The politics of representation in the national statistical system: Origins of minority population interest group participation

Robbin, Alice The politics of representation in the national statistical system: Origins of minority population interest group participation. Journal of Government Information, 2000, vol. 27, n. 4, pp. 431-453. [Journal article (Paginated)]

[thumbnail of RobbinPoliticsOfRepresentationJGI2000.pdf]
Preview
PDF
RobbinPoliticsOfRepresentationJGI2000.pdf

Download (158kB) | Preview

English abstract

The United States is an "interest group society" and federal statistical policy, like all other aspects of contemporary American political life, is dominated by well-organized interest groups. The public review to revise the "Standards for the Classification of Federal Data on Race and Ethnicity," formerly known as "Statistical Policy Directive 15," was notable for the significant presence of minority population interest groups. The politics of representation in the national statistical system during the 1970s is the subject of this article. The first part of the article summarizes the role that interest groups played in the recent debates on revising Statistical Policy Directive 15. The second part of the article discusses the origins of national statistics on minorities and their efforts during the 1970s to achieve inclusion in the body politic through representation in the federal statistical and administrative reporting systems.

Item type: Journal article (Paginated)
Keywords: US federal government statistics; US decennial census; Race; Ethnicity; Minority groups; Interest groups; Political participation
Subjects: B. Information use and sociology of information > BC. Information in society.
B. Information use and sociology of information
Depositing user: Alice Robbin
Date deposited: 12 Apr 2008
Last modified: 02 Oct 2014 12:11
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/10760/11385

References

Berry, JM. The interest group society. 3rd ed. New York: Longman, 1997.

Kerwin, CM. Rulemaking: how government agencies write law and make policy. Washington, DC: Congressional Quarterly, 1994.

Morin, AL. Regulating the flow of data: OMB and the control of government information. Public Adm Rev 1994;54(5): 434-43.

Duncan JW, Shelton WC. Revolution in United States government statistics, 1926-1976. Washington, DC: Office of Federal Statistical Policy and Standards, 1978.

Lyons GM. The uneasy partnership: Social science and the federal government in the twentieth century. New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1969.

Robbin, Alice. "The problematic status of statistics on race and ethnicity: An 'imperfect representation of reality,'" Journal of Government Information 1999;26 5):467-83.

Robbin, Alice. "Classifying racial and ethnic group data in the United States: The politics of negotiation and accommodation." Journal of Government Information 2000;27(2):129-56.

Robbin, Alice. Administrative policy as symbol system: Political conflict and the social construction of identity 2000; 34(4):398-431.

Stratford, Juri. "Responding to reference queries for numeric data and the problems inherent in interpreting statistical sources: A note," Journal of Government Information 1998;25(5):413-17.

Thernstrom, Abigail. "Statistics and the politics of minority representation: The evolution of the Voting Rights Act since 1965," In The Politics of numbers, eds. William Alonso and Paul Starr (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1978), 322.

US Office of Management and Budget. Proposed guidelines for federal statistical activities. Fed Regist (20 January 1988);53(12):1542-52.

US Office of Management and Budget. Standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. Fed Regist (9 June 1994);59(110):29832-36.

US Office of Management and Budget. Interim notice of review and possible revision of OMB's statistical policy directive for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. Fed Regist (28 August 1995);60(166):44673-93.

US Office of Management and Budget. Recommendations from the Interagency Committee for the review of the racial and ethnic standards to the Office of Management and Budget concerning changes to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. Fed Regist (9 July 1997);62(131):36874-946.

US Office of Management and Budget. Revisions to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity. Fed Regist (30 October 1997);210(62):58782-90.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Review of Federal Measurement of Race and Ethnicity: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Census, Statistics and Postal Personnel, 103rd Cong., 1st sess., 14 April, 30 June, 29 July, 3 November 1993.

US House, Committee on Government Reform and Oversight. Federal Measures of Race and Ethnicity and the Implications for the 2000 Census: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Government Management, Information, and Technology, 105th Cong., 1st sess., 23 April, 22 May, 25 July 1997.

American Anthropological Association. Response to OMB Directive 15 (September 1997) <http://www.ameranthassn.org/comsumm.htm>.

Cable News Network. Racial classification in question as 2000 census approaches. Washington unwrapped (Transcript #97070908FN-L07) 9 July 1997 <http://web.lexis-nexis.com/universe/> [accessed November 27, 1997].

Recommendations from the interagency committee for the review of the racial and ethnic standards to the Office of Management and Budget concerning changes to the standards for the classification of federal data on race and ethnicity (9 July 1997):36884.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Economic and Social Statistics for Americans of Spanish Origin: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Census and Population on H.J. Res. 92 Joint Resolution Relating to the Publication of Economic and Social Statistics for Americans of Spanish Origin or Descent, 94th Cong., 1st sess., 21 March 1975. p. 43.

Desrosières A, La politique des grands nombres: histoire de la raison statistique. Paris: Éditions La Découverte, 1993.

Starr P. Introduction. In: Alonso, Starr, editors. The politics of numbers. pp. 7-57. In The Politics of Numbers, eds. William Alonzo and Paul Starr (New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1987).

Wallman KK, Hodgson J. Race and ethnic standards for federal statistics and administrative reporting. Stat Rep 1977(July);77(7):452-3.

Espiritu YL. Asian American Pan-Ethnicity: Bridging institutions and identities. Philadelphia: Temple Univ. Press, 1992. pp. 13-14.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. 1980 Census: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, 94th Cong., 2nd sess., 1 and 2 June 1976. p. 32.

Chan S. Asian Americans: An interpretive history. Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991.

Fugita SS, O'Brien DJ. Japanese American ethnicity: The persistence of community. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1991.

Schaefer RT. Racial and ethnic groups, 6th ed. New York: Harper Collins Publishers, 1996.

US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. 200 Years of US census taking: Population and housing questions, 1790-1990. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1989.

US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Table No. 125. Immigrants, by country of last permanent residence: 1820 to 1979. Statistical Abstract. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1984. p. 91.

US Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Table No. 35. Foreign-born population in 1910, distributed according to country of birth: By states and geographic divisions -- continued. Statistical Abstract. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1920. p. 60.

Feeney P. The 200 Years' War and counting: Power politics and census controversies: 1790-1990. PhD diss., Mount St. Mary's College, 1994. p. 3.

Davies G. From opportunity to entitlement: The transformation and decline of Great Society liberalism. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 1996.

Lowi TJ. The end of liberalism: The second republic of the United States, 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1979.

US House, Committee on Education and Labor. Oversight hearings on laws affecting Indian education: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Elementary, Secondary, and Vocational Education, 94th Cong., 1st sess., 28 and 29 July and 5 August 1975.

US House, Committee on Education and Labor. Compilation of Federal Laws Authorizing Education Assistance, Explicitly for American Indian and Other Native Americans (Legislation As Amended Through December 31, 1975), 94th Cong., 2nd sess., 1976, Committee Print, August 1976. p. 35.

US Senate, Committee on Small Business. SB's 8(a)Subcontracting program: Minority enterprise, 92nd Cong., 1st sess., 29 and 30 September 1971.

US Commission on Civil Rights. Mexican American education study: Ethnic isolation of Mexican Americans in the public schools of the southwest. Report I. Washington, DC: US Commission on Civil Rights, 1970.

US Commission on Civil Rights. The unfinished education: Outcomes for minorities in the five southwestern states. Report II. Washington, DC: US Commission on Civil Rights, 1971.

US Commission on Civil Rights. The excluded student: Educational practices affecting Mexican Americans in the southwest. Report III. Washington, DC: US Commission on Civil Rights, 1972.

US House, Committee on the Judiciary. Education of the Spanish speaking: Hearings before the Civil Rights Oversight Subcommittee (Subcommittee No. 4), 92nd Cong., 2nd sess., 8 and 14 June 1972.

US House, Committee on the Judiciary. Federal government's role in the achievement of equal opportunity in housing: Hearings before the subcommittee No. 4, 92nd Cong., 1st and 2nd sess., 27 October, 3, 4 and 10 November, 2, 8 and 9 December 1971, 15 June 1972.

US Senate, Committee on Labor and Human Resources. Emergency School Aid Act of 1970: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Education and the Select Committee on Equal Education Opportunity, 91st Cong., 2nd sess., 9, 24 and 30 June, 10 July, 11 and 27 August 1970.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Pretest Census in Oakland, California, and Camden, New Jersey: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, 95th Cong., 1st sess., 25 March and 16 May 1977.

US Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs. 1980 decennial census: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation and Federal Services, 96th Cong., 1st sess., 27 February and 1 March 1979.

US House, Committee on Government Operations. The census undercount problem Hearing before a subcommittee, 96th Cong., 1st sess., 27 April 1979.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Oversight Hearings on the 1980 Census, Part XVI-- Memphis, Tennessee: Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, 96th Cong., 2nd sess., 8 February 1980.

Richardson GP. Feedback thought in social science and systems theory. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991. On the nature of causal order and interpretation, see Davis JA. The logic of causal order. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1985.

US Federal Interagency Committee on Education. Report of the Ad Hoc Committee on Racial and Ethnic Definitions. Washington, DC, 1975.

Johnson CE. Consistency of Reporting Ethnic Origin in the Current Population Survey. Bureau of the Census Technical Paper 31. Washington, DC: Bureau of the Census, 1974.

Robbin. Classifying racial and ethnic group data in the United States: the politics of negotiation and accommodation, Journal of Government Information 2000;27(2):129-156.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Review of Federal Measurement of Race and Ethnicity: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Census, Statistics and Postal Personnel, 103rd Cong., 1st sess., 14 April, 30 June, 29 July, 3 November 1993. p. 44.

US House. House Joint Resolution 92 relating to the publication of economic and social statistics for Americans of Spanish origin or descent; Wallman KK. Statistics for Americans of Spanish origin or descent. Stat Rep (February 1978);78(2):148-52.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Oversight hearings on the 1980 Census: Part I. Hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, 96th Cong., 1st sess., 7 March 1979. pp. 5-6.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Oversight hearings on the 1980 census: Part IV. Fresno, CA., 96th Cong., 1st sess., 19 April 1979. p. 2.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Services. Accuracy of 1970 Census enumeration and related matters: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Statistics, 91st Cong., 2nd sess., 15, 16, 22, 23, 24, 29, and 30 September 1970.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. 1980 census: Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, 94th Cong., 2nd sess., 1 and 2 June 1976. p. 34.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. 1980 Census: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, 95th Cong., 1st sess., 9, 10, and 24 June 1977. pp. 156-73.

US Senate, Committee on Governmental Affairs. 1980 Decennial Census: Hearings before the Subcommittee on Energy, Nuclear Proliferation and Federal Services, 96th Cong., 1st sess., 27 February and 1 March 1979. p. 194.

Anderson MJ. The American census: A social history. New Haven: Yale Univ. Press, 1988.

US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Census Advisory Committees on Minority Populations for 1990 decennial census: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, 99th Cong., 2nd sess., 27 February 1986. p. 6.

House Subcommittee on Census and Population Hearing on the 1990 Census, May 19, 1987 in US House, Committee on Post Office and Civil Service. Content of 1990 census questionnaire: Race, ethnicity, and ancestry: Hearing before the Subcommittee on Census and Population, 100th Cong., 1st sess., 19 May 1987. pp. 126-127.


Downloads

Downloads per month over past year

Actions (login required)

View Item View Item