When the Majority Rules: Ballot Initiatives, Race-Conscious Education Policy, and the Public Good

Autor/inn/en	Moses, Michele S.; Saenz, Lauren P.
Titel	When the Majority Rules: Ballot Initiatives, Race-Conscious Education Policy, and the Public Good
Quelle	In: Review of Research in Education, 36 (2012) 1, S.113-138 (26 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0091-732X
DOI	10.3102/0091732X11421457
Schlagwörter	Politics of Education; Voting; Participative Decision Making; Democracy; Educational Policy; Civil Rights; Affirmative Action; Knowledge Level; Prosocial Behavior; Altruism; Sharing Behavior; Power Structure; Social Influences; Disproportionate Representation; Researchers; Educational Opportunities; Racial Attitudes; Bilingual Education; Citizenship Responsibility; Information Dissemination; Expertise; United States + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Educational policy; Bildungspolitik; Abstimmung; Demokratie; Politics of education; Bürgerrechte; Grundrechte; Zivilrecht; Wissensbasis; Altruistic behavior; Altruismus; Sozialer Einfluss; Researcher; Forscher; Bildungsangebot; Bildungschance; Rassenfrage; Bilingual teaching; Bilingualer Unterricht; Informationsverbreitung; Expert appraisal; USA
Abstract	This chapter examines the following central question: How do direct democratic ballot initiatives affect the public good? A second, related question is this: When voters collectively make policy decisions, what responsibilities do researchers have to contribute to informing public deliberation about the relevant issues? In an attempt to answer these questions, the authors investigate how the direct democratic ballot initiative process, increasingly--and controversially--used to allow citizens to make education policy decisions, may serve to enhance or constrain the public good. The education policies affected by ballot initiatives, such as affirmative action and bilingual education, often concern issues of race, civil rights, and equality of educational opportunity. This analysis relies on political philosophy through the lens of deliberative democratic theory, relying in particular on the work of Amy Gutmann and Iris Marion Young. The more theoretical analyses are grounded in data from a recent empirical study on whether deliberative community dialogues on race-conscious policy issues serve to inform the dialogue participants. The aims of this chapter are to provide greater understanding of the education-policy-by-ballot-initiative phenomenon, bring to light the possibilities of "tyranny of the majority" when policies having to do with civil rights are left up to popular vote, and make the case that researchers ought to use their expertise in the service of public information and deliberation and, ultimately, the public good. (Contains 7 notes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	SAGE Publications. 2455 Teller Road, Thousand Oaks, CA 91320. Tel: 800-818-7243; Tel: 805-499-9774; Fax: 800-583-2665; e-mail: journals@sagepub.com; Web site: http://sagepub.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10