Matt A. Barreto ::

PolSci 181B / CCAS M155B: U.S. Latina/o Politics

Winter 2024, Tuesday & Thursday, 12:30pm - 1:45pm, Bunche 1209B

Course Description:

This class will examine the history and contemporary role of Hispanics and Latina/os in the U.S. political system. We begin with a brief historical analysis of Latina/o immigration and migration, followed by the struggles during the civil rights movement, then increases in citizenship, registration and voting in the 1980s and 1990s, and finally we address waves of anti-immigrant attitudes, and the response by Latinos today. The class will also focus on political relationships between Latinos and non-Latinos as they relate to political institutions, political parties, voting coalitions, representation and public policy – including a focus on Latinos role in recent presidential elections from 2008 to 2022. We will start each class session with a discussion of politics and current affairs news that specifically relates to Latinos in the U.S. – this content will appear on the final exam!

Finally, students will learn how to analyze data on Latina/o public opinion, voting behavior and political attitudes using the Latino National Survey (LNS), the Collaborative Multi-Racial Post-Election Survey (CMPS) 2016 or 2020 or the American National Election Study (ANES) 2016 or 2020 dataset on a broad range of topics. Review all the surveys to determine which has questions you are most interested in. Students can select to work on any political, policy, social issue topic and public opinion data will be provided. Students will conduct basic data analysis to answer questions about how Latina/os view the political system and why.

Note: Final exam to be held:  March 19, 2024 8am - 11am

Books / Articles:

Each week there will be required readings from one or more of these books. Readings should be done for the day they are assigned. For many weeks, the required readings are posted online, or distributed as a handout. The complete, week-by-week reading list is also posted on the course website.

• John Garcia and Gabriel R. Sanchez. 2021. Latino Politics in America: Community, Culture, and Interests, Fourth Edition. Rowman and Littlefield Press. (website)

• Barreto, Matt and Gary Segura. 2014. Latino America: How America’s Most Dynamic Population is Poised to Transform the Politics of the Nation. Public Affairs Press. (website)

Week-by-week syllabus with reading assignments: Download Syllabus -- subject to change given changes in circumstances due to COVID-19 or public health

Office Hours: Best option is usually before class at 12pm Tu/Th, but please email for appointment.

Supplemental Course Readings:

• Garcia & Sanchez chapters 1 - 2 for Week 1 
• Latino voter mobilization (Ramírez) for Week 4 
• GOTV and vote choice (Nuño) for Week 4 
• Door-to-door canvassing (Michelson) for Week 4 
• (Santa Ana) for Week 7
• 2016 election: (Sanchez & Gomez-Aguinaga) | (Barreto et. al.) | (Lavariega) | (Gutierrez et al.)for Week 7
• 2018 election: (Barreto, Segura & Morales) for Week 7
• 2020 election: (Ocampo, Garcia-Rios, & Gutierrez) for Week 8

For Final Project

• Instructions on how to access Stata for UCLA students (click here)
  1. Make sure you have an eduroam wifi account (free): Info here
  2. Setup your off-campus VPN: Instructions here
  3. Install Citrix Workspace App (download here)
  4. Open Citrix Workspace App --> Login with UCLA ID --> Choose CLICC
  5. UCLA IT Help Desk: 310-267-4357 (ext 1) or help@it.ucla.edu
  6. More UCLA help and info on accessing Stata: website here and more here
• Temporary short-term student access to install Stata - Details here
• Statistical consulting available at IDRE - details here
• You can also buy a student license to Stata starting at $48 - details here
• Stata has also given us a 6-month student trial license for this specific class, you should already have instructions on how to install
• Step-by-Step Stata instructions for Final Project
• Presentation outline guide for Final Project

  Datasets:

• Latino National Survey Questionnaire for Final Project, class use
• LNS Dataset in Stata format for Final Project, class use
• CMPS 2020 Questionnaire for Final Project, class use
• CMPS 2020 Latino sample - Stata format for Final Project, class use
• ANES 2020 Questionnaire for Final Project
• ANES Latino '20 Data in Stata format for Final Project
• CMPS 2016 Questionnaire + Data @ ICPSR repository for Final Project
• ANES 2016 Questionnaire for Final Project
• ANES Latino '16 Data in Stata format for Final Project
• Example charts in Excel for Final Project
• R Instructions for Final Project