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  • © 2020

Census 2020

Understanding the Issues

  • Addresses the unique issues of a census in the 21st Century, including hacking, mistrust of government, privacy concerns, a highly mobile population, and hard-to-count subgroups

  • Investigates and analyzes the entwined technical and political issues of the Census

  • Explores recent Supreme Court decisions affecting the Census

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Table of contents (6 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xi
  2. Who, What, When, and Where of the Census

    • Teresa A. Sullivan
    Pages 17-31
  3. The Citizenship Issue and Gerrymandering

    • Teresa A. Sullivan
    Pages 49-67
  4. Privacy and Data Protection

    • Teresa A. Sullivan
    Pages 69-84
  5. Are There Alternatives to the Census?

    • Teresa A. Sullivan
    Pages 85-95
  6. Back Matter

    Pages 97-113

About this book

The decennial Census is the US Government's largest statistical undertaking, and it costs billions of dollars in planning, execution, and analysis. From a statistical viewpoint, it is critical because it is the only database that maps every inhabitant into a geographic location. By constitutional mandate, census data are the basis for reapportioning the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. The states use census data to redistrict their state legislatures and often to redraw boundaries for local elections. Census data inform the distribution of over $1.5 trillion in federal funding during the decade.

This book details the fundamentals and significance of the 2020 Census for the non-specialist reader. It covers why the Census is the only statistical activity required by the US Constitution, the challenges of working towards an accurate and complete count, and what political ramifications flow from this process. Concise, timely, and comprehensible, this book provides helpful real-life examples while also offering an overview of the entwined statistical and political issues that surround the Census.

 






Keywords

  • US Census
  • 2020 Census
  • demography
  • democracy
  • citizenship question
  • coverage error
  • response error
  • gerrymandering
  • us politics

Authors and Affiliations

  • Department of Sociology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA, USA, Interim Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Office of the Provost, Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA

    Teresa A. Sullivan

About the author

Teresa A. Sullivan is president emerita and university professor of sociology at the University of Virginia, and the interim provost and executive vice president for academic affairs at Michigan State University. Renowned for her scholarly contributions in social demography, she is the author or coauthor of multiple publications, including The Fragile Middle Class: Americans in Debt (2000, with E. Warren and J. L. Westbrook), The Social Organization of Work (2011, with R. Hodson), and As We Forgive Our Debtors: Bankruptcy and Consumer Credit in America (1999, with E. Warren and J. L. Westbrook).


Bibliographic Information

Buy it now

Buying options

eBook USD 19.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 24.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access