The Sum of Us Terms

The Affordable Care Act (frequently branded “Obamacare”) is a major 2010 healthcare reform law. Among other provisions, it enabled states to expand the U.S. Medicaid system, created online marketplaces and subsidized low-income people to… read analysis of Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”)

Demos is the progressive inequality-focused think tank where Heather McGhee spent most of her early career. Although she started out as a junior policy researcher in 2002, she eventually became the organization’s president from 2014-17. read analysis of Demos

The Fight for $15 is a nationwide labor movement that advocates for a higher ($15-an-hour) minimum wage. read analysis of Fight for $15

The G.I. Bill was a law that gave a range of financial benefits to U.S. soldiers after World War II. Most importantly, the G.I. Bill offered free college tuition and low-cost mortgages for all returning… read analysis of G.I. Bill

Medicaid expansion is the provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows states to offer Medicaid coverage to everyone making less than 133% of the federal poverty line (in 2020, around $30,000 for a three-person… read analysis of Medicaid Expansion

The New Deal was an array of economic programs and reforms implemented by Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration during the Great Depression to restart the economy and support workers. While it played a significant role in… read analysis of New Deal

Racial resentment is political scientists’ term for hostility towards minority groups (and especially Black people). People with high levels of racial resentment blame racial inequities on minority groups’ culture and level of effort, and they… read analysis of Racial Resentment

The racial wealth gap is the stark difference in white and nonwhite families’ net worth: as of 2021, the average white family has 10 times the wealth of the average Black family and eight times… read analysis of Racial Wealth Gap

Redlining is a form of discrimination in which financial institutions refuse to provide the same services—especially credit for mortgages—to minority groups. The term “redlining” comes from government maps that color-coded minority neighborhoods red in order… read analysis of Redlining

Shelby County v. Holder was a 2013 Supreme Court case that overturned the part of the Voting Rights Act that enabled the federal government to oversee state election laws. Without this oversight, states have been… read analysis of Shelby County v. Holder

Social dominance orientation is the preference for social hierarchy over equality, based on the belief that some groups are inherently better than others. Sociologist Kirsti M. Jylhä argues that white Americans’ high level of social… read analysis of Social Dominance Orientation

Solidarity Dividend is Heather McGhee’s term for the kind of political gains that can only be achieved by rejecting zero-sum thinking and working across racial lines. For instance, labor unions win better contracts when… read analysis of Solidarity Dividend

Subprime loans are high-interest rate loans designed for people with low credit scores, who are not eligible for ordinary loans. The financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession started because many borrowers defaulted on… read analysis of Subprime Loans/Mortgages

The Three-fifths Compromise is a provision in the U.S. Constitution that enabled states to count three-fifths of their enslaved populations toward their tax obligations and representation in Congress. This substantially increased slave states’ political power… read analysis of Three-Fifths Compromise

Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation is a program designed by hundreds of experts to help American communities identify, understand, and overcome the legacy of racism. It focuses on connecting people across racial lines, building a… read analysis of Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation (TRHT)

The United Auto Workers is a large, politically powerful labor union that historically enabled American factory workers to earn solid middle-class wages, but it failed to unionize southern car factories from the 1970s onward. read analysis of United Auto Workers (UAW)

The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a major civil rights law that banned voting discrimination and enabled Black people to vote in large numbers for only the second time in American history (the first… read analysis of Voting Rights Act

The zero-sum paradigm is the assumption that politics is a zero-sum competition between different racial groups—meaning that what is good for people of color must necessarily hurt white people, and vice-versa. McGhee blames the zero-sum… read analysis of Zero-sum Paradigm