Lizabeth Cohen
- Published in print:
- 2009
- Published Online:
- July 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195392135
- eISBN:
- 9780199852543
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195392135.003.0012
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Looking at the rising economic inequality of the last quarter century and how it undermines Americans' confidence that their democratic capitalist system remains sufficient in distributing political ...
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Looking at the rising economic inequality of the last quarter century and how it undermines Americans' confidence that their democratic capitalist system remains sufficient in distributing political and economic benefits to its citizens, the chapter begins by explaining the complex connections between the state and inequality through time. It argues that a better understanding can be attained only if the issue is historically contextualized and considered as part of the long evolution of the American state. Thus, in this chapter, a schema of five regimes of state building and their consequences for the shifting nature of inequality in American society is presented.Less
Looking at the rising economic inequality of the last quarter century and how it undermines Americans' confidence that their democratic capitalist system remains sufficient in distributing political and economic benefits to its citizens, the chapter begins by explaining the complex connections between the state and inequality through time. It argues that a better understanding can be attained only if the issue is historically contextualized and considered as part of the long evolution of the American state. Thus, in this chapter, a schema of five regimes of state building and their consequences for the shifting nature of inequality in American society is presented.
Michael Foley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232673
- eISBN:
- 9780191716362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232673.003.0014
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines conservatism in American society. It argues that conservatives have become the most conspicuous feature of American politics in terms of intellectual engagement and ideological ...
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This chapter examines conservatism in American society. It argues that conservatives have become the most conspicuous feature of American politics in terms of intellectual engagement and ideological conviction. In effect, they have set out to redefine the moral and historical basis of the liberal mainstream. Organic conservatism, individualist conservatism, the conservative matrix, the religious right, neoconservatism are discussed.Less
This chapter examines conservatism in American society. It argues that conservatives have become the most conspicuous feature of American politics in terms of intellectual engagement and ideological conviction. In effect, they have set out to redefine the moral and historical basis of the liberal mainstream. Organic conservatism, individualist conservatism, the conservative matrix, the religious right, neoconservatism are discussed.
David Paul Nord
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195173116
- eISBN:
- 9780199835683
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195173112.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter describes the growth of the great national, non-profit religious publishing societies during the second and third decades of the 19th century. It focuses on the American Bible Society, ...
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This chapter describes the growth of the great national, non-profit religious publishing societies during the second and third decades of the 19th century. It focuses on the American Bible Society, the American Tract Society, and the American Sunday School Union. These societies were innovators in modern printing technologies and distribution strategies, but remained true to the overriding goal of charity publishing.Less
This chapter describes the growth of the great national, non-profit religious publishing societies during the second and third decades of the 19th century. It focuses on the American Bible Society, the American Tract Society, and the American Sunday School Union. These societies were innovators in modern printing technologies and distribution strategies, but remained true to the overriding goal of charity publishing.
David Paul Nord
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195173116
- eISBN:
- 9780199835683
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195173112.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This chapter discusses the business organization strategies of religious publishers. Although the American Bible Society, American Tract Society, and American Sunday School Union had developed the ...
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This chapter discusses the business organization strategies of religious publishers. Although the American Bible Society, American Tract Society, and American Sunday School Union had developed the technological capacity for universal mass media by 1830, they lacked the organizational ability to distribute these books to all the people who needed them. Focusing on the work of the American Bible Society and American Tract Society in the 1830s and 1840s, it is shown how the religious publishers created new structures and strategies of business organization to do, through the invisible hand of administration, what invisible hand of the market could not do.Less
This chapter discusses the business organization strategies of religious publishers. Although the American Bible Society, American Tract Society, and American Sunday School Union had developed the technological capacity for universal mass media by 1830, they lacked the organizational ability to distribute these books to all the people who needed them. Focusing on the work of the American Bible Society and American Tract Society in the 1830s and 1840s, it is shown how the religious publishers created new structures and strategies of business organization to do, through the invisible hand of administration, what invisible hand of the market could not do.
Michael Foley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232673
- eISBN:
- 9780191716362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232673.003.0018
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter discusses the contemporary challenges confronting the established conventions and dynamics associated with America's ideational arrangements. Topics covered include cultural fears, the ...
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This chapter discusses the contemporary challenges confronting the established conventions and dynamics associated with America's ideational arrangements. Topics covered include cultural fears, the international challenge, and the challenge of democracy.Less
This chapter discusses the contemporary challenges confronting the established conventions and dynamics associated with America's ideational arrangements. Topics covered include cultural fears, the international challenge, and the challenge of democracy.
Michael Foley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232673
- eISBN:
- 9780191716362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232673.003.0007
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter discusses the egalitarian principle in American society. It presents three outlooks on equality: equality as given, equality as process, and equality in the breach. It then considers the ...
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This chapter discusses the egalitarian principle in American society. It presents three outlooks on equality: equality as given, equality as process, and equality in the breach. It then considers the ‘racial problem’ involving Black Americans, the feminist challenge to equality, and barriers to complete social equality.Less
This chapter discusses the egalitarian principle in American society. It presents three outlooks on equality: equality as given, equality as process, and equality in the breach. It then considers the ‘racial problem’ involving Black Americans, the feminist challenge to equality, and barriers to complete social equality.
Michael Foley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232673
- eISBN:
- 9780191716362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232673.003.0016
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines American nationalism. American nationalism is widely reputed not only to be based upon values but to be primarily understood and expressed in terms of these characterizing ...
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This chapter examines American nationalism. American nationalism is widely reputed not only to be based upon values but to be primarily understood and expressed in terms of these characterizing principles. The ideas in questions are those core values associated with the United States — liberty, democracy, rule of law, individual rights, progress, equality, and property. In one respect, America's tradition of ‘open nationalism’ provides a satisfactory account of the country's social cohesion and ideological unity. Under these ecumenical auspices, nationalism can offer a plausible explanation of how America's disparate values have been reconciled into an amalgam capable of providing both the focal point and the unifying medium for a vast immigrant culture.Less
This chapter examines American nationalism. American nationalism is widely reputed not only to be based upon values but to be primarily understood and expressed in terms of these characterizing principles. The ideas in questions are those core values associated with the United States — liberty, democracy, rule of law, individual rights, progress, equality, and property. In one respect, America's tradition of ‘open nationalism’ provides a satisfactory account of the country's social cohesion and ideological unity. Under these ecumenical auspices, nationalism can offer a plausible explanation of how America's disparate values have been reconciled into an amalgam capable of providing both the focal point and the unifying medium for a vast immigrant culture.
James W. Cortada
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195165869
- eISBN:
- 9780199868025
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195165869.003.0010
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Business History
This chapter addresses the various issues raised in this book. It also identifies patterns of behavior and extracts lessons, finally situating the role of IT of the public sector into the broader ...
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This chapter addresses the various issues raised in this book. It also identifies patterns of behavior and extracts lessons, finally situating the role of IT of the public sector into the broader experiences of modern American society. Topics discussed include the public sector as a galaxy of industries, how the digital hand changed the work of government and education, IT adoption patterns, and the role of the public sector as creator of today's economy.Less
This chapter addresses the various issues raised in this book. It also identifies patterns of behavior and extracts lessons, finally situating the role of IT of the public sector into the broader experiences of modern American society. Topics discussed include the public sector as a galaxy of industries, how the digital hand changed the work of government and education, IT adoption patterns, and the role of the public sector as creator of today's economy.
Michael Foley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232673
- eISBN:
- 9780191716362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232673.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter discusses the importance of progress in American society. Change is conceived as being largely synonymous with vitality, purpose, and direction, and is viewed as an integral and ...
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This chapter discusses the importance of progress in American society. Change is conceived as being largely synonymous with vitality, purpose, and direction, and is viewed as an integral and imperative feature of an open society. Political, economic, and social forms of progress are generally thought to occur in tandem and, especially so, in a social order like that of the United States which is traditionally geared to the emancipation of human potential for individual action and collective enterprise.Less
This chapter discusses the importance of progress in American society. Change is conceived as being largely synonymous with vitality, purpose, and direction, and is viewed as an integral and imperative feature of an open society. Political, economic, and social forms of progress are generally thought to occur in tandem and, especially so, in a social order like that of the United States which is traditionally geared to the emancipation of human potential for individual action and collective enterprise.
Michael Foley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232673
- eISBN:
- 9780191716362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232673.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter discusses the issue of order in American society. Topics covered include the foundations of order, government action into the private sphere of individual liberty on the grounds of ...
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This chapter discusses the issue of order in American society. Topics covered include the foundations of order, government action into the private sphere of individual liberty on the grounds of preventing disorder, response to terrorism, order as a constitutional principle, social control and conspiracy, and criminal justice and private security.Less
This chapter discusses the issue of order in American society. Topics covered include the foundations of order, government action into the private sphere of individual liberty on the grounds of preventing disorder, response to terrorism, order as a constitutional principle, social control and conspiracy, and criminal justice and private security.
Thomas Davis
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780195390971
- eISBN:
- 9780199777099
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195390971.001.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity, Church History
The point of this book is that, despite all the changes and challenges, and despite Calvinism’s ultimate failure to hold the American consciousness, and despite an especially fervent effort to ...
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The point of this book is that, despite all the changes and challenges, and despite Calvinism’s ultimate failure to hold the American consciousness, and despite an especially fervent effort to dismiss the Calvinist outlook from American culture by sermon (Channing, and, after him, by the new religious movements that numerically overwhelmed the old Puritan faith, such as Methodism) or by the art of letters and the novel (Sedgwick and others, yes, but also those deep within the tradition of Calvinism who brought their most anguished complaints against it to the light of day through their written work—one thinks of the Beecher children) or by the sardonic newspaper column (H. L. Mencken), the fact remained and remains that Calvinism in America has had an impact on American society and culture in every century of American life, even if at times it goes unrecognized. And behind Calvinism stands Calvin. This book examines the influence of John Calvin and his various (and, at times, competing) heirs on American life. It explores Calvin’s influence—whether direct or mediated—from the beginnings of the United States until the present day, analyzing it in relation to such areas as society (including economics, government, and democracy), theology, and letters. The essays span the history of the United States, from the arrival of Puritans in the seventeenth century up to works of fiction published in the twentieth-first century. Thus, the book is unique in terms of its examination of the breadth and depth of Calvin’s influence on American life.Less
The point of this book is that, despite all the changes and challenges, and despite Calvinism’s ultimate failure to hold the American consciousness, and despite an especially fervent effort to dismiss the Calvinist outlook from American culture by sermon (Channing, and, after him, by the new religious movements that numerically overwhelmed the old Puritan faith, such as Methodism) or by the art of letters and the novel (Sedgwick and others, yes, but also those deep within the tradition of Calvinism who brought their most anguished complaints against it to the light of day through their written work—one thinks of the Beecher children) or by the sardonic newspaper column (H. L. Mencken), the fact remained and remains that Calvinism in America has had an impact on American society and culture in every century of American life, even if at times it goes unrecognized. And behind Calvinism stands Calvin. This book examines the influence of John Calvin and his various (and, at times, competing) heirs on American life. It explores Calvin’s influence—whether direct or mediated—from the beginnings of the United States until the present day, analyzing it in relation to such areas as society (including economics, government, and democracy), theology, and letters. The essays span the history of the United States, from the arrival of Puritans in the seventeenth century up to works of fiction published in the twentieth-first century. Thus, the book is unique in terms of its examination of the breadth and depth of Calvin’s influence on American life.
David Paul Nord
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- July 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195173116
- eISBN:
- 9780199835683
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195173112.003.0009
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
This epilogue describes the transition of mainstream religious publishing from the millennial high of general supplies conducted by great ecumenical societies to the more steady, yet fragmented, ...
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This epilogue describes the transition of mainstream religious publishing from the millennial high of general supplies conducted by great ecumenical societies to the more steady, yet fragmented, world of the denominational publisher. By the early 1860s, the largest religious publisher in America was no longer the American Bible Society (ABS) or the American Tract Society (ATS) but the Methodist Book Concern. Both the ABS and the ATS lives on; they continue to live on today, in an age of multimedia CD-ROMs and e-tracts. But after 1860, they learned to live within an enormously diverse constellation of denominations and religious publishing enterprises.Less
This epilogue describes the transition of mainstream religious publishing from the millennial high of general supplies conducted by great ecumenical societies to the more steady, yet fragmented, world of the denominational publisher. By the early 1860s, the largest religious publisher in America was no longer the American Bible Society (ABS) or the American Tract Society (ATS) but the Methodist Book Concern. Both the ABS and the ATS lives on; they continue to live on today, in an age of multimedia CD-ROMs and e-tracts. But after 1860, they learned to live within an enormously diverse constellation of denominations and religious publishing enterprises.
Nicholas P. Cushner
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195307566
- eISBN:
- 9780199784936
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195307569.003.0002
- Subject:
- Religion, History of Christianity
Renaissance Europeans were “certain” that they had reached the pinnacle of human endeavor. Religion, culture, art, society, and behavior were elements that differed from Europe to America. The ...
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Renaissance Europeans were “certain” that they had reached the pinnacle of human endeavor. Religion, culture, art, society, and behavior were elements that differed from Europe to America. The motivations of European missionaries involved the attempt to instill those elements into Native American societies. Spanish missionaries were aided by the Union of Church and State.Less
Renaissance Europeans were “certain” that they had reached the pinnacle of human endeavor. Religion, culture, art, society, and behavior were elements that differed from Europe to America. The motivations of European missionaries involved the attempt to instill those elements into Native American societies. Spanish missionaries were aided by the Union of Church and State.
Michael Foley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232673
- eISBN:
- 9780191716362
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232673.003.0015
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
This chapter examines populism in the United States. It argues that despite some of the historical and social ambiguities that surround American populism, the contribution of populism remains a ...
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This chapter examines populism in the United States. It argues that despite some of the historical and social ambiguities that surround American populism, the contribution of populism remains a valuable component of America's democratic culture. The populist impulse can act as a potent corrective to the self-absorption of political elites and a necessary antidote to the habitual co-option of the people's name by office-holders and decision-makers. At its worst, populism can become embroiled in existential speculations over the identity of the people, which can lead not so much to the moralization of politics but to the moral rejection of politics in favour of a simplified and more ominous alternative. At its best, populism offers a critical awareness of the anomalies and imbalances within a mass democracy, as well as a reformist impulse that finds expression either through a renovation of established institutions or through the provision of alternative public spheres. Soft populism, hard populism, and populist paradoxes are discussed.Less
This chapter examines populism in the United States. It argues that despite some of the historical and social ambiguities that surround American populism, the contribution of populism remains a valuable component of America's democratic culture. The populist impulse can act as a potent corrective to the self-absorption of political elites and a necessary antidote to the habitual co-option of the people's name by office-holders and decision-makers. At its worst, populism can become embroiled in existential speculations over the identity of the people, which can lead not so much to the moralization of politics but to the moral rejection of politics in favour of a simplified and more ominous alternative. At its best, populism offers a critical awareness of the anomalies and imbalances within a mass democracy, as well as a reformist impulse that finds expression either through a renovation of established institutions or through the provision of alternative public spheres. Soft populism, hard populism, and populist paradoxes are discussed.
Jeffrey C. Alexander
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195162509
- eISBN:
- 9780199943364
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195162509.003.0027
- Subject:
- Sociology, Culture
Since their first institutionalization in the seventeenth century, the promises made by the civil spheres of democratic nation-states have been mocked by gross exclusions and inequalities. These ...
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Since their first institutionalization in the seventeenth century, the promises made by the civil spheres of democratic nation-states have been mocked by gross exclusions and inequalities. These destructive intrusions have entered into the very construction of civil spheres, distorting their discourse, institutions, and interaction. Yet insofar as the civil sphere has retained any autonomy at all, and it often has, it has held out the continual possibility for civic repair. Those whom civil society has repressed in the name of a restricted and particularistic conception of civil competence, it also can save. More precisely, it can offer resources so that they can save themselves. This chapter discusses racial domination and duality in the construction of American civil society; duality and counterpublics; duality and the construction of black civil society; and duality toward the civil rights movement.Less
Since their first institutionalization in the seventeenth century, the promises made by the civil spheres of democratic nation-states have been mocked by gross exclusions and inequalities. These destructive intrusions have entered into the very construction of civil spheres, distorting their discourse, institutions, and interaction. Yet insofar as the civil sphere has retained any autonomy at all, and it often has, it has held out the continual possibility for civic repair. Those whom civil society has repressed in the name of a restricted and particularistic conception of civil competence, it also can save. More precisely, it can offer resources so that they can save themselves. This chapter discusses racial domination and duality in the construction of American civil society; duality and counterpublics; duality and the construction of black civil society; and duality toward the civil rights movement.
Rosanna Hertz
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195179903
- eISBN:
- 9780199944118
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195179903.003.0102
- Subject:
- Sociology, Marriage and the Family
This chapter concludes Part II of this book. While American society has reached a new marital low point and has begun the reconstruction of family life, it has not seen the demise of the master ...
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This chapter concludes Part II of this book. While American society has reached a new marital low point and has begun the reconstruction of family life, it has not seen the demise of the master narrative that still privileges the two-parent heterosexual genetic family. At the epicenter of the master narrative is the father, the patriarchal puppeteer of the family. Part II highlighted how women craft families to make their own look more like the “ordinary” American family. Single mothers begin to cut the strings en route to motherhood, only to find themselves dancing, on behalf of their children, to the master narrative once again.Less
This chapter concludes Part II of this book. While American society has reached a new marital low point and has begun the reconstruction of family life, it has not seen the demise of the master narrative that still privileges the two-parent heterosexual genetic family. At the epicenter of the master narrative is the father, the patriarchal puppeteer of the family. Part II highlighted how women craft families to make their own look more like the “ordinary” American family. Single mothers begin to cut the strings en route to motherhood, only to find themselves dancing, on behalf of their children, to the master narrative once again.
Heather A. Haveman
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691164403
- eISBN:
- 9781400873883
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691164403.003.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Social Theory
This book explores the role that magazines played in the modernization of America, and particularly in the development of translocal communities, during the period 1741–1860. Drawing on original data ...
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This book explores the role that magazines played in the modernization of America, and particularly in the development of translocal communities, during the period 1741–1860. Drawing on original data obtained from 5,362 magazines published during this period, the book analyzes how the growing number and variety of magazines promoted and directed modern community building in America. It investigates the ways that magazines affected and were affected by key features of American society, including rapid population growth and urbanization; breakthroughs in printing and papermaking technologies; the rise of religious communities and social reform movements; the growth of educational institutions; and the emergence of scientific agriculture. This introduction reviews scholarship on modernization and community and explains how these concepts apply to America during the period. It also provides an overview of the chapters that follow.Less
This book explores the role that magazines played in the modernization of America, and particularly in the development of translocal communities, during the period 1741–1860. Drawing on original data obtained from 5,362 magazines published during this period, the book analyzes how the growing number and variety of magazines promoted and directed modern community building in America. It investigates the ways that magazines affected and were affected by key features of American society, including rapid population growth and urbanization; breakthroughs in printing and papermaking technologies; the rise of religious communities and social reform movements; the growth of educational institutions; and the emergence of scientific agriculture. This introduction reviews scholarship on modernization and community and explains how these concepts apply to America during the period. It also provides an overview of the chapters that follow.
Michael Foley
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- January 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199232673
- eISBN:
- 9780191716362
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199232673.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
American society may be hostile to the thought of ideologies, but it possesses a sophisticated but little understood ability to engage in deep conflicts over political ideas, while at the same time ...
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American society may be hostile to the thought of ideologies, but it possesses a sophisticated but little understood ability to engage in deep conflicts over political ideas, while at the same time reducing adversarial positions to legitimate derivatives of American history and development. This book asks how this occurs; how the sources, traditions, and usages of core ideas and their derivative compounds animate political discourse and structure the basis of political conflict; and how it is possible to sustain a high incidence of competitive value-laden argument and principled political conflict within a stable political order. The fundamental aim of this book is to examine the traditions and usages of American political ideas within the arena of practical politics. By locating them in their respective contexts, it is possible to assess both their changing meanings and their shifting relationships to one another. In surveying America's core ideas, the book facilitates an informed awareness of their political and cultural leverage as forms of persuasion and sources of legitimacy. The book roots the examination of American political ideas firmly in the milieu of social drives, political movements, and contemporary issues within which the ideas themselves are embedded. This not only allows the study to investigate the interior properties and traditional priorities of America's key values, but permits the theoretical implications and practical consequences of these ideas to be traced and evaluated.Less
American society may be hostile to the thought of ideologies, but it possesses a sophisticated but little understood ability to engage in deep conflicts over political ideas, while at the same time reducing adversarial positions to legitimate derivatives of American history and development. This book asks how this occurs; how the sources, traditions, and usages of core ideas and their derivative compounds animate political discourse and structure the basis of political conflict; and how it is possible to sustain a high incidence of competitive value-laden argument and principled political conflict within a stable political order. The fundamental aim of this book is to examine the traditions and usages of American political ideas within the arena of practical politics. By locating them in their respective contexts, it is possible to assess both their changing meanings and their shifting relationships to one another. In surveying America's core ideas, the book facilitates an informed awareness of their political and cultural leverage as forms of persuasion and sources of legitimacy. The book roots the examination of American political ideas firmly in the milieu of social drives, political movements, and contemporary issues within which the ideas themselves are embedded. This not only allows the study to investigate the interior properties and traditional priorities of America's key values, but permits the theoretical implications and practical consequences of these ideas to be traced and evaluated.
Derek Chang
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- April 2005
- ISBN:
- 9780195149180
- eISBN:
- 9780199835386
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195149181.003.0006
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
This essay discusses the work of the American Baptist Home Mission Society with African-Americans and Chinese immigrants in the late nineteenth century. It explores the tensions between hierarchy and ...
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This essay discusses the work of the American Baptist Home Mission Society with African-Americans and Chinese immigrants in the late nineteenth century. It explores the tensions between hierarchy and inclusion in the efforts of White evangelists to incorporate racialized minorities into the Baptist Church and the body politic, as well as the tensions that ultimately arose between White missionary discourses and the proselytes’ own alternative visions of race, nation, and religion. It thus demonstrates the complex role of religion in the U.S. process of nation building.Less
This essay discusses the work of the American Baptist Home Mission Society with African-Americans and Chinese immigrants in the late nineteenth century. It explores the tensions between hierarchy and inclusion in the efforts of White evangelists to incorporate racialized minorities into the Baptist Church and the body politic, as well as the tensions that ultimately arose between White missionary discourses and the proselytes’ own alternative visions of race, nation, and religion. It thus demonstrates the complex role of religion in the U.S. process of nation building.
Janet L. Abu-Lughod
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780195328752
- eISBN:
- 9780199944057
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195328752.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Urban and Rural Studies
This chapter draws the different themes together, comparing the relative success each city—Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago—has had in resolving the tensions that lead to riots. These differences ...
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This chapter draws the different themes together, comparing the relative success each city—Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago—has had in resolving the tensions that lead to riots. These differences are related to each place's unique history and governmental structure and the political culture it has evolved through social learning. It also examines recent trends in the three cities, focusing especially on policies designed to achieve greater control over offensive/provocative police behavior. Finally, the chapter looks at prospects for achieving social justice in the face of current trends in mass incarceration and the displacement of minorities, and the potential conflicts between blacks and Latinos in declining economies. Within each group, as in American society in general, class cleavages are becoming greater.Less
This chapter draws the different themes together, comparing the relative success each city—Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago—has had in resolving the tensions that lead to riots. These differences are related to each place's unique history and governmental structure and the political culture it has evolved through social learning. It also examines recent trends in the three cities, focusing especially on policies designed to achieve greater control over offensive/provocative police behavior. Finally, the chapter looks at prospects for achieving social justice in the face of current trends in mass incarceration and the displacement of minorities, and the potential conflicts between blacks and Latinos in declining economies. Within each group, as in American society in general, class cleavages are becoming greater.
