

 

[Optional] CNN offers some Fast Facts on Roe V Wade. In 2019 the Pew Research Center provided a demographic breakdown of abortion attitudes of Americans. A national longitudinal study finds that almost no women regret their abortions five years later. Guttmacher further claims that Abortion Is a Common Experience for U.S. Women, Despite Dramatic Declines in Rates. A 2018 study by the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute says nearly half the world's abortions are unsafe.

[Optional] In 2004, it was Notre Dame intramural warfare as scholars Mark Roche, Gerard Bradley, and Charles Rice battled over whether or not Catholics could vote in good conscience for John Kerry. Douglas Kmiec is a conservative legal scholar, a former law professor at Notre Dame, and a past advisor to Ronald Reagan and Mitt Romney.  But in 2008, he said Sorry McCain. Barack Obama is a natural for the Catholic vote.

[Optional] In the views of alumnus Paul Witkowski, On abortion, Notre Dame gets only marginal grades. Notre Dame students explain Why they will join the March for Life and Why they won't.

[Optional] Professor Ralph McInerny claimed that Notre Dame forfeited its right to call itself a Catholic university when it invited Barack Obama to speak at commencement.  Bishop Fabian W. Bruskewitz of Lincoln said he was "utterly appalled" by Omaha native and ND President John Jenkins' "absolute indifference to the murderous abortion program and beliefs of this President of the United States." Professor Richard Williams had kinder words for his fellow Nebraskan. 

[Optional] The National Catholic Reporter contends that the hyperfocus on abortion obscures the focus on other issues Catholics care about.

[Optional] Four Notre Dame students argue that Planned Parenthood may have a new face, but it still has the same (dismal) legacy. (I'm linking to the original source because the online comments are also very good. But if the link doesn't work, a pdf version is here.)

[Optional] In 2012, Notre Dame Professor Carter Snead and Princeton Professor Robert George blasted abortion provider Planned Parenthood. About the same time,  John Saveland explained why he's pro-life and supports Planned Parenthood while William Saletan argued that funding Planned Parenthood was the best way to reduce the need and demand for abortions. America Magazine argues Erasing Margaret Sanger from Planned Parenthood doesn't change abortion's eugenic logic.

[Optional] Katha Pollit doesn't agree that feminists can be pro-life. In January 2020 Notre Dame students battled fiercely over pro-life and pro-women marches.The Feminists for Life web site expands on its call for a pro-woman, pro-life feminist revolution. Ruth Graham notes that many dispute the idea that Susan B. Anthona was a pro-life heroine. Pro-choice advocate Ronald Klain (who later became Joe Biden's White House Chief of Staff) fears that Reversing Roe V Wade will be just the beginning of the judicial attack on women's reproductive rights.

[Optional] Sister Margaret McBride was excommunicated for agreeing to an abortion that probably saved a woman's life. Pro-life Catholic Julianna Baggott and columnist Nicholas Kristof defended her.

[Optional] Georgia Right to Life touched off a firestorm of controversy when it launched a campaign claiming abortion is the primary tool in a decades-old conspiracy to kill off blacks. But Linda Greenhouse says Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman in Congress, would strongly disagree.

[Optional] Studies from the Guttmacher Institute offer facts on induced abortion in the United States and worldwide, and also examine the reasons US women have abortions. The Guttmacher Institute further notes that the abortion rate is at an all time low -- and claims that better birth control is largely to thanks. Anti-abortion groups, however, argue that the drop shows new state restrictions on abortion are working.

[Optional] Columnist Margaret Carlson is pro-choice - but even she isn't comfortable with Partial-Truth Abortion.

[Optional] Some said "The poster child jumped off the poster" when Norma McCorvey (Roe of Roe V. Wade) converted to being a pro-life advocate. The Washington Post profiled McCorvey when she died in 2017. But on her deathbed, McCorvey stunningly revealed her anti-abortion routine was all just an act.

[Optional] Emma Green discusses whether Science Is Giving the Pro-Life Movement a Boost. Religious groups, scientists and doctors debate whether some popular forms of contraception cause abortions. The New York Times reviews the scientific evidence and concludes abortion qualms on the morning after pill may be unfounded. Father John Jenkins chose not to include alleged abortion-causing drugs when he announced Notre Dame's new contraceptive coverage policy. Tara Culp-Pressler argues that the birth control method Hobby Lobby won't cover is leading to a decline in teenage pregnancies.

[Optional-Video] Professor Richard Williams & Father Jonathan Morris debated Barack Obama's visit to Notre Dame. Richard Williams and Randall Terry offered their opinions of each other. [NOTE: I hesitate to include videos of myself, partly because I don't like how I look but mostly because I don't want anyone to feel like they have to agree with what I say. You are free to take whatever positions you want so long as you can defend them. Also note that Williams praises the efforts of both the pro-life and pro-choice students on campus.]

[Optional-Video] In this one minute clip, Dr. Willie Parker, the only abortion provider in Mississippi, is confronted by an angry protester. The Washington Post explains Why Willie Parker changed his mind about abortion. In one of the most memorable moments of the ND Obama protests, Father Norman Weslin was arrested for defending the unborn (see especially the first 3 minutes or so). Pam and Bob Tebow expand on their pro-life beliefs and their decision not to abort Tim despite the great risks. Then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argued that, for the women of the world, abortion should be legal, safe, and rare.

[Optional] Ruth Graham discusses How Down Syndrome is Redefining the Abortion Debate. It is called "screening" but George Will says it is really a search and destroy mission in the attack on kids with Down Syndrome. Time notes that the life prospects for those with Down Syndrome have never been better - and the ability to abort them has never been greater. Mark Schrad has a child with Down Syndrome. He explains why he and his wife decided not to abort - and why he supports the right of others to choose differently. Rachel Adams says My son with Down syndrome is not a mascot for abortion restrictions. Likewise Emily Barbero opted to keep her baby, knowing that he might never walk or talk - and she tells Republicans how they can prove they are pro-life too. If you are curious about how Jonathan Will is doing, George Will updates his story here and here.

[Optional] NPR explains how China's One_Child Policy led to forced abortions and 30 million batchelors. George Will condemns Iceland for its genocidal campaign to eliminate people with Down Syndrome.

[Optional] Margo Kapan asks Fertility clinics destroy embryos all the time -- Why aren't conservatives after them? Some Church leaders say the Johnson & Johnson vaccine should be avoided if possible. But ethicists worry Catholic Bishops may be making "pastorally dangerous" statements about vaccines. Jesuit priest Sam Sawyer says Some bishops are choosing the culture war over the common good. Public health officials are enthusiastic about the potential of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to reach vulnerable populations.

 

 

The Status and Roles of Men and Women

Discussion questions:

  1. View the below videos before class on March 15. These capture different aspects of gender roles today. You should be prepared to offer comments on them. Many of the topics raised in the videos will be raised elsewhere in the readings and be hotly debated.

  2. What is the "Second Shift?" How do women contribute unpaid labor at home and work? Why does this happen?

  3. Christina Hoff Sommers has declared that there is a "war against boys."  What does she base her claims on?  In what ways are men disadvantaged compared to women?  Why do some counter that the "Boy Crisis" is a myth?

  4. Similarly, why does Hannah Rosin ask if we are seeing "The end of men?" What arguments support or refute her claims that modern postindustrial society is better suited to women?

  5. In what ways are women still disadvantaged, and what are some of the reasons for those disadvantages? Material relevant for this question is scattered across the readings.

 

Videos for discussion at March 15, 2021 class:

On September 20, 2011, Hanna Rosin, Christina Hoff Sommer, and others participated in a debate entitled True or False: Men are Finished. (57 minutes). 

Christina Hoff Sommers (aka The factual feminist) gives a quick overview on The War Against Boys (3:46). She also asks Do Men Need to Check Their Privilege (6:24) and claims that The Gender Wage Gap is a Myth (2:20).

Title IX got women playing college sports - so where are all the women coaches? ND's own Muffet McGraw is among those who voice their thoughts in this 7:30 long video. In this 3:20 video, Always shows what it means to Do Things Like a Girl. 

Regular Readings:

March is Women's History Month. This is from 2017 -- if interested, here is the less detailed but more current report for 2021. You don't have to memorize all these statistics but they give you a good feel for where women stand today compared to men.

Employed women are working a Second Shift when they get home, says Arlie Hothschild.  Julia Carpenter describes the unpaid labor that always falls to women both at home and at work. Sayer and Pepin find that Moms spend even more time on housework when a man is in the house - but we can't just pin the blame on men. At least in 2006, though, Demographer and ND graduate Suzanne Bianchi found remarkable gender equality in total workloads.

Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, attributes the gender gap in corporate leadership to chauvinism and corporate obstacles -- but also, in part, to women who don't aggressively pursue opportunities. Eve Tahmincioglu counters that women  are doing all the right things but they still lag behind men. Claire Cain Miller says Women did everything right -- and then work got greedy.

Many feel that schools shortchange girls.  Not Christina Hoff Sommers.  Indeed, she thinks there is a War Against Boys [excerpts]. Judith Warner, on the other hand, says the Boy Crisis is little more than a myth. 

Kate Snow claims Women are now the backbone of the economy. In The End of Men, Hanna Rosin reports on the unprecedented gender role reversal now under way and its vast cultural consequences. [Pages 7, 8 and 13 are required; the rest of the article is highly recommended.] But Stephanie Coontz attacks The Myth of Male Decline.

Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic asks the age-old question Why do So Many Incompetent Men Become Leaders? Ruth Graham says It's Time to Admit That Allowing Men Into the Workplace Was a Mistake. (This piece is satirical -- I think -- but also contains a great deal of facts and information.)

Helaine Olen says the pandemic is devastating a generation of working women. Kamala Harris says The exodus of women from the workforce is a national emergency.

[Optional, but highly recommended] In an interesting and entertaining four part series, Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant team up to explain gender discrimination at work, why women stay quiet at work, how women help more around the office but benefit less, and How Men Can Succeed in the Boardroom and the Bedroom.

 

[Optional-Video] If you can't get enough of seeing Hannah Rosen debate, here she joins forces with Maureen Down to do battle with Camille Paglia and Caitlin Moran over the topic Be it Resolved: Men are Obsolete. (About 1 hour 19 minutes). Although there is some overlap in points made, overall this debate has a very different feel to it. Hannah Rosin faced even more formidable opponents in this 5 minute debate.

[Optional-Video] Kristen Bell introduces Pinksourcing, where women are a bargain at the workplace (2:08),

[Optional] As if all that  unpaid work in the home and office wasn't bad enough, Melanie Hamlett argues that men have no friends and women bear the burden.

[Optional] Surveys show that US men and women disagree about the severity of gender inequality problems -- and that female perceptions tend to be more accurate.

[Optional] Men are more likely than women to say their research is excellent -- and it isn't because their work really is better.

[Optional] Former faculty member Abby Palko laments that Notre Dame did not make it possible for her to have a family of the size she wanted. (Palko's critique is pretty damning. But in fairness, ND says it can't respond because it cannot discuss individual cases.)

[Optional] Melinda Gates says the Pandemic has exposed our broken care-giving system.

[Optional] Alisha Haridasani Gupta says It's Not Just You: In Online Meetings, Many Women Can't Get a Word In

[Optional] Christina Hoff-Summers and Jillian Berman debate the accuracy of the often made claim that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. A November 2018 study claims the gender pay gap is even worse than we thought. Politifact further analyzes the claim that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man earns. In this lengthy but easy to read piece, Sarah Kliff tries to tell The truth about the gender wage gap.

[Optional]  Why does the gender wage gap persist? Part of the reason is that As Women Take Over a Male-Dominated Field, the Pay Drops.

[Optional] Christina Hoff Sommers updated her arguments in the 2013 op-ed piece The Boys at the Back. In Feb 2018 Michael Ian Black agreed that The Boys are Not All Right.  The Brookings Institute examines Why are so many American men not working?

[Optional] In 2019 Tara Law warned that, despite recent gains, major challenges for working women remain.

[Optional] Black  doctors (mostly female) tell Delta #WhatADoctorLooksLike.

[Optional]  Jennifer Britz apologizes to all the girls she has rejected - for admission to college. But apologies are not enough, says Richard Whitmire.  He says women are discriminated against in college admissions and they ought to sue. US News elaborates on the problems colleges are having in recruiting enough males.

[Optional] Why are boys so unruly?  It is in their nature, says Christina Hoff Sommers, and efforts to make them more docile and emotional are misguided.

[Optional]  Dan Abrams argues that Women Rule as doctors and investors. But anesthesiologist Karen Sibert says too many women doctors are working part-time and leaving the profession and we can no longer afford to continue training doctors who don't spend their careers in the fulltime practice of medicine. Eye surgeon Carolyn Anderson thinks Sibert is distorting the statistics and being unfair to women and explains why doctors should be allowed to work part-time.

[Optional]  Time lists 28 historic firsts for women in 2019.

[Optional]  The AFL-CIO provides these Vital Statistics for Professional Women in 2010. Some of the statistics are now a little dated, but it highlights some of the major changes that have occurred over the last century.

[Optional] Liza Mundy talks about how the rise of female breadwinners is changing the world in Women, Money and Power.

[Optional] Tara Siegel Bernard offers A Toolkit for Women Seeking a Raise.

[Optional] The late Suzanne Bianchi received her Master's Degree from Notre Dame. Her New York Times Obituary covered some of the highlights of her life's work on gender roles.

[Optional] The NY Times says more about where are all the women coaches?

[Optional]  There have been many benefits in the gains that women have made. But Emma Green argues that as the demands on women's time increased, communities suffered, in What America Lost as Women Entered the Workforce.

 

Part II of Course:

Demographics (Ready)

Discussion questions

1. A company is interested in marketing to  women, children, and the LGBTQ community. For one or more of these groups, tell the company president what facts and recent developments she should be aware of as well as any thoughts you have on how best to target this group.

2. Several of the readings (e.g. Gloria Steinem's Sex, Lies & Advertising) showed that businesses sometimes ignore demographic facts.  Give examples of these failures, explain why they happen, and discuss the adverse consequences that follow.

3. Choose either the Republican or the Democratic Party. How do demographic factors work for or against the party's electoral success? You'll want to talk about such things as the changing demographic composition of the electorate. But also consider how things like the electoral college, voting turnout rates for different demographic groups, political polarization, gerrymandering, and other factors affect the party's likelihood of success. (The optional readings provide a lot of additional information on these points.)

4. What do you think are some of the best and worst ads you have seen? Why was the ad effective or ineffective? What demographic groups was the ad targeted at? How did it try to appeal to them?

5. [Optional] Marketing to the poor has become very profitable to some. Explain what payday lending is, and discuss the arguments for and against it. What makes payday lending attractive to the poor? Why do many consider payday lending to be exploitive? What arguments can be offered in defense of it?

Adam Hayes defines what Demographics are. Stephanie Mialki explains what demographic segmentation is and why it is important. Questionpro provide several demographic examples.

The Harvard Business Review describes The Female Economy -- and how many businesses are foolishly ignoring it. Intel's Ekaterina Walter offers 30 stats you need to know when marketing to women. Gloria Steinem probably wishes those pieces had come out sooner -- in 1990's Sex, Lies and Advertising, she outlines the problems Ms Magazine had in overcoming stereotypes and attracting advertisers.

She may be 60+ years old but that doesn't mean she can't change with the times. In 1992 Barbie complained math is hard. But by 2015 she was telling young girls that they could be doctors, coaches, and even college professors (2-minute video). Today, with a new line of dolls out, Barbie asks can we finally stop talking about my body?

Dove is another brand that can change with the times. It stressed soft skin in 1986 while in 2006 it showed its true colors. Today Dove says You're more beautiful than you think. Nina Bahadur describes how Dove tried to change the conversation about female beauty.

Brands are waking up to the opportunities that the LGBT market represents.  South Bend's Gavin Ferlic argues that cities benefit economically when they are gay-friendly. Even way back in 2010 The NY Times found that When the Bride takes a Bride, Businesses Respond. Those planning their LGBTQ wedding can go to Equally Wed for help.

The Wall Street Journal warned that the GOP faced a daunting demographic challenge in 2016 -- and after they won anyway, Musa al-Gharbi of Columbia Sociology explained why The Democratic Party is Facing a Demographic Crisis. 538 explains why a Biden blowout didn't happen and Why Republicans Don't Fear An Electoral Backlash For Opposing Really Popular Parts Of Biden's Agenda. Theresa Riley explains how a political party can get fewer votes but still win elections. Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger further explains why he thinks too many voters live under minority rule.

[Optional] John Weeks provides a brief overview of the field of Demographics. American Demographics Magazine explains 10 major marketing blunders of the 1980s.

[Optional] Fareed Zakaria and Paula Throckmorton-Zakaria explain why advertisers historically haven't liked old people. The New York Times explains why media executives are starting to realize older people aren't so bad after all.

[Optional] Advertising Age offers seven tips on how to successfully market to women.  But in spite of how important they are, the auto industry is still making lame attempts to target women. Capitalizing on the viral controversy over the dress, a surprising source asks why is it so hard to see black and blue?

[Optional]  Even children's toys have become part of the battleground over gender roles. Organizations like Let Toys be Toys and No Gender December are battling against the gendered marketing of toys. Goldie Blox offers award-winning construction toys for girls. Here is the ad that helped to put Goldie Blox in the national spotlight. Luckily for Target, when it got criticized for ending the labeling of boys and girls toys, an outside volunteer going by the name of Ask ForHelp chimed in on Facebook to deal with outraged customers. The History Channel provides a look at Barbie through the ages. Christina Hoff Summers says you can give a boy a doll but you can't make him play with it.

[Optional] Marketers are catching on to the fact that a fourth of the world is Buying Muslim -- and they may become even more important in the US, where ISLAM is predicted to be THE SECOND-BIGGEST RELIGION BY 2040.  In the US, the Hispanic and Minority markets offer a lot of opportunities and benefits to marketers.

[Optional] Ezra Klein claims that Democrats still have to appeal to the center, but Republicans don't. Adler and Thompson argue that the 2018 Democratic Blue Wave was not enough to overcome Republican Gerrymandering. Even after Trump's win in 2016, Columnist David Brooks was confident that the GOP Apocalypse is coming. The Atlantic notes that more people favor the Democrats but that advantage is undercut, especially in midterm elections, because Democrats are less likely to vote. In 2015 David Horsey and David Shribman thought demographics favored the Democrats but also noted that Republicans have some things going for them. Myra Adams worried that George W Bush could be the last Republican President. Nate Silver explains why almost everybody was wrong and tells The Real Story of 2016.  FiveThirtyEight offers several more analyses of what happened in 2016. Eric Garcia examines the rightward shift among Latino men.

[Optional] Avis says we came out in our own time - and other companies  are too as they adopt gay-friendly policies. DiversityInc says that if you want loyal customers, you should learn how to reach gay consumers. Companies that emphasize their gay-friendly policies include Southwest Airlines, Dell, Wal-Mart and JC Penney. But the One Million Moms aren't happy about this.

[Optional-Video] Apple's 1984 is one of the most famous ads of all time.  A Barack Obama supporter put a new spin on it in 2007.  Lyndon Johnson used an adorable little kid to warn what might happen if you voted for his opponent.  (Here is more on how LBJ's Mad Men revolutionized political advertising.) Hillary Clinton got back in the 2008 race because at 3 a.m. she's ready to take that call. Meanwhile will.i.am put Barack Obama's words to music.  In 2012, Lena Dunham sparked controversy when she told young adults who their first time should be with (first time voting, that is). In what former Senator Alan Simpson says is the most disgusting ad he has ever seen, the AARP warns what will happen to any politician who tries to cut social security. Time reviews The 25 Most Influential Super Bowl Ads of All Time.

[Optional] Laura Lee gives several examples of vintage ads that would definitely be banned today.

[Optional] Everyone was stunned when Donald Trump rewired the 2016 electoral map. My graduate school classmate Ruy Teixeira offered reassurances that Things look bleak for liberals now. But they'll beat Trump in the end. But Megan McArdle countered that No, Democrats; You can't just wait for Trump Supporters to die. This 2-minute video from Bill Moyers explains how Democrats got more votes but Republicans won more seats.

[Optional] Gary Rivlin explains how poverty has become a multibillion dollar business. In this humorous, profane, but also accurate clip, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver discusses Predatory Lending. Warning: Language is quite crude at times. The Center for Responsible Lending has more conventional but also very good videos. In South Dakota an odd couple teamed up to fight payday lending.

 

 

Marriage, Divorce, Families & Households (Ready)

Discussion questions:

1. Describe the major changes that have taken place in marriage and cohabitation over the last 30 to 50 years.  What are possible reasons for these changes? How are things like education, race, and age related to the likelihood of getting married? Why does Mark Regnerus claim that "cheap sex" is making men give up on marriage? Do you agree with him?

2. Some say that marriage is unnecessary or even undesirable. Discuss the arguments for and against

    a. Getting married in the first place

    b. Cohabiting before marriage

3. Is the divorce rate going up or down? Who is more likely to get divorced? Why is the divorce rate actually higher in the religiously conservative "red" states?

4. What are the arguments for and against gay marriage? Why do even some gays oppose it, or at least don't want it for themselves?

5. [Optional] What are your own thoughts and/or experiences about topics like cohabitation, gay marriage, and divorce? When, if ever, do you think you'll get married? Why?

The National Family Survey finds that, when it comes to family life, people tend to think that things are worse than they actually are. (First three pages are required, rest is recommended.)

Historian Stephanie Coontz says Marriage isn't dead but it is changing.  She further explains that the most radical changes to marriage actually happened decades ago. The Pew Research Center says it is no longer a Leave it to Beaver world - but it wasn't back then either. UT-Austin Sociologist Mark Regnerus claims that cheap sex is making men give up on marriage.

In 2010's I don't, Jessica Bennett and Jesse Ellison made the case against marriage. The conservative group United Families International responded with the case against the case against marriage. In 2010 Jessica Bennett helped make the case against marriage; but in 2012 she wondered if she was Missing the Boat.

A 2013 study finds that cohabitation has become the "new normal" and most women cohabit before they are 30. A lot of people think that cohabitation before marriage helps you make sure you have the right partner - but Cohabitors' Divorce Rates May Suggest Otherwise. But a 2014 study says cohabitation doesn't cause divorce and probably never did. Belinda Luscombe notes that More People Think It's Fine for Unwed Couples to Live Together - and Here's Why Many Still Think Marriage Is Better.

Maryland Sociologist Philip Cohen looks at Trends in Divorce -- and warns that we don't want the rate to be too low. In a 2014 study, Sociologist Jennifer Glass explains the puzzling paradox of why divorce is more common in religiously conservative "red" states. Anneli Rufus outlines 15 ways to predict divorce.

He is one of the most famous Republican lawyers in the country.  He represented George Bush in Bush vs Gore 2000 and then served as Bush's Solicitor General.  His wife died in 9/11. And in 2010, Theodore Olson made the conservative case for gay marriage. Former presidential candidate Rich Santorum argues his case against gay marriage. Long time lesbian partners Martha Ackelsberg and Judith Plaskow explain why we're not getting married.  Amy Menefee (whoever she is) offers 10 (tongue-in-cheek) reasons to oppose marriage equality.

[Optional] Is a single woman over age 40 more likely to get killed by a terrorist than she is to get married?  We used to think so, but in Marriage by the Numbers Newsweek admits that the states of unions aren't what we predicted they'd be.

[Optional] Historian Stephanie Coontz upends conventional wisdom in Three Marriage Rules that Don't Apply and The Triumph of the Working Mother. Coontz further explains why Romance Wrecked Family Stability.

[Optional] Some of the statistics on infidelity cited above by Bennett and Ellison may be a little dubious. Rebecca Lake tries to get the numbers right in 23 eye-opening truths about infidelity.

[Optional] The National Family Survey finds that, when it comes to family life, people tend to think that things are worse than they actually are.

[Optional] Francesca Friday reports More Americans Are Single Than Ever Before�And They're Healthier, Too. MANDY LEN CATRON examines What You Lose When You Gain a Spouse.

[Optional] Should you Stay Together for the Kids?  Judith Wallerstein says yes - but Katha Pollitt says Divorce is getting a Bum Rap.

[Optional] Notre Dame Sociologist Abigail Ocobock finds that same-sex marriage has caused a "suppressing and softening" of radical queer critique. Same sex marriage may have been a great victory for mainstream gays, but Colin Walmsley worries about the queers left behind. A trio of religious scholars argue that the Bible does not define marriage only as one man, one woman.

[Optional] In same-sex partnerships, how do couples decide who asks who to get married? ND Sociology Professor Abi Ocobocks examines that and other questions in Freedom and Constraint in Same-Sex Engagements: How Age and Gender Shape Adherence to Marriage Scripts.

[Optional] Karen Prior from Liberty University makes the case for getting married young. Kate Dailey explains why she is saying I do. Taylor Tepper knows there is a downside to having kids but he thinks millennials ought to have them anyway. The no's may be gaining ground though, as a 2012 Pew study predicts that a quarter of millennials will never get married.

[Optional] Richard Banks explains why black women have the lowest marriage rates and offers his ideas on what they should do about it. Nika C. Beamon notes that many single successful black women are rising above the wedding ring.

[Optional] Oh no!  It's a girl!  Steven Landsburg asks Do Daughters cause Divorce?

[Optional] The Alternatives to Marriage Project argues that cohabitation isn't such a bad idea.  Meg Jay discusses the downside of cohabiting before marriage. But a 2017 international study claims cohabition harms children. W. Bradford Wilcox and Laurie DeRose elaborate on Childrearing in the age of cohabitation. Ashley Fetters notes that studies on cohabitation seem to contradict each other and asks So Is Living Together Before Marriage Linked to Divorce or What?

[Optional] The National Center for Health Statistics outlines the factors related to the likelihood of remarriage.

[Optional]  UT-Austin Sociologist Mark Regnerus challenges the claim that gay families are just as good for children as same-sex ones. But the American Sociological Association (and numerous others) criticized his work and filed a court brief reviewing the evidence on gay marriage. Here is the complete ASA brief on Gay Marriage. Stephanie Pappas reviews the empirical evidence and argues that gay parents may be the best parents. The world's largest study on the children of same-sex parents says they are doing as well or better than the rest of the population on key health indicators. John Harwood says that the vast majority of US corporations have already voted yes on gay marriage. Nate Silver notes that change doesn't usually come this fast.

[Optional]  In 2011 Barbara Bush (George's daughter) joined the ranks of Republican offspring who support gay marriage (here is her 22 second video) and Iowa college student Zach Wahls (3 minute video) made an impassioned appeal on behalf of his lesbian parents. In this short video clip, The Golden Girls made the case for gay marriage more than 20 years ago. Notre Dame alum Greg Bourke was named one of National Catholic Reporter's 2015 Persons of the Year for his efforts to legalize gay marriage. Memories Pizza in Walkerton Indiana created a firestorm of controversy when it said it would not cater a gay wedding (something it had never been asked to do anyway) - and received $840,000 in donations as a result. In this 4 minute video, Ted Cruz speaks out in defense of religious liberty.

[Optional] The Heritage Foundation makes its case against gay marriage. Gay activist Katherine Franke warns that same-sex marriage is a mixed blessing. June Thomas says I'm a lesbian and I'm never getting married. Why are you? 

[Optional] Should the children of gays be allowed in Catholic Schools?  The Archdiocese of Denver doesn't think so.  Bill O'Reilly and Father Jonathan Morris debate the issue.

[Optional-Video] Beyonce offers advice on marriage. Jill and Kevin dance at their wedding. But Dolly Parton warns that marriage doesn't always work out.

 

 

Health & Mortality

Discussion Questions:

1. Laura Helmuth asks, why are you not dead yet? How and why have the causes of death changed over the past several centuries and in the last few decades?  If you feel comfortable, try to do what Helmuth did and think of examples of how the lives of people you know might have changed for the better or worse if they had lived in another time or place. (My own thoughts on this are in the optional readings.)

2. Everyone dies eventually, but some groups of people tend to be sicker and/or die a lot sooner than others.  How and why are demographic characteristics related to health and mortality in the United States?  Among other things, consider how and why gender, age, occupation and race are related to mortality and to the causes of mortality.

3. Childhood immunizations have played a major role in reducing mortality.  Yet, today, there are major controversies involving vaccines, HPV, and autism.  Explain what these controversies are and the evidence surrounding them.What new vaccination challenges does Covid-19 present? How is the Covid vaccination battle being fought? If you want, add any personal observations you have about vaccination or vaccination-hesitancy or whether college students should be required to be vaccinated.

4. What effects has Covid-19 had on health and mortality? What is long-haul Covid and why are so many concerned about it? If you want, add any personal observations about your experiences with Covid.

5. (Answering will mostly require material from classroom lecture) McGinnis and Foege estimated that half of all deaths can be attributed to preventable causes.  In what ways is our behavior related to our health and mortality?  What are some of the choices we make as individuals and as a society that affect how long and how healthily we live? See if you can think of examples of people you knew who might still be alive, or be healthier, had they made different choices. (There is an optional reading on this but I will also cover it in class.)

The following questions are mostly covered in the optional readings and might show up as options on exams,

6. [Optional] Why are so many young Americans killing themselves? What should colleges do about it?

7. [Optional] For the first time in almost a century, life expectancy has started to decline in the United States. Discuss how the Deaths of Despair, drug addition, obesity, guns, and other factors have contributed to this reversal.

8. [Optional] Breast cancer is one of the leading killers of women worldwide. Why, then, has the battle against it attracted both criticism and praise?

Laura Helmuth asks the provocative question, Why are you not dead yet? George Johnson explains why everyone seems to have cancer. The CDC lists the 10 leading causes of death in 2019 (but as noted elsewhere, there were some big shakeups in the rankings for 2020).

Markham Heid explains why Women Live Longer than Men. Mark D. Hayward & Dr Jennifer Karas Montez describe health and educational disparities across the country. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for ages 18-24 -- and Richard Friedman asks why are so many young Americans killing themselves?

A simple graphic shows how Vaccines have changed the world.  Steven L. Weinreb pleads For the Herd's Sake, Vaccinate. L. Shaka counters the anti-vaxers with The worst misconceptions parents of some unvaccinated children hold. Thea Tympanick explains why your kids need the HPV vaccine.

Anti-vaxers think that, because of Covid, this is their moment. Kerry Kennedy Meltzer loves her uncle, but she says Vaccines are Safe, no matter what Robert F. Kennedy Jr says. Recent studies show shaming doesn't work -- Here is what will actually convince people to get the Covid Vaccine. Colleges debate whether they should require Covid vaccinations for students. A Notre Dame student offers his thoughts on How to Talk to your friends who won't get vaccinated. (Click here if you also want to see the comments on the article.)

In 2020, Covid-19 came from out of nowhere to be the the #3 cause of death and sent life expectancy down sharply. George Monbiot warns that Long Covid is no respecter of youth, health or fitness - and the effects can be horrible. Here are brief excerpts from other articles on long-haul Covid. The optional readings include several other pieces about the potentially devastating effects of long-haul Covid.

[Optional] The 1918 flue pandemic killed an estimated 50-100 million people worldwide, including 675,000 in the US.  The Center for Disease Control and Prevention tells the story of the pandemic. Aaron Kassraie uses pictures to show How America Fought a Pandemic a Century ago. J. Hudson describes How the Nebraska Football Team Struggled Through its season that year. National Geographic describes how some cities flattened the curve in 1918. Here is What New York looked like during the 1918 Flu Pandemic. Dylan Matthews shows how social distancing both saved lives and was better for the economy too. Margaret Fosmoe tells the story of Notre Dame in the Fall of 1918.

[Optional] Lundquist chapter 6 (Morbity and Health), pp. 205-211, focuses on morbidity risk factors. The rest of the chapter is interesting but the online  readings do a better job of highlighting what we will focus on. Lundquist chapter  5 (Mortality) could also be very helpful for understand the measurement of mortality, historical trends in mortality, and differentials in mortality.

[Optional] The American Heart Association warns that, while life expectancy may be up, our healthspan (the number of years a person can expect to live in relatively good health) is quite a bit less than that.

[Optional] In 2020 your instructor wrote down his own thoughts on Why is Richard Williams not dead yet?

[Optional] In this classic 1993 JAMA article, McGinnis and Foege discuss The real causes of death in the United States. The statistics are dated but the general principles still hold. I'll probably summarize the highlights in class.

[Optional] Hannah Nichols lists and explains the top ten leading causes of death in the United States in 2019. Here are the 10 leading causes of death for ages 20-24.

[Optional] The Center for Disease Control provides a 2015 overview of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the US.  The United Nations gives a 2016 Fact Sheet on AIDS.

[Optional] Dr. Sharon Moalem argues that, When it comes to survival, men are the weaker sex. It appears that men are much more likely to die from Covid-19 than women are.

[Optional] Roge Karma describes The Gross Inequality of Death in America. A JAMA study finds that life expectancy varies by as much as 20 years across counties in the United States. A 2016 report finds that the Disparity in Life Spans of the Rich and the Poor Is Growing. FiveThirtyEight says More Americans Are Dying From Suicide, Drug Use And Diarrhea.

[Optional] Psychology Today explains why today's youth are so anxious (I sort of hate the pop culture approach of the article, but I figured I'd see if you think it is right). Princeton struggled with the question Should Suicidal Students Be Forced to Leave Campus? Sarah Richards outlines how colleges are struggling with ways to treat suicidal students. The New York Times provides an in-depth analysis of Why More American Teenagers Than Ever are Suffering From Severe Anxiety. Sabrina Tavernise reports that younger Americans die earlier and live in poorer health than their counterparts in other developed countries.

[Optional] A national study finds that guns send 8,000 children to the emergency room every year. Doctors responded when the NRA told them to stay in their lane. Elinore Kaufman says I'm a doctor fighting two epidemics: Coronavirus and gun violence. But an NRA critic was surprised to find that gun control is not the answer.

[Optional] U.S. life expectancy improved for almost a century -- but now there is a dismal trend in the other direction. Princeton economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton say it is because Despair has killed a million Americans -- and the white working class (especially Trump supporters) has been hit the hardest. Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDun say There are Far Too Many Deaths of Despair.  Angus Deaton and The Atlantic provide more details on the Deaths of Despair. But two Colorado researchers disagree with the analysis.

[Optional] You can play Laura Helmuth's Wretched Fate game if you'd like to see how you might have died a few centuries ago.

[Optional] Sheila King outlines the hazards of smoking for women. William Wan laments that the rich stopped smoking but the poor didn't. But luckily Fewer US Adults are Smoking than Ever Before. Gabrielle Glaser warns that more people are consuming alcohol in risky ways, and that's not a good trend.

[Optional] We are used to hearing about malnutrition as a problem - but recent studies warn that increasing numbers of obese people worldwide could lead to a "global tsunami of cardiovascular disease."  But Paul Campos claims the evidence shows we have an absurd fear of fat. However,  others disagree.

[Optional]  Africa faces an unexpected epidemic: obesity.  A March 2018 report says American adults just keep getting fatter and fatter. Another study projects half of Americans will be obese by 2030. Mexico faces soaring obesity too. This aticle explores Why Obesity is getting worse. In a rather depressing piece, Time Magazine explains Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin. An economist offers his theory as to why we are fat.

[Optional] In the Culture of Corpulence, Claudia Kalb argues that American innovations in food, transportation, and technology are threatening to supersize us all. David Zinczenko says don't blame the eater - blame the fast food companies that are marketing a product with proven health hazards and no warning labels. Sam Ali argues that the food industry profits while society pays and that the food industry is following big tobacco's playbook. 

[Optional] ZOE CARPENTER says Racism is killing America's black infants. Several studies suggest that the quality of health care you receive likely depends on your skin color. Juan Williams points out that homicide is the #1 killer of young black men.

[Optional] Breast cancer is one of the leading killers of women worldwide. The New York Times elaborates on how Susan G. Komen for the Cure became a fundraising superpower and on the criticisms and praise it has received. Cancer survivors Barbara Ehrenreich and Peggy Orenstein are among those who criticize the way the battle against breast cancer is being waged.

[Optional] Americans are going bankrupt from getting sick. The New York Times says that prices, not the amount of care, explain Why the U.S. Spends So Much More Than Other Nations on Health Care.  Recent studies show that hospital billing varies wildly in the US. Professor Gilbert Welch thinks we should be outraged about the cost. Incredibly high bills for child birth,  asthma, and colonoscopies are among the reasons the United States leads the world in health care costs. Just revealing the prices for health care can help. But Paul Krugman expresses optimism over health care costs because of the Medicare Miracle.

[Optional] Paul Krugman blasts Republican health care proposals. Congressman Ron Kind says the GOP bill failed because the Democrats had already taken all of the best Republican ideas. President Trump claims that Obamacare will explode. Politifact assesses Paul Ryan's claim that Obamacare is in a death spiral. As for the claim that that preventive care saves money, Anne Carroll says sorry, it is too good to be true -- but worth doing anyway. Sociologist Paul Starr critiques the Affordable Care Act and outlines A new strategy for health care.

[Optional] The health care industry is changing as more physicians are saying no to endless work days. The U.S. is on the verge of a major nursing shortage. There is a sense of alarm as Rural Hospitals keep closing.

[Optional] Vaccines have been a subject of hot debate in recent years.  An unvaccinated child contracted tetanus and required $800,000 worth of medical care -- and his parents still would not vaccinate him. The anti-vaxx movement is growing, but a massive new study once again refutes the claims that vaccinations cause autism. A simple graphic shows how Vaccines have changed the world. Steven L. Weinreb pleads For the Herd's Sake, Vaccinate. Blogger KATETIEJTE describes the worst things people say about unvaccinated kids while L. Shaka counters with The worst misconceptions parents of some unvaccinated children hold. Thea Tympanick explains why your kids need the HPV vaccine - and why so many aren't getting it. On Facebook, anti-vaxxers urged a mom not to give her son Tamiflu - and he died.  Anti-vaxxers are facing a backlash as measles cases surge.  Saad B. Omer grew up in a dictatorship -- and he says that Rand Paul is wrong, mandatory immunizations are not a threat to liberty. Here is more on the massive Danish study that found no link between vaccines and autism. Former anti-vaxxers explain what changed their mind while doctors assess how they can change anti-vaccine minds. Other relatives of his say RFK Jr. Is Our Brother and Uncle. He�s Tragically Wrong About Vaccines.

[Optional] A professor of pediatrics says the science behind vaccination is not up for debate. Sharon Begley discusses how vaccines (unfairly) became villains in the autism debate. A British investigation says the Wakefield Autism Study was an elaborate fraud that continues to damage public health. A pediatrician claims to debunk the most common misconceptions about childhood immunizations. Counter to the fears of some, the HPV vaccine does not seem to affect sexual behavior; further it is lowering teenage infection rates, 

[Optional-Video] In this 15 minute video, the NY Times takes you Inside a Covid I.C.U., Through a Nurse's Eyes.

[Optional] The Biden Administration has enlisted nearly 300 organizations, including NASCAR and several Catholic groups, that will speak to communities where skepticism of the coronavirus vaccine remains high. As Biden Confronts Vaccine Hesitancy, Republicans Are a Particular Challenge. Former Republican Vice-Presidential nominee Sarah Palin urges everyone to wear a mask. A recent study finds that Race and Christian Nationalism are the two strongest predictors of anti-vaccination attitudes.  People explain why they changed their mind about the Covid vaccine. Vox talks about The frustrating reality of having vaccine-hesitant family members. Market Watch says Fewer people take a wait and see approach to COVID-19 vaccine -- here's what changed their minds.

[Optional] The director of the College Crisis Center argues that Covid vaccine priority for college students makes sense even if it seems wrong.

[Optional] Food, shelter and clean water are what aid agencies emphasize.  But if we really want to battle some of the biggest killers of children worldwide, Rose George says we have to get over our squeamishness and send in the latrines.

[Optional] He may not have been the most popular president in the United States - but in Africa, George Bush is praised for helping to save millions.  Nicholas Kristof adds that America can be proud of Bush's efforts to battle sex trafficking and HIV.

[Optional] Here are some more articles on long-haul Covid if interested. The NY Times asks What if you never get better from Covid-19? Pam Belluck reports They Had Mild Covid. Then Their Serious Symptoms Kicked In. Belluck also describes how first they had Covid, then they had psychosis. Alyson Krueger says If everything Smells Bad, you are not Alone. In this lengthy piece, the Atlantic describes how clinicians are Unlocking the Mysteries of Long Covid. Fiona Lowenstein and Hannah Davis warn that Long Covid Is Not Rare. It's a Health Crisis.

 

Poverty & Wealth

Discussion questions:

1. Elizabeth Warren and others all express concerns about the decline of the middle class and/or the problems created by income inequality in the United States. Summarize their arguments as to the extent of income inequality and why and how the middle class has declined.

2. What challenges do the poor face as they try to work their way out of poverty? Barbara Ehrenreich's Nickel and Dimed should provide some insights here.

3. Samuel Preston has argued that economic conditions for children have deteriorated over the past few decades, while the condition of the elderly has improved.  What arguments support or refute this viewpoint?  Why has this shift occurred?  How might demographic changes have contributed to this shift?

4. [Optional] There is much discussion of how government programs benefit the poor.  How do other groups of individuals, as well as corporations, benefit from government entitlements and tax subsidies?

Part 1. Video Overviews of Wealth, Poverty and Inequality -- Watch on your own and be prepared to discuss in class on April 19, 2021 [READY]

NOTE: Normally I like to show these videos in class. However, because the Internet can be unreliable we will not have our regular class on April 14. Instead I want you to watch these on your own time, and be prepared to offer your comments and reactions when we meet again on April 19.

In this 54-minute-long YouTube video, then-Harvard Professor Elizabeth Warren discussed The Coming Collapse of the Middle Class. This 6 minute video graphically depicts Wealth Inequality in America. Elizabeth Warren argues that nobody got rich on their own in her famous one-minute You didn't build that speech.  HBO discusses how the price of youth sports promotes inequality.

 

Part 2. Regular readings [READY]

In 2020, the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, published a study called The Cost of Thriving Index (and reached conclusions remarkably similar to what liberal Democrat Elizabeth Warren found 13 years earlier). [This is the PDF if you can't otherwise access but it doesn't show the charts.]

In 2014 Barbara Ehrenreich wrote about how it is expensive to be poor. She speaks from experience - she tried working for several months as a poor person and wrote about it in Nickel and Dimed. German Lopez challenges 11 myths about homelessness in America. A fascinating experiment in Canada shows How panhandlers use free credit cards.

In this classic 1984 paper, Samuel Preston explains how and why American society has shifted support away from children and toward the elderly.  Thirty-four years after Preston wrote his paper, Robert Samuelson makes remarkably similar arguments and says Teachers are competing with the elderly. But the elderly of the future may not fare as well, as Forbes warns that retirement is in peril for most working class Americans.

 

[Optional] Here are the Census Bureau figures for Poverty and Wealth in the United States, 2018. The  World Hunger Education Service overviews Poverty and Hunger in the United States.

[Optional] Kyle Spenser talks about students who are in College and Homeless. Nicholas Casey outlines how The Coronavirus Exposed Just how Unequal College Students Lives are.

[Optional] Here is the complete Manhattan Institute report on The Cost of Thriving Index.

[Optional] Mark Rank describes Five Myths about Poverty.

[Optional] Linda Tirado was poor herself -- and she explains why she thinks poor people make bad decisions.

[Optional] Eduardo Porter attacks the Myth of Welfare's Corrupting Influence on the Poor.

[Optional] African American orthopedic surgeon Kenneth R. Alleyne describes how covid-19 is a perfect storm for black Americans. Black Chicagoans say they have long confronted racism in medicine -- and Covid-19 didn't help. Heather Long says The coronavirus economy is exposing how easy it is to fall from the middle class into poverty.

[Optional] Catholic Charities of Fort Worth praised Paul Ryan for his understanding of poverty. In 2014 the future Speaker of the House blasted the Obama administration for a system that perpetuates poverty. In 2016 the Republican Party proposed what it thought was a better way to deal with Poverty, Opportunity, and Upward Mobility. In investing in our children, Robert Samuelson argues that government programs can only do so much to combat poverty.

[Optional] Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz claims we have a government Of the 1%, by the 1%, and for the 1% - and he thinks even the wealthy will come to regret that. Robert Reich warns that those at the top would be better off with a smaller share of a rapidly growing economy than a large share of one that's almost dead in the water. The International Monetary Fund claims that worldwide widening income inequality is bad for economic growth.

[Optional] Elizabeth Warren outlines why middle-class families go bankrupt. Deborah Thorne explains why many find it hard to make a fresh start after bankruptcy. Thorne further discusses how financial distress affects families, especially women.

[Optional] Sociologist Mark Rank offers his explanation of why one of the wealthiest nations on Earth also has the highest rates of poverty in the developed world in Rethinking American Inequality. Mark Rank's ConfrontingPoverty.org site offers several tools for understanding American inequality.

[Optional] Business Week discusses the role that luck plays in making someone rich or poor. Mitt Romney talked about the 47% but Amia Srinivasan argues that the rich are dependents of the state too. Joseph Stiglitz claims that our tax system is stacked against the 99% and that Equal opportunity is a national myth. Incomes were flat during the great recovery but not for the 1%. Elizabeth Warren says the Obama administration protected Wall Street, not working people.  In this 2014 expose, Rolling Stone claims that JP Morgan Chase paid billions of dollars in fines and still got off easy for misdeeds that contributed to the financial crisis. Michael Hobbes says The Glass Floor Is Keeping America�s Richest Idiots At The Top.

[Optional] In Working the System that is working her, Jennifer Friedman and Laurel Graham describe how one woman dealt with poverty and all the obstacles it presented her with. (Fascinating albeit long; you don't have to read it super-carefully.)

[Optional] The NY Times has interesting statistics on economic diversity and student outcomes at Notre Dame. You can look up other schools too if you want. For a broader picture see here. Notre Dame isn't the richest school out there, but it is pretty high up, and we also seem to be on the lower side as far as economic diversity goes. Notre Dame's Office of Student Enrichment tries to help lower-income students succeed.

 

Race: The Relevance of Race/ Racial Identity [READY]

Discussion Questions

1. Why is the very concept of race controversial?  How meaningful and useful is race as a concept? Do you ever have trouble answering when asked what your own race is? Do others have trouble when asked about you? Do you ever have trouble identifying the race of another person?

2. [Optional] Residential segregation is alleged to be one of the major causes of racial and economic inequality in the United States.  What are some of the factors that caused American neighborhoods to be so segregated?  How has segregation contributed to poverty and inequality in American society?  Why have poor blacks suffered more from segregation than poor whites?

Darren Curnoe claims that classifying people by race is the biggest mistake in the history of science. In three is not enough, scientists debate whether or not race is a useful concept. Nicholas Kristof gives mixed answers to the question Is race real?  In this 3 minute video, Vox debunks the myth of race.

Lauren Williams explains why she thinks biracial means black.

Some claimed that Barack Obama wasn't the first black President - either because there were other black Presidents before him or because he isn't really black.

[Optional] The entire April 2018 issue of National Geographic is devoted to an exploration of race -- including a critique of the magazine's own racist past.

[Optional] In one drop of bloody history, Ellis Cose notes that Americans have always defined themselves in terms of race.

[Optional] An African American mother tells her biracial children Don't be black on my account.

[Optional] For the first time ever, minority babies became the majority in 2010.

[Optional] In I'm just who I am, Jack White argues that the way Americans think and talk about race will have to catch up with the new reality.

[Optional] Harvard Professor David Reich argues that we shouldn't totally ignore genetic differences between races. But Kwame Anthony Appiah says race and nationality are social inventions being used to cause deadly divisions. Vox outlines 11 ways race isn't real.

[Optional] The NY Times offers the latest statistics on interracial marriage.

[Optional] The New York Times details the path by which the descendant of a white slavemaster became First Lady of the United States.

[Optional] Slate examines when and how the word Negro became taboo.

[Optional] The Census Bureau offers several facts and figures that are relevant for African American History Month 2018 and Hispanic Heritage Month 2017. For information on other minority groups, see the Census Bureau Facts for Features web page. For more on Hispanics, see the Census Bureau Report on The Hispanic Population 2010.

[Optional] Linda Villarosa examines Why America�s Black Mothers and Babies Are in a Life-or-Death Crisis. A new study by the Census Bureau and top academics explores intergenerational income disparities by race, and finds that black children fare far less well than their white counterparts.

[Optional] In this 16 minute video, Alice Goffman talks about how we are priming some kids for college - and others for prison. Some politicians stress the magnitude of black-on-black crime. But Matthew Yglesias turns the tables and says White-on-white murder in America is out of control. (Some might suspect he is being a little sarcastic or satirical, but his numbers are valid.)

[Optional] In a fascinating case study, Kevin Fox Gotham shows how segregation was developed and reinforced in Kansas City in Building the Troost Wall. Joe Feagin explores the causes and consequences of excluding blacks and others from housing. Henry Grabar shows How the Federal Government Made the Maps That Crippled Black Neighborhoods.  In 2009's One Stroke of the Pen Richard Williams briefly outlined the 47 year struggle to end racial discrimination in housing.

[Optional] It used to be that minorities were denied mortgage loans.  Now they get them, but often with unfavorable or even predatory terms.  Richard Williams and colleagues discuss these shifts in The Changing Face of Inequality in Home Mortgage Lending.  Bond and Williams further discuss the implications of these changes in Residential Segregation and the Transformation of Home Mortgage Lending.  If you don't want to bother reading those rather lengthy articles but still want some idea what your instructor does in his spare time, the Washington Post summarizes a few of the highlights in Subprime Mortgages and Race: A Bit of Good News May Be Illusory.

 

Migration [READY]

Discussion Questions

1. What are the major social costs and benefits produced by migration, both legal and illegal?

2. Who are the Dreamers? Why is there status controversial?

3. [Optional; May be an exam option, with Lundquist being very helpful for those who answer it.] What are the major reasons (both voluntary and involuntary) migration occurs?  What have the major trends been?  How and why have these trends changed across time?  How have legal and social changes affected these trends?

Michael Powell provides historical perspective in U.S. Immigration Debate Is a Road Well Traveled. In undocumented, indispensable, Anna Quindlen argues that we are all immigrants.  Some of us just got here sooner than others.

Notre Dame economist William Evans maintains that the Economic benefits of admitting refugees outweigh the costs. Ben Casselman argues that Immigrants Are Keeping America Young -- And The Economy Growing.

A Notre Dame student claims that the statistics on dreamers are a nightmare. Other Notre Dame students respond. I don't like to be too blatant in expressing my own views - you are always free to disagree with me - but Richard Williams also argued that the statistics on dreamers are only a nightmare if you don't read them right. Former President George Bush calls for bipartisan action on DACA and other areas of immigration reform.

[Optional] Lundquist's chapter 4, "Migration," has a very good review of the history of migration and the reasons for it. You will want to read it if you answer a broad question on immigration on the exam.

[Optional] Robert Samuelson says we should build Trump's wall. In this 6 minute video, Charles Krauthammer explains why he agrees. But  Robert Reich and Doug Massey explain why they think the wall is a terrible idea. Even before Trump, Michael Dear and   Doug Massey were arguing that the walls we already had were a bad idea.

[Optional] The Marshall Project, Politifact, and The Washington Post all examine the claim that immigrants bring more crime.

[Optional] Michael Clemens examines the claim that immigrants hurt American workers. David Brooks argues that the evidence for allowing more immigration is overwhelming.

[Optional] Zachary Karabell and Jennifer Rubin do not like Trump's wall, but for the sake of DACA they think Democrats should go along with it anyway.

[Optional] Eric Posner says we have a de facto guest worker system, and it works well.

[Optional] In 2010 Philip Martin and Elizabeth Midgley provided a detailed analysis of the status of immigration in America and the controversies surrounding it.

[Optional] There is an ongoing debate about whether or not English should be declared the official language of the United States.

[Optional] MSNBC reports on how Ireland is being transformed by migrants.  Here is a video on the topic.

[Optional] NPR and several of the opinion pieces it links to discuss The Debate Over 'Anchor Babies' And Citizenship

The Future/ Year in Review (Ready)

Discussion questions:

1. Jane Van Winkle started a nap at the end of World War II and has just woken up. Discuss in depth the three or four demographic changes that you think will most amaze her. In your discussion, indicate how these changes have led to demographic issues, problems and controversies that few people anticipated when she started her rest. One of the many sources you may wish to refer to is Massey�s classic article on The Age of Extremes.  The changes you discuss can be from material covered in either half of the course.

2. Much of our discussion has focused on problems created by demographic changes. Discuss three or four demographic changes over the past several years that you feel have led to improvements in America or in the world. Feel free to pick controversial choices that not everyone would see as improvements; for example, you might argue that changes in family structure have helped to better meet what people want. Describe what the changes have been and explain why you feel they have been beneficial. Alternatively, you can include in your discussion changes that, while they may not be positive, are not as �bad� as they are commonly perceived to be. For example, you might argue that divorce has helped to free people from bad marriages. The changes you discuss can be from material covered in either half of the course. (The readings in the last section on The Future about positive changes in the world today may be very helpful here.)

Doug Massey offers a bleak vision of the future in The Age of Extremes. This powerpoint presentation captures some of the highlights of his argument.

Note: I usually have a few more required readings, but in light of the pandemic I have no idea what articles are likely to be the most accurate about what the future holds! So maybe just pick a few to skim through.

[Optional] If you think this year has been bad, you can at least be grateful you didn't live in 536 AD.

[Optional] Fared Zakaria thinks the forecast is mostly sunny for life in the United States after Covid.

[Optional] Nicholas Kristof argues that 2019 was the best year ever for humanity. Vox provides 23 charts and maps that show the world is getting much, much better. Former Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels says things really aren't that bad even though we like to think they are.

[Optional] Bjorn Lomborg reassures us that the world is a lot better place than it used to be. Steven Johnson says We are living the dream - we just don't know it. Time shows 20 Ways the World Got Better in 2019. Arthur Brooks says The world is doing much better than the bad news makes us think.

[Optional] In 2012, Hannah Rosin wrote about the End of Men. But today, the pandemic is giving her second thoughts.

[Optional] Of course, most of these articles were written before Covid-19. If you'd rather end the semester on a dreary and depressing note, you can read about why Mike Davis thinks Reopening the Economy Will Send Us to Hell.