Fair Park Expansion: A Case Study of Political Bias and Protest in Urban Politics Page: 49
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49
which operate to either encourage or inhibit participation
and access to government. Savitch gives these examples
of institutional arrangements and techniques which may be
used to exclude out-groups:
(1) Discriminatory selection of members
to fill positions on appointed boards. For
example, in New York City the school pop-
ulation consists largely of black and Puerto
Rican children from poor neighborhoods. How-
ever, prior to 1969, board of education mem-
bers were appointed through a screening
process with the result that "for more than
ten years elite organizations chose their
representation, while no spokesman ever sat
on behalf of the city's poor."
(2) Formal and informal gerrymandering
of electoral districts.
(3) Loaded voting and administrative
procedures used to preclude or discourage
out-groups from gaining power.
(4) Obstacles and petty harrassment
placed in the way of out-groups attemptin
to engage in civic of political activity.
The idea that political structure affects participation
and access is not a novel one. Verba and Nie state that
"some citizens live in circumstances where participation is
made easy by institutional structures; others live in cir-
cumstances where they are surrounded by institutions that
inhibit participation."36 Stated another way,
. elements in the environment impose
certain constraints on political activity
or open avenues for it. The manner in which
individuals and groups in the political
35Ibid., pp. 27-28.
36Verba and Nie, Particiation in America, p. 13.
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Davies, Elizabeth Durham. Fair Park Expansion: A Case Study of Political Bias and Protest in Urban Politics, thesis, August 1974; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc663026/m1/57/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; .