Examines the role and influence of race and ethnicity in the contemporary American city through three case studies of urban politics and policy decisions in Los Angeles, New York, and San Diego.

Assessing the limits of pluralism, this book examines different types of political inclusion and exclusion and their distinctive dimensions and dynamics. Why are particular social groups excluded from equal participation in political processes? How do these groups become more fully included as equal participants? Often, the critical issue is not whether a group is included but how it is included. Collectively, these essays elucidate a wide range of inclusion or exclusion: voting participation, representation in legislative assemblies, representation of group interests in processes of policy formation and implementation, and participation in discursive processes of policy framing. Covering broad territory—from African Americans to Asian Americans, the transgendered to the disabled, and Latinos to Native Americans—this volume examines in depth the give and take between how policies shape political configuration and how politics shape policy. At a more fundamental level, Ericson and his contributors raise some traditional and some not-so-traditional issues about the nature of democratic politics in settings with a multitude of group identities.

For four decades, historian Martin Duberman has fought for a more equitable society. In the process, he has become one of the country's most prominent public intellectuals. Presenting a summation of Duberman's views on such matters as race, foreign policy, gender and sexuality, Left Out offers one of the best analyses of the Left's split between class-based and identity-based politics. Book jacket.

Social exclusion and inclusion remain issues of fundamental importance to democracy. Both exclusion and inclusion relate to the access to participation in the public realm, public goods and services for certain groups of people who are minorities, marginalized and deprived. Democratization has led to the inclusion of the previously excluded in the political process. While the problems of exclusion remain even in advanced Western countries in respect of the minorities of sorts, and the underprivileged, the problem of deep-rooted social and cultural exclusions is acute in post-colonial countries, including India. This book analyses social exclusions in India, which remain the most solid challenges to Indian democracy and development. Communal clashes, ethnic riots, political secessionist movements and extremist violence take place almost routinely, and are the outward manifestations of the entrenched culture of social exclusion in India. With its interdisciplinary approach, the book looks at the multidimensional problems of social exclusion and inclusion, providing a critical, comprehensive analysis of the problem and of potential solutions. The authors are experts in the fields of historical sociology, anthropology, political theory, social philosophy, economics and indigenous vernacular literature. Overall, the book offers an innovative theoretical perspective of the long-term issues facing contemporary Indian democracy.

Contrasting views of race and society make for heated debate in the United States. From the perspective of assimilation, society operates in a fair, open, and meritocratic fashion. Racial discrimination, while not completely eliminated, arguably has little impact on people's life chances. In contrast, research examining the social construction of race has emphasized continued discrimination. Race remains embedded in social, political, and economic institutions, contributing to systemic racism. The Politics of Exclusion examines how these debates about race--and the proper role of government in addressing issues of race--shape public policy. Investigating three case studies, that involve economic redevelopment, historic preservation, and redistricting in San Diego, New York, and Los Angeles, Saito illustrates the enduring presence of racial considerations and inequality in public policy. Individuals and groups who may sincerely characterize themselves as free of racial prejudice still participate, though perhaps unwittingly, in practices that have racialized outcomes.

Ranki, a founding member and Honorary Research Associate at the Center for Comparative Genocide Studies, Macquarie University, traces the social history of Hungarians and Jews, showing how, in less than 100 years, state policies shifted from demanding and welcoming assimilation, to institutionalized anti-Semitism. The case of Hungary provides a poignant illustration of the failure of inclusion through assimilation and of the role of the political ethos, the state, and of legal institutions in the process of institutionalizing exclusion. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR