Participation & Democracy in America

Course Description

Why don't more Americans vote? How do education, income, and age impact voting trends? Why are some Americans more interested in politics than others? How is inequality reflected in other forms of political participation, such as donating money? Do recent trends in voter ID laws help to safeguard the democratic process, or restrict it? In summary, how democratic or representative are American elections? The course begins with some famous arguments about why participation matters. Trends in voter turnout then become the primary object of study, but we also consider other forms of participation including writing members of Congress, attending political meetings and contributing money. We explore recent discoveries in behavioral psychology that are changing the strategies of modern campaigns. After taking this course, you will understand the fundamental role of participation  in democracy.

Note: This course is offered by DePaul University's School for New Learning (SNL). It can be taken by SNL students for as many as two SNL competencies. It can also be taken by non-SNL students for Liberal Studies credit in the Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry Domain (SCBI), formerly Self, Society, and the Modern World (SSMW).

• If you are an SNL student, please see the course competencies below.
• If you are a non-SNL student taking this course for Liberal Studies credit in the Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry domain, please see below.

For SNL Students: Competencies Offered

SNL students may take this course for 4 credit hours (i.e., two SNL competencies) or 2 credit hours (i.e., one SNL competence). For SNL students, the course offers the following set of competencies (each of which is worth 2 credit hours):

Note: If you are registered for CCH 257, the competencies you will gain in this class are as follows:

• Can use two or more theories of human psychology to understand and solve problems.
• Can analyze power relations among racial, social, cultural, or economic groups in the United States.

For Non-SNL students taking the course for Liberal Studies Credit:

Students from DePaul colleges other than SNL may take this course to meet the Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry (SCBI) requirement of the Liberal Studies Program. (Formerly Self, Society and the Modern World, SSMW.) Non-SNL students who wish to take the course for Liberal Studies credit should make sure they are registered for SNC 203. DePaul's Liberal Studies Program aims to foster among students reflectiveness; value consciousness; multicultural perspectives; and critical as well as creative thinking. The learning outcomes for Liberal Studies Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry domain are as follows:

• Use the constructs or power, diversity, and/or culture to describe examples of where, why and how inequities exists in modern society.
• Frame a theory about the relationship between individuals and modern society.
• Analyze central institutions and/or underlying social structures and their impact on the larger society.
• Articulate an argument based on theory and empirical evidence regarding the modern world.
• Analyze critically research and arguments about the modern world.
• Reflect, in writing, upon their role in the modern world, including their relationship to their own and/or other communities.
• Analyze social problems and public policies on the basis of ethics and values.

For a description of the Liberal Studies Program's Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry domain and details on Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry Learning Outcomes and course assignments, please refer to the portion of the syllabus labeled: For Non-SNL Students: Liberal Studies Program Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry Domain.

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Course Materials - Print Texts:

Required Text

Martin P. Wattenberg, Where Have All the Voters Gone? Harvard University Press. 2002. ISBN-10: 067400938X.

There are numerous other required readings for this course and they are all available either online or at the DePaul University Library website. All required readings are listed in each course module; clicking a reading's link will open Course Reserves in a new browser window.

For SNL students: Depending on the competency you select, there may be some additional readings / Powerpoints for select weeks.

For non-SNL students taking the course for Liberal Studies Credit: In addition to the common readings, you are required to read any additional weekly readings marked as H4 and H3A.

Organization of the Common Course Material

This course is organized into 10 week-long modules. The common readings and non-discussion assignments for all students, SNL and non-SNL, are listed below. In addition to the table below, each week / module includes at least one discussion-based assignment. Beginning in Week Five, there will also be additional competency-specific assignments to complete. For a full description of all these additional assignments, see the week-by-week course modules online. The main textbook by Wattenberg, Where Have All the Voters Gone?, is abbreviated as VOTERS.

Course Structure Table

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Assessment of Learning

Evidence Students Will Submit

Discussions:

Students are expected to contribute in a substantive, timely and interactive fashion to the Discussion posted for all ten modules / weeks of the course.

To view the assessment rubric for Discussion participation, please refer to the Criteria for Assessment section of the syllabus.

"Room For Debate" Discussions

In addition to the normal Discussion posts, there are three discussion threads throughout the course (in weeks three, six and nine) where students must argue one side of a question about participation and politics. Students will need to argue either the "pro" or the "con" side to a particular issue (you may be assigned which side to argue), and do additional research beyond class readings to back up their position. Students will also be required to respond to arguments posted by the other side during the debate.

To view the assessment rubric for Room for Debate, please refer to the Criteria for Assessment section of syllabus.

Common Written Assignments For All Students:

• Practice acquiring information about the policy positions of elected officials.
• Write a short report about the American public and elected officials using information from the American National Election Studies and the Center for Responsive Politics' Open Secrets websites.
• Write a letter to a U.S. Representative or Senator.
• Submit at least a 4-5 pp final paper draft-in-progress.
• Comment on peers' final paper drafts
• Write a final paper. Paper topics described below.

The common evidence requirements for the course are:

The remaining 20 pts are allocated differently based on the students' competencies or specialization; please see below.

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For Non-SNL Students: Liberal Studies Program Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry Domain

Courses in the Social, Cultural and Behavioral Inquiry domain focus on the mutual impact of society and culture on individuals, and of individuals on society and cu​lture. Particular attention is given to human relationships and behavior as they are influenced by social, economic and political institutions, spatial and geographical factors, and the events and social and cultural forces at play in the contemporary world. The domain emphasizes the pursuit of knowledge through the development of theory and empirical investigation of the contemporary world. Courses in the domain explore such particular issues as poverty and economic opportunity, the environment, nationalism, racism, individual alienation, gender differences, and the bases of conflict and consensus in complex, urban societies and in global relations.

• Substantive Learning: Students will use the constructs of power, diversity, and/or culture to describe examples of where, why and how inequities exists in modern society.
• Methodological & Critical Thinking: Students will be able to analyze and critically research arguments about the modern world.
• Personal / Reflective Learning: Students will be able to analyze social problems and public policies on the basis of ethics and values.

For your assignments, you will focus on understanding the inequalities in American political participation: what they are, where they came from, and how some of these inequalities might be reduced in the future. You will view a PowerPoint discussing the moral questions that go into defining who is an "eligible voter" in America, and you will complete a short assignment that recalculates what voter turnout would be, given varying assumptions.

In addition, you will focus on the theories discussed in Modules Six and Seven (which you may wish to read ahead for) as a psychological means to partially explain the varying rates of participation observed in different contexts. You will assign theoretical motivations to the different kinds of political behavior discussed in class and evaluate why some forms of participation might be rising in America, others falling, and some holding steady.

Your final 12-15 page class paper will weave together both of these approaches and discuss how psychological approaches might boost participation. You will summarize your conclusions about the most important, modern forms of inequality (if any) in political participation and conclude by suggesting some ways in which inequalities might be reduced in the future.

If you are interested in pursuing a more experiential route for this class (such as volunteering for a campaign) or a more quantitative, statistical analysis of participation in America, contact the instructor.

Your additional assignment point breakdown will be as follows:

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For SNL Students: Competency-Specific Course Assignments

A3A: Can interpret experience in relationship to the perspective of a significant thinker or tradition.

• Identifies and describes an individual, social, or cultural experience.
• Identifies one or more significant thinkers or traditions with philosophical or theological ideas relevant to this experience.
• Explains one's ideas about the meaning of this experience in relationship to the ideas of this thinker(s) or tradition(s).

If you opt to address this competence, your "experience" will be your volunteer work for a political campaign for an ongoing election, or for an interest group campaign or a political party. The candidate or issue campaign is of your choosing. Your final class paper will compare the predictions that Tocqueville and Putnam made about the benefits of participation to your own personal experience. You will periodically describe your activities on behalf of your campaign in the class discussion and attempt to provide real-world parallels to the theoretical discussions we will have. You should begin researching a volunteer opportunity immediately; a summary of your experience-in-progress is due by the end of Week Seven. You will write a final 8-10 page class paper that describes your volunteer experiences and compares them to the benefits from the theories about participation according to Tocqueville and Putnam.

The additional competency-specific assignment point breakdown will be as follows:

H3A : Can use two or more theories of human psychology to understand and solve problems.

• Articulates two or more theories or models explaining human behavior.
• Identifies a problem and proposes a solution using appropriate theoretical approaches

If you opt to address this competence, you will focus on the theories discussed in Modules Six and Seven (which you may wish to read ahead for) as a means to explain the varying rates of participation observed in different contexts. You will assign theoretical motivations to the different kinds of political behavior discussed in class and evaluate why some forms of participation might be rising in America, others falling, and some holding steady. You will simulate the kind of experiment on voter turnout that you read about in Week Six. You will write a final 8-10 page class paper that summarizes these findings and then concludes by discussing how we might motivate individuals in America to want to participate more.

The additional competency-specific assignment point breakdown will be as follows:

H4 : Can analyze power relations among racial, social, cultural, or economic groups in the United States

• Describes the unequal power relations between at least two racial, social, cultural, or economic groups in the U.S.
• Discusses the historical, sociological, or economic dynamics under which these groups came to be in conflict

If you opt to address this competence, you will focus on understanding the inequalities in American political participation: what they are, where they came from, and how some of these inequalities might be reduced in the future. You will read about some complexities that go into defining who is an "eligible voter" in America, and you will complete a short assignment that recalculates what voter turnout would be, given varying assumptions. You will write an 8-10 page final paper summarizing your conclusions about the most important, modern forms of inequality in political participation and conclude by suggesting some ways in which inequalities might be reduced in the future.

The additional competency-specific assignment point breakdown will be as follows:

S1A : Can explore natural phenomena or the world of everyday experiences using scientific methods, and can use theories to interpret observations

• Identifies aspects of the natural world or everyday experiences that spark interest or curiosity or that pose problems.
• Applies a generally accepted model(s) of scientific inquiry to (1).
• Uses or develops a theory, model, or set of principles to interpret observations and experience

If you opt to address this competence, the "aspect of the natural world" you will be focusing on is participation. You will study the theories discussed in the class readings in a more rigorous, scientific fashion by taking the claims you find in the readings and then using an online dataset to review and test their accuracy. The method of evaluation you will use is called a crosstab, which you will view a presentation about. Based on the claims made in the readings, you will formulate hypotheses as to what results you should see if the readings are correct. You will then learn how to generate your own crosstabs from a special website that makes use of a dataset called the American National Elections Studies. By the end of the class you will have generated multiple crosstabs evaluating the different readings. You will compile a final 8-10 page paper that summarizes your findings about the accuracy of the different theories you have been exposed to in class.

The additional competency-specific assignment point breakdown will be as follows:

The grading scale is based on 100 percent of the required assignments. Thus:

Grades lower than a C- do not earn  credit or competence in the School of New Learning.

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Criteria for Assessment

Discussions

To receive full credit for a given module's Discussion, you must make a contribution that is:

1. Timely. Please get your postings and responses in by the appropriate times. Wednesday is the due date for any initial post going forward, and all responses are due by the end of Sunday. If a posting is late, it cannot receive an A grade. If you foresee a problem with this schedule down the line, check your summer schedule, because now is the time to notify me, so we can make arrangements.
2. Detailed. Class posts that respond to specific readings need to show close attention to the readings. So as a baseline, always make sure you respond to a minimum of two substantive, different parts of the readings. Try to cite (with page numbers) exactly what two parts of the reading you are talking about, to help your classmates and your instructor follow your reasoning. If an initial post does not cite at least two specific points from an article or reading, it cannot get a B grade or higher.
3. Showing Creativity / Connections. Make the post interesting to you, and I and your classmates should find it interesting as well. "Creativity / Connections" is an admittedly vague phrase but it is key to make these discussions more than repetition of dry facts. The key is to draw connections between the texts and topics and something else, be it an earlier reading / discussion in a previous module, a personal life experience, something in the news about the ongoing election, etc. For an "A" post, you want to illuminate the subject matter at hand by relating it to some other topic like those mentioned above. This hopefully will give us all a unique and fresh perspective on the topic at hand .

"Room for Debate"

To receive full credit for a given module's Room for Debate Discussion, you must make a contribution that is:

1. Well-Researched. Your major post / argument must draw on at least three independent sources you have researched online, which must be cited at the bottom of your post. Examples of what would count as a good evidentiary source (though you must find others) are available on the course website. If your argument does not draw on independent sources, it will receive an F grade. If your argument does not draw on at least three independent sources, it cannot receive a B grade.
2. Responsive to the Other Side. After your initial post, you need to post at least one follow-up post to the arguments on the other side that clearly responds to their specific points raised. If you do not post a good follow-up to the other side, you cannot receive a B grade.
3. Timely. To give other students in class maximum time to follow the debate (and to allow the other side time to respond) your primary “pro” or “con” post must be posted by Wednesday of the week in question. If the post is not made by Wednesday, it cannot receive an A grade. If it is missing still by the end of Friday, it will receive an F grade.

Papers:

Note: Students will also be asked to apply these rubrics to their own peer comments in Week Nine.

'A' designates work of high quality. An A paper

• develops an argument cogently and creatively across the length of an essay;
• reflects thorough understanding of and engagement with pertinent texts (audiovisual and/or print) and the issues at hand;
• draws insightful connections and/or generates thoughtful questions concerning the topic and the specified materials;
• cites sources consistently in appropriate citation style;
• is virtually free of grammar lapses.

'B' designates work of good quality. A B paper

• develops an argument effectively across the length of an essay;
• reflects adequate understanding of and engagement with pertinent texts and the issues at hand;
• draws clear connections and/or generates apt questions concerning the topic and the specified materials
• cites sources consistently in appropriate citation style;
• is mostly free of grammar lapses.

'C' designates work which minimally meets requirements set forward in assignment. A C paper

• develops some ideas but does so in a superficial or simplistic manner;
• reflects limited understanding of or engagement with pertinent texts audiovisual or print) and the issues at hand;
• draws connections, some of which are unclear, and/or raises questions, some which are inapt, concerning the topic and the specified materials;
• cites sources inconsistently and/or occasionally uses appropriate citation style;
• contains several grammar lapses.

'D' designates work of poor quality which does not meet minimum requirements set forth in the assignment. A D paper

• shows little development of ideas;
• reflects little or no understanding of pertinent texts (audiovisual and/or print) and the issues at hand;
• does not draw clear connections or raise coherent questions concerning the topic and the specified materials;
• does not cite sources appropriately;
• contains numerous grammar lapses .

Such work is expected to conform to college-level standards of mechanics and presentation.

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Due Dates

Due dates in the course are firm and must be adhered to if you expect to succeed. Review your ten week schedule. If you have a problem meeting a due date, you should contact your instructor by the end of week one. In general, assignments that are late will receive reduced points. Assignments which are more than one week late will receive zero points.

Discussion Forums

Discussion Forums are an important component of your online experience. This course contains discussion forums related to the topics you are studying each week. For requirements on your participation in the Discussion Forums, please see "Course Expectations" in the syllabus.

A Course Q & A discussion forum has also been established to manage necessary, ongoing social and administrative activities. This is where the management and administrative tasks of the course are conducted, and where you can ask 'process' questions and receive answers throughout the course. Please feel free to answer any question if you feel you know the answer.

College and University Policies

This course includes and adheres to the college and university policies described in the links below:

Academic Integrity Policy (UGRAD)

Academic Integrity Policy (GRAD)

Incomplete Policy

Course Withdrawal Timelines and Grade/Fee Consequences

Accommodations Based on the Impact of a Disability

Protection of Human Research Participants

APA citation format (GRAD)

Additional Course Resources

University Center for Writing-based Learning

SNL Writing Guide

Dean of Students Office

Changes to Syllabus

This syllabus is subject to change as necessary. If a change occurs, it will be clearly communicated to students.

Credits

This course was designed and produced by faculty and staff at SNL Online of the School for New Learning of DePaul University.

© 2017 School for New Learning, DePaul University. All Rights Reserved by SNL.