Locating the State: Dual Visibility in Contemporary American Government

Abstract

This dissertation examines how government is made visible in the lives of Americans, how this visibility varies across social groups, and what political consequences flow from this variation. Using in-depth interviews, ethnographic fieldwork, and quantitative analysis, I argue that public policy changes have created a racial divide in the way government manifests itself in the lives of Americans. Over the last 50 years, public benefits that disproportionately favor white Americans have grown increasingly hidden, while taxes and poverty programs perceived as mostly assisting people of color have risen in their conspicuousness. In addition, the decline of the civil rights legislation has clashed with the growing visibility of the criminal justice system, particularly due to the rise of mass incarceration and broken windows policing. As a result, government is most visible to white Americans as an entity that wastes “their” tax dollars on “welfare” programs, while the criminal justice system has become a uniquely visible face of government for people of color. This visibility helps explain why political trust has fallen to historic lows, but importantly by highlighting that this distrust is tied to different parts of the state, this dissertation illuminates the different political consequences caused by this distrust. Where white distrust tied to a concern over tax dollars is a politically mobilizing force, distrust of government pushes people of color away from the political process because it is rooted in a fear of the criminal justice system. Ultimately, this dual visibility dynamic promotes a racially patterned political inequality that hinders the prospects of progressive policy.