Edith J. Barrett

The Policy Priorities of African American Women in State Legislatures

Much of the research on African American legislative behavior has focused on men in office, while the literature on female legislators has looked primarily at white women. Far less is known of the growing number of African American female politicians. As the findings of this paper reveal, black women are similar to nonblack women in their strong support for prowomens policy issues, and they are like black men in their solid support for minority-targeted policies. On the other hand, they are unlike other groups in their near unanimous agreement on the policies that are most important to them and that they are most likely to pursue while in office. Unlike other race and gender groups, black women in state legislatures seem to share a strong consensus on which policy areas should receive priority. To these women, the most pressing issues are education, health care, economic development, and employment.

Gender and race in the state house: The legislative experience

Abstract Women and minorities are now an integral part of state legislatures throughout the country. The results from surveying a nationwide sample of 230 state legislators show that women and black legislators differ from their male and white colleagues in their perceptions of the legislative experience. Women and blacks believe they must pay close attention to womens and minority concerns while at the same time demonstrating policy breadth. Black women legislators are especially keen to the roles of both women and minorities. White male legislators see little difference between their own experiences and those of their female and minority colleagues.

The Tempering Effect of Schools on Students Experiencing a Life-Changing Event: Teenagers and the Hurricane Katrina Evacuation.

Focusing specifically on adolescents forced to relocate after Hurricane Katrina, the study looks closely at the role of schools in helping adolescents adapt after a natural disaster. Data collected from 46 middle and high school students across a 6-month period demonstrate that those who showed the greatest improvements in their well-being were those who sought help from their teachers, whose new school created a milieu of cooperation, and who were placed in a school that neither went overboard trying to help nor ignored their special needs. The article concludes with recommendations for schools seeking to maximize the welfare of their students.

The Role of Public Opinion in Public Administration

The question of the representative role of public officials is an old one, but one that has become more complex as public administrators have gained quick and easy access to the views of the public through the widespread availability of public opinion surveys. Although they are not directly accountable to the public, nonappointed public administrators are nonetheless heavily involved in policy formation and implementation. This article uses several common definitions of representation to analyze the connection between administrator actions and public desires. It concludes with a suggestion that public administrators should act as enlightened trustees of the public: they should use their knowledge and expertise to make quality decisions, yet never allow the underlying public values to be ignored.

The Needs of Elders in Public Housing: Policy Considerations in the Era of Mixed-Income Redevelopment

A number of studies have followed the changes in the lives of public housing residents forced to relocate because of redevelopment. From 2002 to 2007, researchers followed the residents of a public housing development from the first year when residents learned of the pending demolition through 4 years of resettlement. Elder residents dispersed throughout the city provide insights into what life is like for low-income seniors leaving their homes and entering as strangers into new neighborhoods. The article concludes with recommendations for rethinking aging in place for poor elders.

The role of procedural justice in the allocation of limited resources: A West German perspective

Following the experimental design used by Barrett-Howard and Tyler (1986), this study examines the importance given by West German university students to procedural and distributive justice allocation decision making. After reading one of eight scenarios in which there was a limited resource to be allocated, the subjects answered questions concerning the importance and meaning of justice. For the most part, the results correspond to previous U.S. findings of the importance of procedural justice and its definition across various allocation settings. However, the West German students placed greater importance on having mechanisms for correcting inadequate decisions than did their American counterparts. Beyond the design of the initial U.S. study, however, the West German students were asked in an open-ended format to discuss their concerns in making the allocation decision. Nearly half of the unprompted responses centered around justice issues.

Public support for social security

Abstract This article reports the results of a nationally representative survey of 1,209 Americans that examines their support for Social Security and six other major social welfare programs. It probes the extent to which members of the public are willing to demonstrate their support, the differences in support among population subgroups, and the extent to which perceptions of Social Security and Social Security recipients predict overall support for Social Security. The authors find high levels of support among members of the public, including a willingness both to write letters to congress members and to pay higher taxes. Some groups of citizens—especially blacks and those who classify themselves as liberals—are more supportive than others, but the differences are not great and contribute little toward explaining the variance in support. The perceptions that the program makes a worthwhile contribution to society and that recipients have no alternative sources of income other than Social Security contribute the most toward predicting overall support for Social Security.

Support for the American Welfare State: The Views of Congress and the Public.

What is the state of the American welfare state? After half a century of growth and development, social welfare programs came under attack during the 1980s, generating widespread uncertainty about their future. Yet the welfare state weathered the assault. Cook and Barrett argue that social welfare in America is firmly rooted and that the American welfare state is here to stay. They attribute this to a strong reservoir of support on the part of both policymakers and the general public. Support for the American Welfare State asks how much support there is, who is most supportive, and why there are differences in levels of support. The authors report the results of a survey of attitudes of both the general public and members of the U.S. House of Representatives about Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, Medicare, Medicaid, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Food Stamps, and Unemployment Compensation-seven of the largest programs in the American welfare state.