{"product_id":"9780871542571","title":"Who Counts?: The Politics of Census-Taking in Contemporary America","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of \u003ci\u003eChoice\u003c\/i\u003e Magazine's Outstanding Academic Books of 2000\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor those interested in understanding the historical and scientific context of the census adjustment controversy, \u003ci\u003eWho Counts?\u003c\/i\u003e is absolutely essential reading. —\u003ci\u003eScience\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eEver since the founding fathers authorized a national headcount as the means of apportioning seats in the federal legislature, the decennial census has been a political battleground. Political power, and more recently the allocation of federal resources, depend directly upon who is counted and who is left out. \u003ci\u003eWho Counts?\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of the lawsuits, congressional hearings, and bureaucratic intrigues surrounding the 1990 census. These controversies formed largely around a single vexing question: should the method of conducting the census be modified in order to rectify the demonstrated undercount of poor urban minorities? But they also stemmed from a more general debate about the methods required to count an ever more diverse and mobile population of over two hundred million. The responses to these questions repeatedly pitted the innovations of statisticians and demographers against objections that their attempts to alter traditional methods may be flawed and even unconstitutional.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eWho Counts?\u003c\/i\u003e offers a detailed review of the preparation, implementation, and aftermath of the last three censuses. It recounts the growing criticisms of innaccuracy and undercounting, and the work to develop new enumeration strategies. The party shifts that followed national elections played an increasingly important role in the politization of the census, as the Department of Commerce asserted growing authority over the scientific endeavors of the Census Bureau. At the same time, each decade saw more city and state governments and private groups bringing suit to challenge census methodology and results. \u003ci\u003eWho Counts?\u003c\/i\u003e tracks the legal course that began in 1988, when a coalition led by New York City first sued to institute new statistical procedures in response to an alleged undercount of urban inhabitants. The challenge of accurately classifying an increasingly mixed population further threatens the legitimacy of the census, and \u003ci\u003eWho Counts?\u003c\/i\u003e investigates the difficulties of gaining unambiguous measurements of race and ethnicity, and the proposal that the race question be eliminated in favor of ethnic origin. \u003ci\u003eWho Counts?\u003c\/i\u003e concludes with a discussion of the proposed census design for 2000, as well as the implications of population counts on the composition and size of Congress. This volume reveals in extraordinary detail the interplay of law, politics, and science that propel the ongoing census debate, a debate whose outcome will have a tremendous impact on the distribution of political power and economic resources among the nation's communities.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\u003cb\u003eA Volume in the Russell Sage Foundation Census Series\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Russell Sage Foundation","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47008771440880,"sku":"9780871542571","price":16.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780871542571_p0.jpg?v=1763831383","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780871542571","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}