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Due to a lack of annual data, the decennial
census data were
interpolated to provide approximate values for
the population, economic, and demographic
variables during non-census years. All of the
demographic variables show consistent patterns
of
change over time, allowing interpolation with a
reasonable expectation the results are accurate.
The states were chosen based on the county-level
Native American percentage. If a state
had one county where at least 40% of the
population was American Indian in 1990, the
state was
included in the analysis. Eight states were
included: Arizona, Montana, New Mexico, North
Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, and
Wisconsin.
Initial Analysis.
As an initial examination of the data, we wanted
to confirm that an increase in American
Indian population does, in fact, reduce turnout
within the states in our data pool, clearly
showing
the lack of voter turnout among American Indians
in national elections. Figure 1 is a plot of all
of the counties in the dataset. It plots the
turnout levels in the presidential elections
against the
percentage of the population that is American
Indian within the county.
Figure 1. Plot of Turnout and American Indian
Population Percentage.
In light of these brief remarks, we see that,
despite the impressive amount of research on
gambling, the dominant approach to this
condition is based on pathology, sidelining any
macro-contextual explanatory factors of a
political, historical, cultural or psychosocial
nature in constructing this discourse. In our
day, this definition is the dominant explanation
of the phenomenon of gambling. We also find that
how gambling is used and perceived varies over
time, referring to social reactions in the
public arena which differ according to the
social actors and social classes present and the
economic, historical and political context. From
this point of view, maybe we should think of
gambling as a social problem that develops over
time, rather than an individual pathology.
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