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Author decries cost of pervasive incentive rhetoric
LAWRENCE — A University of Kansas communication studies scholar has written a new book, “Works Like a Charm: Incentive Rhetoric and the Economization of Everyday Life,” which tackles the intrusion of incentives into nearly every facet of modern life, from health care to education to the legal system.
Law Review Symposium to revisit the landmark housing trial Shelley v. Kraemer
LAWRENCE — In 1948, the landmark case Shelley v. Kraemer set the precedent that it was unconstitutional for the judiciary to enforce racially restrictive housing covenants. On Oct. 13, the 2023 Kansas Law Review Symposium will host a panel of scholars to revisit the case and discuss what issues are still in play. Home Is Where the Law Says: 75 Years of Shelley v. Kraemer is free and open to the public. Registration is required.
Dole Institute announces 2023-24 Fellow
LAWRENCE – The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas has named its 2023-2024 Dole Fellow in partnership with the Kansas Rural Center. Karen Willey, a KRC board member and Douglas County commissioner, will engage with members of the Dole Institute’s Student Advisory Board to develop public programming for spring 2024 on topics related to sustainability in Kansas.
Full stories below.
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Contact: Rick Hellman, KU News Service, 785-864-8852, [email protected], @RickHellman
Author decries cost of pervasive incentive rhetoric
LAWRENCE — Ever feel like a hamster on a wheel, being forced to race for crumbs? Maybe when you’re offered a break on your health insurance premium if you’ll take part in a daily 10,000-step challenge?
Robert McDonald said this sort of financial incentive works only too well, which is part of why the University of Kansas assistant professor of communication studies resents the intrusion of incentives into virtually every facet of modern life, from health care to education to the legal system.
He lays out how this happened and discusses ways to counter the false choices we are too often offered from on high in his new book, “Works Like a Charm: Incentive Rhetoric and the Economization of Everyday Life” (SUNY Press).
While tracing the history of the incentive back to its Greek mythical etymology, McDonald lays the blame for its alienating quality today mainly at the feet of 20th century economists – epitomized by the University of Chicago’s Gary Becker – whose “parsimonious” philosophies have now metastasized into every other sphere of American life, McDonald said.
“The argument is that the tools of rhetoric help me understand precisely how that happens, how economic causality — supply and demand — becomes a universalizing explanation for every person’s behavior,” McDonald said. “The word incentive becomes increasingly a load-bearing term that explains virtually every precept of how we behave rationally.”
McDonald devotes two chapters in the book to the concept of “nudges” — things governments, corporations and others with power do to push us in the direction they desire.
“The idea behind the nudge,” McDonald said, “is that what economists call a choice architect is, instead of directly coercing people to do something or asking them nicely, constraining their available choices in order to get them to choose the thing that they would have wanted them to choose in the first place. Obamacare is a great example of this where you are nudged by penalties; you are nudged by cheap cost to sign up for health insurance.
“So the argument is that what nudges do, ultimately, is break the back of universal social goods because they introduce choice, rather than saying, ‘This is the thing we are going to offer people.’ Basically, it gives a kind of alibi for why people wouldn’t do such a thing.”
After diagnosing the problem, McDonald said, “What I advocate for in the final chapter is essentially a shift in the way we see ourselves, because we’re frequently told we are individualized. We are frequently told that we are largely alone in the world, that people are coming for our jobs and so forth.”
“So my suggestion is largely about collective ways of seeing things. I use the example of the West Virginia public school teachers. They struck. They put themselves on the line. They risked their jobs. They risked their livelihoods, because of a lot of changes that were happening … including around nudges … their health insurance premiums being raised, expectations for them to … have their bodies monitored, etc.
“And so my argument is that we have to look toward collective solutions, because we are always going to be told if you want a little bit cheaper health insurance, sign up for this and get your biometric scan, stuff like that.”
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Contact: Emma Herrman, School of Law, [email protected], @kulawschool
Law Review Symposium to revisit the landmark housing trial Shelley v. Kraemer
LAWRENCE — At a most basic level, a person’s home should be a source of safety, comfort and privacy. The freedom to decide where you live has historically been restricted to a small, wealthy and white section of the population. In 1948, the landmark case Shelley v. Kraemer set the precedent that it was unconstitutional for the judiciary to enforce racially restrictive housing covenants.
On Oct. 13, the 2023 Kansas Law Review Symposium will host a panel of scholars from across the country to revisit the case and discuss what issues are still in play 75 years later.
Home Is Where the Law Says: 75 Years of Shelley v. Kraemer will run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the University of Kansas School of Law in Green Hall. Check-in and breakfast will begin at 8:30 a.m. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.
Register and learn more about the symposium.
Speakers include:
Keynote speaker: Taja-Nia Henderson, Rutgers Graduate School-Newark
Stephen Clowney, University of Arkansas School of Law
Randall Johnson, University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Law
Rosa Newman-Ruffin, Elon University School of Law
Brandon Weiss, American University Washington College of Law
Lua Yuille, Northeastern University School of Law
This symposium will explore modern legal theory and realities of property rights, housing access, race and segregation, contracts and the implicit and explicit powers and effects of the law. Through this symposium, organizers seek to engage scholars writing in diverse areas including property rights, housing rights, constitutional law, contracts, tenancy, access and discrimination, zoning, tax and other topics.
Scholarship associated with the symposium will be published in a spring 2024 edition of the Kansas Law Review. For more information, contact Libby Rohr, symposium editor, at [email protected].
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Contact: Maria Fisher, Dole Institute of Politics, 785-864-4900, [email protected]
Dole Institute announces 2023-24 Fellow
LAWRENCE – The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas has named its 2023-2024 Dole Fellow in partnership with the Kansas Rural Center (KRC), a state-based nonprofit dedicated to promoting the long-term health of the land and its people through research, education and advocacy.
As a fellow-in-residence, Karen Willey, a KRC board member, will engage with members of the Dole Institute’s Student Advisory Board, led by students Braiden Bangalan and Rachel Creighton, to develop public programming for spring 2024 on topics related to sustainability in Kansas.
Karen Willey also serves as the Douglas County Commissioner for District 3. She has a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies and doctorate in geography, both from KU. She works as a nonprofit consultant through Futureful, a local company providing organizational health and fundraising support to health, housing and human services organizations in urban Kansas City. She leverages this social impact work along with her science and entrepreneurship experience in crafting grounded local policy.
Bangalan, from Lawrence, is majoring in global & international studies, political science and data science. Creighton, from Fort Morgan, Colorado, is majoring in political science and English with a minor in business.
“We are excited to partner with the Kansas Rural Center to create bipartisan, student-focused programming around critical issues of rural sustainability and their broader implications,” said Audrey Coleman, Dole Institute director.
“The Kansas Rural Center is honored to partner with the Dole Institute to bring together Kansans to discuss some of the most pressing challenges we face. This partnership is a great way to connect students with the community and issues around them,” said Tom Buller, executive director of the Kansas Rural Center.
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