Topic

Data, Race, and Democracy

Task:

Write ALL 3 essays below (500 words each):

Respond to the following statement, making reference to at least TWO disciplines covered in Lectures from “LectureNotes.zip” (anthropology, sociology, psychology, economics, and political science):

“Quantitative data is more reliable than qualitative data“

Can a country that denies the right to vote to some of its citizens be called a true “democracy”?
Why do socially constructed ideas like “race” hold such influence in society?

Answer Preview

Many countries want to be termed as democratic from the way they involve their citizens in crucial exercises such as voting, in fact, most countries have constitutions that enshrine the right of all eligible citizens to vote (Acemoglue et al., 2015). The constitutional provisions are a point of reference on the need for countries to allow their citizens to participate in the democratic exercises. However, in the past, some groups of people like women were not allowed to vote in the argument that they were extremely emotional thus they could not vote and make choices of leaders. Countries can play the leading roles to ensure they become democratic by staging a democratic space that ensures all its citizens, including all minority groups, are enhanced with equal rights to execute their democratic obligations of voting. In this case, states need to ensure that they lay a framework within which citizens can freely vote and choose their own leaders. Therefore, a state which does not honor the freedom of all its citizens voting cannot be democratic due to the following reasons.

Word Count: 1800