Social Science

William Yen ‘23, image from Unsplash.com Thank you all for supporting the social science column on the Quad, and for supporting me as I navigate my interests and find my passions. I am so grateful for having the unique opportunity to write and publish my own content to a large audience. As a final attachment, I’m linking below this year’s articles in case you missed any. Happy learning! The Psychology Behind Musical NostalgiaThe Bystander EffectA Look At the Electoral College Maps Over the YearsMaine and Nebraska: The Prospect of a Proportional Electoral Voting SystemCongressperson Spotlight: Jackie SpeierCongressperson Spotlight: Anna EshooMercator…

Photo from Unsplash.com

Image from Unsplash.com

Photo from Unsplash.com, The Library of Congress

A new subsection of the Social Science column, brought to you by Alexander Lourdes Medel, who is also rocking it as a host of Quad Queries! Image from Unsplash.com

William Yen ‘23 Social Science - Geography When projecting our three-dimensional earth onto a two-dimensional map, cartographic flaws are inevitable. The Mercator Projection, a common map used on navigation platforms like Google Maps, is rendered through a series of linear projections from a globe to a cylinder surrounding it. When the cylinder is unraveled, it reveals a 2D map. [This is a good visualization of the process] This method of map-making allows for angular precision, which is why navigation services prefer this map. However, it sacrifices the accuracy of the sizes of land masses, creating distortions across various latitudes. Most…

William Yen '23 Anna Eshoo is the incumbent representative of California’s 18th District, which encompasses the land from Redwood City to Mountain View in the Bay Area. Prior to her twenty seven years serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, Eshoo first served as the Chair of the San Mateo Democratic Party. Then, from 1982 to 1992, she was elected to and served on the San Mateo Board of Supervisors. Finally, in the 1992 Election, Eshoo was elected to the seat for the 14th District. After the 2010 redistricting, she has since represented the 18th district. Stances (quoted from her…

William Yen '23 While our California representatives may not each be as renowned as our two senators, they still play a crucial role in providing a political voice to each district and community. In this article, we will discuss Jackie Speier, who currently represents California's 14th Congressional District (Daly City-Redwood City) in the House of Representatives. Before her years as congresswomen, Speier was a member of the California State Assembly, the lower house of the California State Legislature, serving from 1986-1996. In 1998, she was then elected to the California State Senate, the upper house of the California State Legislature,…

William Yen ‘23 “Nebraska - The Good Life - Welcome Sign” by Tony Webster is licensed by CC BY 2.0 In our state, California, the votes for presidential elections are dictated by a winner-takes-all system, meaning that the candidate who wins the state popular vote receives all electoral votes from that state. Forty-eight of the fifty states use this winner-take-all system— all except Nebraska and Maine. Starting in the 1972 Presidential Election, the state of Maine began to use a new, unconventional electoral voting method, called the Congressional District Method. Before we delve into the definition of this method, it…

William Yen '23 Since 1790, the United States government has held a decennial census, a constitutionally mandated procedure. It determines which type of people live where, and in what quantities. While it is used for a variety of purposes, such as health and retirement planning and the distribution of federal and state money, arguably, its most significant purpose is for political representation. That is, in the House of Representatives and the Electoral College. In this article, we will use the electoral college maps of various presidential elections to track the political representation of 4 consequential states: California, Texas, Florida, and…