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Faces of Inequality: Social Diversity in American Politics

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States are more directly involved in policy making than national government. Further, states hold a major portion of power over laws concerning the "health, safety, morals, and well-being" of its citizenry (4). Subsequently, the analysis of state politics is based on the devolution of this power and focuses on political outcomes such as policy formation. In Faces of Inequality, Rodney Hero argues that race and ethnicity are centrally linked to the development of state policy, political institutions, party organizations, and interest group conflict. Hero's theory in this book is logically well-formed - because there are differences among states - despite the same overarching institutional framework (4). Race and ethnic groups are major features of U.S history, are not equally distributed across states, and have had very different historical and political experiences.
In order to capture the political outcomes of states, Hero systematically analyzes the relationship of state racial and ethnic make-up to an umbrella of political features using simple state-level regression analysis. This type of analysis makes this book especially appealing to the student of political science. Strength and formation of political parties, interest groups, state policies, and institutions are found to be significantly related to state's race and ethnic composition. Further, Hero finds that these variables give much more explanatory value to political outcomes at the state level. He claims that knowing the social composition while analyzing state-level politics adds a `face' to American politics. Social diversity disaggregates, contextualizes, and serves as a core influence on and explanation of political phenomenon at the state-level.
Hero provides a good review of past theories and studies of state-level political analysis. Preceding this review he develops his central argument - states fall into several patterns according to their race and ethnic diversity (11-15). These patterns are placed into three main categories: homogenous states (states with very small minority populations and few white ethnics); heterogeneous states (states with a large white ethnic population along with a significant amount of minority populations); and bifurcated states (states with large minority populations, primarily black and/or Latino, as well as large white non-ethnic populations). Hero's development of this pattern prepares the reader for a whirlwind of critiques of past studies and theories of state politics. He does a great job in arming the reader and trumping through a hefty load of theories - all the while presenting critical assessments of how his social diversity model could better explain political phenomenon at the state-level.