| Call Number | 00322 |
|---|---|
| Day & Time Location |
MW 10:10am-11:25am To be announced |
| Points | 3 |
| Grading Mode | Standard |
| Approvals Required | None |
| Instructor | Katherine L Krimmel |
| Type | LECTURE |
| Course Description | In this course, we will examine the relationship between government and the governed in the United States. To what extent and under what circumstances do elected officials consider public preferences in making policy? To what extent and under what circumstances might we want them to? What kind of power should the public have in American democracy? Thinking about the second and third, more normative questions leads us to other empirical questions. What shapes public preferences? How well can we measure them? How much do people know and care about politics? How do they evaluate their representatives? What constitutes high quality representation? We will examine these kinds of questions broadly, and also consider how they play out in particular policy areas and historical moments. We will also discuss the dynamics of public opinion across population subgroups (e.g. by race, sex, income, party, urbanity, etc.), and questions surrounding representation at the group level. In addition to engaging scholarly literature on public opinion and representation, students will also learn to access, manage, and analyze data measuring the composition of the public (e.g. the U.S. Census) as well as public views on political candidates, officeholders, institutions, and issues (e.g. survey data). These skills will help to prepare students for research projects in other courses and beyond Barnard. To balance the different aims of the course, our class time will be split between lecture, discussion, and hands-on lessons in a computer lab. |
| Web Site | Vergil |
| Department | Political Science @Barnard |
| Enrollment | 20 students (20 max) as of 8:05PM Monday, December 30, 2024 |
| Status | Full |
| Subject | Political Science |
| Number | BC3205 |
| Section | 001 |
| Division | Barnard College |
| Section key | 20251POLS3205X001 |