Korie L. Edwards
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195314243
- eISBN:
- 9780199871810
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314243.003.0005
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
In a race sensitive society, how people racially identify and the salience of these identities influence their associations, including the churches they to choose to attend. This chapter explores the ...
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In a race sensitive society, how people racially identify and the salience of these identities influence their associations, including the churches they to choose to attend. This chapter explores the racial identities of interracial church attendees, and the role of racial identity for explaining who attends interracial churches.Less
In a race sensitive society, how people racially identify and the salience of these identities influence their associations, including the churches they to choose to attend. This chapter explores the racial identities of interracial church attendees, and the role of racial identity for explaining who attends interracial churches.
Linda Martín Alcoff
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195137347
- eISBN:
- 9780199785773
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137345.003.0009
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
This chapter provides evidence of the increasing visibility of whiteness to white people themselves. It explores a variety of responses by white people as they struggle to understand the full ...
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This chapter provides evidence of the increasing visibility of whiteness to white people themselves. It explores a variety of responses by white people as they struggle to understand the full political and historical meaning of white identity today. Topics discussed include white women and identity, white antiracism, new traditions in Mississippi, and white doubleconsciousness.Less
This chapter provides evidence of the increasing visibility of whiteness to white people themselves. It explores a variety of responses by white people as they struggle to understand the full political and historical meaning of white identity today. Topics discussed include white women and identity, white antiracism, new traditions in Mississippi, and white doubleconsciousness.
Korie L. Edwards
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780195314243
- eISBN:
- 9780199871810
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195314243.003.0001
- Subject:
- Religion, Religion and Society
The introductory chapter reviews the basic thesis of the book: whiteness (which includes the normativity of white culture, white privilege, and white structural dominance) governs how interracial ...
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The introductory chapter reviews the basic thesis of the book: whiteness (which includes the normativity of white culture, white privilege, and white structural dominance) governs how interracial churches work. Therefore, interracial churches work to the extent that they are first comfortable places for whites to attend. The chapter explains what is meant by whiteness and why whiteness matters. An historical overview of religious race relations in the United States is also provided. And the methods employed for this study are briefly reviewed.Less
The introductory chapter reviews the basic thesis of the book: whiteness (which includes the normativity of white culture, white privilege, and white structural dominance) governs how interracial churches work. Therefore, interracial churches work to the extent that they are first comfortable places for whites to attend. The chapter explains what is meant by whiteness and why whiteness matters. An historical overview of religious race relations in the United States is also provided. And the methods employed for this study are briefly reviewed.
Linda Martín Alcoff
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- February 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195137347
- eISBN:
- 9780199785773
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195137345.003.0007
- Subject:
- Philosophy, General
When one realizes the indeterminacy of racial categories — their fluid borders, arbitrary criteria, and cultural variety — it may be tempting to adopt a nominalism about race, that race is no more ...
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When one realizes the indeterminacy of racial categories — their fluid borders, arbitrary criteria, and cultural variety — it may be tempting to adopt a nominalism about race, that race is no more real than phlogiston or witchcraft. This chapter resists this conclusion based on phenomenological grounds and insists that race is real. It explores reasons for the current confusion about race, considers various approaches to knowledge about race, and proposes a preliminary phenomenological account of racial identity as it is lived in the body of various racialized subjects at a given cultural moment. It is argued that only when we come to be very clear about how race is lived, in its multiple manifestations, and only when we can come to appreciate its often hidden epistemic effects and its power over collective imaginations can we entertain even the remote possibility of its eventual transformation.Less
When one realizes the indeterminacy of racial categories — their fluid borders, arbitrary criteria, and cultural variety — it may be tempting to adopt a nominalism about race, that race is no more real than phlogiston or witchcraft. This chapter resists this conclusion based on phenomenological grounds and insists that race is real. It explores reasons for the current confusion about race, considers various approaches to knowledge about race, and proposes a preliminary phenomenological account of racial identity as it is lived in the body of various racialized subjects at a given cultural moment. It is argued that only when we come to be very clear about how race is lived, in its multiple manifestations, and only when we can come to appreciate its often hidden epistemic effects and its power over collective imaginations can we entertain even the remote possibility of its eventual transformation.
David R. Roediger
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- March 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780520233416
- eISBN:
- 9780520930803
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520233416.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This introduction suggests that the contours of the critical study of whiteness in order to convey a working knowledge of the scholarship is further explored in later chapters. It then follows by a ...
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This introduction suggests that the contours of the critical study of whiteness in order to convey a working knowledge of the scholarship is further explored in later chapters. It then follows by a brief account of the way studying white identity has come into vogue in the recent past and of the far longer and more important tradition of such study by intellectuals of color. The book is divided into three parts. The first part makes the case that the United States is “still white” from other angles. The second part invokes the past to show that the sway of whiteness is not inevitable, unalterable, or simple. The last section determines the areas in which recent history suggests new possibilities for looking at the past and the future.Less
This introduction suggests that the contours of the critical study of whiteness in order to convey a working knowledge of the scholarship is further explored in later chapters. It then follows by a brief account of the way studying white identity has come into vogue in the recent past and of the far longer and more important tradition of such study by intellectuals of color. The book is divided into three parts. The first part makes the case that the United States is “still white” from other angles. The second part invokes the past to show that the sway of whiteness is not inevitable, unalterable, or simple. The last section determines the areas in which recent history suggests new possibilities for looking at the past and the future.
Matthew O. Hunt and Ashley V. Reichelmann
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- July 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190873066
- eISBN:
- 9780190873097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190873066.003.0011
- Subject:
- Psychology, Social Psychology
This chapter explores how five dimensions of white racial identity are associated with one another and with white Americans’ racial attitudes. Drawing on data from the 2014 General Social Survey ...
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This chapter explores how five dimensions of white racial identity are associated with one another and with white Americans’ racial attitudes. Drawing on data from the 2014 General Social Survey Identity Module, we first examine the relationships among five aspects of whites’ racial identities: prominence, salience, private self-regard, public self-regard, and verification. We then examine the implications of these aspects of racial identity for whites’ reported and preferred distance from, stereotypes about, and support for policies designed to benefit black Americans. In so doing, we contribute to the long-standing identity theory project of demonstrating how identities shape other elements of social life, including the construction and maintenance of social inequalities. We also contribute to the growing research literature on “whiteness” and its implications for intergroup relations in the United States.Less
This chapter explores how five dimensions of white racial identity are associated with one another and with white Americans’ racial attitudes. Drawing on data from the 2014 General Social Survey Identity Module, we first examine the relationships among five aspects of whites’ racial identities: prominence, salience, private self-regard, public self-regard, and verification. We then examine the implications of these aspects of racial identity for whites’ reported and preferred distance from, stereotypes about, and support for policies designed to benefit black Americans. In so doing, we contribute to the long-standing identity theory project of demonstrating how identities shape other elements of social life, including the construction and maintenance of social inequalities. We also contribute to the growing research literature on “whiteness” and its implications for intergroup relations in the United States.
Richard C. Fording and Sanford F. Schram
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- August 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197500484
- eISBN:
- 9780197500521
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197500484.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Chapter 2 begins by surveying the literature on white racial prejudice and voting behavior. It shows that over the four presidential elections from 2004 to 2016, white hostility toward African ...
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Chapter 2 begins by surveying the literature on white racial prejudice and voting behavior. It shows that over the four presidential elections from 2004 to 2016, white hostility toward African Americans, Latinx immigrants, and Muslims became increasingly intertwined and formed the basis for what is defined here as a contemporary form of ethnocentrism as expressed in white outgroup hostility. The chapter confirms the results of other studies that have shown that while the effect of outgroup hostility on vote choice greatly increased in 2016, the level of outgroup hostility actually declined between 2012 and 2016. Therefore, to properly understand the political mainstreaming of racism over the 2010s, the chapter argues that one must not only consider the evolution of whites’ racial attitudes but also examine the processes by which outgroup hostility is translated into political participation. Chapter 2 introduces a theoretical framework that combines insights from social identity theory to understand changes in whites’ racial attitudes with theories of political participation originating from the social movement literature. The framework thus emphasizes the highly contingent nature of the relationship between white racial consciousness, outgroup hostility, and political mobilization. Specifically, the chapter outlines a model of the process by which racialized political narratives help activate a politicized white consciousness that leads to anger, expressed though outgroup hostility, and thus serves as the catalyst for political mobilization.Less
Chapter 2 begins by surveying the literature on white racial prejudice and voting behavior. It shows that over the four presidential elections from 2004 to 2016, white hostility toward African Americans, Latinx immigrants, and Muslims became increasingly intertwined and formed the basis for what is defined here as a contemporary form of ethnocentrism as expressed in white outgroup hostility. The chapter confirms the results of other studies that have shown that while the effect of outgroup hostility on vote choice greatly increased in 2016, the level of outgroup hostility actually declined between 2012 and 2016. Therefore, to properly understand the political mainstreaming of racism over the 2010s, the chapter argues that one must not only consider the evolution of whites’ racial attitudes but also examine the processes by which outgroup hostility is translated into political participation. Chapter 2 introduces a theoretical framework that combines insights from social identity theory to understand changes in whites’ racial attitudes with theories of political participation originating from the social movement literature. The framework thus emphasizes the highly contingent nature of the relationship between white racial consciousness, outgroup hostility, and political mobilization. Specifically, the chapter outlines a model of the process by which racialized political narratives help activate a politicized white consciousness that leads to anger, expressed though outgroup hostility, and thus serves as the catalyst for political mobilization.
David Ikard
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780226492469
- eISBN:
- 9780226492773
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226492773.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, African-American Literature
Why do race relations appear to be getting worse instead of better since the election and reelection of the country’s first black president? David Ikard speaks directly to us, in the first person, as ...
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Why do race relations appear to be getting worse instead of better since the election and reelection of the country’s first black president? David Ikard speaks directly to us, in the first person, as a professor and father and also as self-described working-class country boy from a small town in North Carolina. His lively account teems with anecdotes—from gritty to elegant, sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes endearing—that show how parasitically white identity is bound up with black identity in America. Ikard thinks critically about the emotional tenacity, political utility, and bankability of willful white blindness in the 21st century. A key to his analytic reflections on race highlights the three tropes of white supremacy which help to perpetuate willful white blindness, tropes that remain alive and well today as cultural buffers which afford whites the luxury of ignoring their racial privilege and the cost that blacks incur as a result of them. The tropes are: lovable racists, magical negroes, and white messiahs. Ikard is definitely reformist: teachers, parents, students, professors can use such tropes to resist the social and psychological dangers presented by seemingly neutral terms and values which in fact wield white normative power.Less
Why do race relations appear to be getting worse instead of better since the election and reelection of the country’s first black president? David Ikard speaks directly to us, in the first person, as a professor and father and also as self-described working-class country boy from a small town in North Carolina. His lively account teems with anecdotes—from gritty to elegant, sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes endearing—that show how parasitically white identity is bound up with black identity in America. Ikard thinks critically about the emotional tenacity, political utility, and bankability of willful white blindness in the 21st century. A key to his analytic reflections on race highlights the three tropes of white supremacy which help to perpetuate willful white blindness, tropes that remain alive and well today as cultural buffers which afford whites the luxury of ignoring their racial privilege and the cost that blacks incur as a result of them. The tropes are: lovable racists, magical negroes, and white messiahs. Ikard is definitely reformist: teachers, parents, students, professors can use such tropes to resist the social and psychological dangers presented by seemingly neutral terms and values which in fact wield white normative power.
John D. Palmer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824833718
- eISBN:
- 9780824870423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824833718.003.0005
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter delves into the many issues that arise when the Korean adoptees explored and reflected on their multiple identities—namely their White cultural, racial, and transracial adoptee ...
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This chapter delves into the many issues that arise when the Korean adoptees explored and reflected on their multiple identities—namely their White cultural, racial, and transracial adoptee identities. The tensions presented themselves in a number of areas, including within the Korean adoptee community and the institution of transracial adoption, and with parents and spouses. The adoptees reflected on how their relationships with parents and spouses became increasingly strained the more they involved themselves in Korean adoptee issues as well as in topics dealing with race, racism, and White privilege. They also discussed the many tensions within the Korean adoptee community, especially regarding the differing philosophies on the institution of transracial adoption.Less
This chapter delves into the many issues that arise when the Korean adoptees explored and reflected on their multiple identities—namely their White cultural, racial, and transracial adoptee identities. The tensions presented themselves in a number of areas, including within the Korean adoptee community and the institution of transracial adoption, and with parents and spouses. The adoptees reflected on how their relationships with parents and spouses became increasingly strained the more they involved themselves in Korean adoptee issues as well as in topics dealing with race, racism, and White privilege. They also discussed the many tensions within the Korean adoptee community, especially regarding the differing philosophies on the institution of transracial adoption.
John D. Palmer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824833718
- eISBN:
- 9780824870423
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824833718.001.0001
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
Korean adoptees have a difficult time relating to any of the racial identity models because they are people of color who often grew up in white homes and communities. When Korean adoptees attempt to ...
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Korean adoptees have a difficult time relating to any of the racial identity models because they are people of color who often grew up in white homes and communities. When Korean adoptees attempt to immerse into the Korean community, they feel uncomfortable and unwelcome because they are unfamiliar with Korean customs and language. This book looks at how Korean adoptees engage with their various identities and begin the journey toward self-discovery and empowerment. The book examines assimilation into a White middle-class identity during childhood. Although their White identity may be challenged at times, for the most part adoptees feel accepted as “honorary” Whites among their families and friends. “Opening Pandora's Box” discusses the shattering of adoptees' early views on race and racism and the problems of being raised colorblind in a race-conscious society. “Engaging and Reflecting” is filled with adoptee voices as they discover their racial and transracial identities as young adults. “Questioning What I Have Done” delves into the issues that arise when Korean adoptees explore their multiple identities and the possible effects on relationships with parents and spouses. “Empowering Identities” explores how adoptees are able to take control of their racial and transracial identities by reaching out to parents, prospective parents, and adoption agencies and by educating Korean and Korean Americans about their lives. The final chapter reiterates for adoptees, parents, adoption agencies, and social justice activists and educators the need for identity journeys and the empowered identities that can result.Less
Korean adoptees have a difficult time relating to any of the racial identity models because they are people of color who often grew up in white homes and communities. When Korean adoptees attempt to immerse into the Korean community, they feel uncomfortable and unwelcome because they are unfamiliar with Korean customs and language. This book looks at how Korean adoptees engage with their various identities and begin the journey toward self-discovery and empowerment. The book examines assimilation into a White middle-class identity during childhood. Although their White identity may be challenged at times, for the most part adoptees feel accepted as “honorary” Whites among their families and friends. “Opening Pandora's Box” discusses the shattering of adoptees' early views on race and racism and the problems of being raised colorblind in a race-conscious society. “Engaging and Reflecting” is filled with adoptee voices as they discover their racial and transracial identities as young adults. “Questioning What I Have Done” delves into the issues that arise when Korean adoptees explore their multiple identities and the possible effects on relationships with parents and spouses. “Empowering Identities” explores how adoptees are able to take control of their racial and transracial identities by reaching out to parents, prospective parents, and adoption agencies and by educating Korean and Korean Americans about their lives. The final chapter reiterates for adoptees, parents, adoption agencies, and social justice activists and educators the need for identity journeys and the empowered identities that can result.
Richard C. Fording and Sanford F. Schram
- Published in print:
- 2020
- Published Online:
- August 2020
- ISBN:
- 9780197500484
- eISBN:
- 9780197500521
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780197500484.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Chapter 8 offers a thorough analysis of survey research data from the American National Election Study (ANES), the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), and the Democracy Fund’s Voter ...
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Chapter 8 offers a thorough analysis of survey research data from the American National Election Study (ANES), the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), and the Democracy Fund’s Voter Study Group (DFVSG) to show that white outgroup hostility had a uniquely strong effect on vote choice in 2016. It provides evidence that outgroup hostility was as important in predicting vote choice as party identification. Although many people have argued that a major factor in Trump’s victory was increasing economic anxiety within the white working class, the findings presented offer evidence that economic anxiety had a relatively small direct effect on support for Trump. Rather, its effect was largely exerted indirectly, filtered through the primary effects of outgroup hostility toward blacks, Latinx immigrants, and Muslims. The influence of outgroup hostility is even more compelling when we consider its indirect effect on vote choice through its effects on party identification and ideology. This chapter most significantly (1) specifies the causal pathways that are suggestive of a process by which white identity gets politicized as what has been called white racial consciousness; (2) discusses how white racial consciousness is the result of the dissemination of racialized political narratives as propagated by race-baiting elites; (3) examines how this dissemination of racialized political narratives agitates attitudes of outgroup hostility; and (4) explores how that outgroup hostility was a critical factor in producing a winning Trump coalition that furthered the mainstreaming of racism right into the White House.Less
Chapter 8 offers a thorough analysis of survey research data from the American National Election Study (ANES), the Cooperative Congressional Election Study (CCES), and the Democracy Fund’s Voter Study Group (DFVSG) to show that white outgroup hostility had a uniquely strong effect on vote choice in 2016. It provides evidence that outgroup hostility was as important in predicting vote choice as party identification. Although many people have argued that a major factor in Trump’s victory was increasing economic anxiety within the white working class, the findings presented offer evidence that economic anxiety had a relatively small direct effect on support for Trump. Rather, its effect was largely exerted indirectly, filtered through the primary effects of outgroup hostility toward blacks, Latinx immigrants, and Muslims. The influence of outgroup hostility is even more compelling when we consider its indirect effect on vote choice through its effects on party identification and ideology. This chapter most significantly (1) specifies the causal pathways that are suggestive of a process by which white identity gets politicized as what has been called white racial consciousness; (2) discusses how white racial consciousness is the result of the dissemination of racialized political narratives as propagated by race-baiting elites; (3) examines how this dissemination of racialized political narratives agitates attitudes of outgroup hostility; and (4) explores how that outgroup hostility was a critical factor in producing a winning Trump coalition that furthered the mainstreaming of racism right into the White House.
John D. Palmer
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- November 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780824833718
- eISBN:
- 9780824870423
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Hawai'i Press
- DOI:
- 10.21313/hawaii/9780824833718.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Cultural Studies
This chapter illustrates how and why Korean adoptees assimilated to a White cultural identity, especially during the childhood and adolescent years. Assimilation came naturally, as the majority was ...
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This chapter illustrates how and why Korean adoptees assimilated to a White cultural identity, especially during the childhood and adolescent years. Assimilation came naturally, as the majority was surrounded by Whiteness on a daily basis. Some were filled with the idea that White is “right” and Asian “wrong.” These adoptees developed a negative sense of themselves as Korean/Asian and expressed a desire to be accepted as White. Overall, the majority of the adoptees were happy in this state of “obliviousness.” While there were times when their White cultural identity was challenged, for the most part they were able to gain acceptance as “one of us” (acceptance as an honorary White) at least within their families and communities.Less
This chapter illustrates how and why Korean adoptees assimilated to a White cultural identity, especially during the childhood and adolescent years. Assimilation came naturally, as the majority was surrounded by Whiteness on a daily basis. Some were filled with the idea that White is “right” and Asian “wrong.” These adoptees developed a negative sense of themselves as Korean/Asian and expressed a desire to be accepted as White. Overall, the majority of the adoptees were happy in this state of “obliviousness.” While there were times when their White cultural identity was challenged, for the most part they were able to gain acceptance as “one of us” (acceptance as an honorary White) at least within their families and communities.
Michael J. Goleman
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2019
- ISBN:
- 9781496812049
- eISBN:
- 9781496812087
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781496812049.003.0001
- Subject:
- History, American History: Civil War
This chapter outlines how social identity is formed by groups as a means to create a positive social construct of themselves. Mississippians, white and black, during the sectional conflict, Civil ...
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This chapter outlines how social identity is formed by groups as a means to create a positive social construct of themselves. Mississippians, white and black, during the sectional conflict, Civil War, and Reconstruction, fashioned new social identities as external events fractured and threatened the status quo. The resultant group identity culminated in a white social identity encapsulated in the Lost Cause that celebrated their American and Confederate heritage.Less
This chapter outlines how social identity is formed by groups as a means to create a positive social construct of themselves. Mississippians, white and black, during the sectional conflict, Civil War, and Reconstruction, fashioned new social identities as external events fractured and threatened the status quo. The resultant group identity culminated in a white social identity encapsulated in the Lost Cause that celebrated their American and Confederate heritage.
Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190265960
- eISBN:
- 9780190939403
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190265960.003.0002
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
During and after the Civil Rights Movement, GOP leaders capitalized on white racial angst to attract southern white voters. However, in order to do so without alienating Republicans nationwide, the ...
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During and after the Civil Rights Movement, GOP leaders capitalized on white racial angst to attract southern white voters. However, in order to do so without alienating Republicans nationwide, the GOP utilized coded language as an end-around of public displays of prejudice and championed an “us vs. them” cosmology. The decline of overt, Old-Fashioned Racism seemed positive, but the decline masked the persistence of white supremacist attitudes so dominant in the South. Since whiteness functions as a vantage point, supremacy can be maintained as long as the gap between whites and an “other” is also maintained. When denigrating minorities publicly was no longer socially acceptable, the GOP manufactured a host of increasingly threatening “others.” These common enemies catalyzed both an elevation of and a clinging to whiteness, which, in turn, preserved the “not-so-new” racial hierarchy key to southern white voters that only relative measures of racial animus can expose.Less
During and after the Civil Rights Movement, GOP leaders capitalized on white racial angst to attract southern white voters. However, in order to do so without alienating Republicans nationwide, the GOP utilized coded language as an end-around of public displays of prejudice and championed an “us vs. them” cosmology. The decline of overt, Old-Fashioned Racism seemed positive, but the decline masked the persistence of white supremacist attitudes so dominant in the South. Since whiteness functions as a vantage point, supremacy can be maintained as long as the gap between whites and an “other” is also maintained. When denigrating minorities publicly was no longer socially acceptable, the GOP manufactured a host of increasingly threatening “others.” These common enemies catalyzed both an elevation of and a clinging to whiteness, which, in turn, preserved the “not-so-new” racial hierarchy key to southern white voters that only relative measures of racial animus can expose.
Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190265960
- eISBN:
- 9780190939403
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190265960.003.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The GOP’s Southern Strategy initiated the realignment of the South with the Republican Party by exploiting white racial anxiety about social changes to the southern racial hierarchy. However, the ...
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The GOP’s Southern Strategy initiated the realignment of the South with the Republican Party by exploiting white racial anxiety about social changes to the southern racial hierarchy. However, the GOP’s success was not solely the result of its policy position on civil rights. Rather, that decision was part of a series of decisions the party made on feminism and religion as well, in what is called here the “Long Southern Strategy.” White resentment toward a more level racial playing field, for example, was intensified by the threat of a level gender playing field, and the promotion of “family values” by anti-feminists paved the way for the Christian Right. Moreover, Republican candidates did not just campaign down South, they became “southern.” Throughout realignment, the power of southern identity was rarely taken into consideration, but for whites who proclaim themselves to be southern, that has been the only party that really mattered.Less
The GOP’s Southern Strategy initiated the realignment of the South with the Republican Party by exploiting white racial anxiety about social changes to the southern racial hierarchy. However, the GOP’s success was not solely the result of its policy position on civil rights. Rather, that decision was part of a series of decisions the party made on feminism and religion as well, in what is called here the “Long Southern Strategy.” White resentment toward a more level racial playing field, for example, was intensified by the threat of a level gender playing field, and the promotion of “family values” by anti-feminists paved the way for the Christian Right. Moreover, Republican candidates did not just campaign down South, they became “southern.” Throughout realignment, the power of southern identity was rarely taken into consideration, but for whites who proclaim themselves to be southern, that has been the only party that really mattered.
Jay Watson (ed.)
- Published in print:
- 2011
- Published Online:
- March 2014
- ISBN:
- 9781617030208
- eISBN:
- 9781621033202
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University Press of Mississippi
- DOI:
- 10.14325/mississippi/9781617030208.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
William Faulkner wrote during a tumultuous period in southern racial consciousness, between the years of the enactment of Jim Crow and the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the South. ...
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William Faulkner wrote during a tumultuous period in southern racial consciousness, between the years of the enactment of Jim Crow and the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the South. Throughout the writer’s career, racial paradigms were in flux, and these shifting notions are reflected in his prose. Faulkner’s fiction contains frequent questions about the ways in which white Americans view themselves with regard to race, along with challenges to the racial codes and standards of the region, and complex portrayals of the interactions between blacks and whites. Throughout his work, Faulkner contests white identity—its performance by whites and those passing for white, its role in shaping the South, and its assumption of normative identity in opposition to non-white “Others.” This is true even in novels without a strong visible African American presence, such as As I Lay Dying, The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion. This book explores the ways in which Faulkner’s fiction addresses and destabilizes the concept of whiteness in American culture. Collectively, the chapters argue that whiteness, as part of the Nobel Laureate’s consistent querying of racial dynamics, is a central element. This anthology places Faulkner’s oeuvre—and scholarly views of it—in the contexts of its contemporary literature and academic trends exploring race and texts.Less
William Faulkner wrote during a tumultuous period in southern racial consciousness, between the years of the enactment of Jim Crow and the beginnings of the civil rights movement in the South. Throughout the writer’s career, racial paradigms were in flux, and these shifting notions are reflected in his prose. Faulkner’s fiction contains frequent questions about the ways in which white Americans view themselves with regard to race, along with challenges to the racial codes and standards of the region, and complex portrayals of the interactions between blacks and whites. Throughout his work, Faulkner contests white identity—its performance by whites and those passing for white, its role in shaping the South, and its assumption of normative identity in opposition to non-white “Others.” This is true even in novels without a strong visible African American presence, such as As I Lay Dying, The Hamlet, The Town, and The Mansion. This book explores the ways in which Faulkner’s fiction addresses and destabilizes the concept of whiteness in American culture. Collectively, the chapters argue that whiteness, as part of the Nobel Laureate’s consistent querying of racial dynamics, is a central element. This anthology places Faulkner’s oeuvre—and scholarly views of it—in the contexts of its contemporary literature and academic trends exploring race and texts.
David Goldberg
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- May 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781469633626
- eISBN:
- 9781469633633
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469633626.003.0006
- Subject:
- History, African-American History
This chapter focuses on John Lindsay’s appointment of Robert O. Lowery to serve as the FDNY’s Fire Commissioner during the onset of one of the most tumultuous periods in the department’s history, ...
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This chapter focuses on John Lindsay’s appointment of Robert O. Lowery to serve as the FDNY’s Fire Commissioner during the onset of one of the most tumultuous periods in the department’s history, “the War Years.” Within the department itself, the first half of “the War years were characterized by a highly racialized, contentious, internal struggle for institutional control that escalated throughout John Lindsay’s and Robert Lowery’s two terms in office. Efforts to reform departmental race relations, increase minority access and representation, and maintain fire protection levels were complicated by budget problems, escalating racial, political, and cultural conflicts; rising workloads; labor militancy; and white backlash.Less
This chapter focuses on John Lindsay’s appointment of Robert O. Lowery to serve as the FDNY’s Fire Commissioner during the onset of one of the most tumultuous periods in the department’s history, “the War Years.” Within the department itself, the first half of “the War years were characterized by a highly racialized, contentious, internal struggle for institutional control that escalated throughout John Lindsay’s and Robert Lowery’s two terms in office. Efforts to reform departmental race relations, increase minority access and representation, and maintain fire protection levels were complicated by budget problems, escalating racial, political, and cultural conflicts; rising workloads; labor militancy; and white backlash.
Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190265960
- eISBN:
- 9780190939403
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190265960.003.0011
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
The Long Southern Strategy was “long” because all three components of the strategy—choosing to exploit white racial angst, fear of feminism, and evangelical righteousness—were necessary to build a ...
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The Long Southern Strategy was “long” because all three components of the strategy—choosing to exploit white racial angst, fear of feminism, and evangelical righteousness—were necessary to build a solid red base in the states of the old Confederacy. The stark polarization that resulted from these partisan choices unraveled the New Deal coalition. It also redivided white Americans not just along the Mason-Dixon line, but across the imagined fault line of southern identity. Thus, conservatism was redefined on the basis of white southern identity, and that definition became the baseline ideology of the Republican brand nationwide. A partisan sorting and realignment followed. As a result, the distribution of white Americans who harbor Racial Resentment or Modern Sexist attitudes or who identify as Christian fundamentalists is no longer even across the parties, and now, within the GOP, there is not enough opposition to fully suppress such prejudice or religiosity.Less
The Long Southern Strategy was “long” because all three components of the strategy—choosing to exploit white racial angst, fear of feminism, and evangelical righteousness—were necessary to build a solid red base in the states of the old Confederacy. The stark polarization that resulted from these partisan choices unraveled the New Deal coalition. It also redivided white Americans not just along the Mason-Dixon line, but across the imagined fault line of southern identity. Thus, conservatism was redefined on the basis of white southern identity, and that definition became the baseline ideology of the Republican brand nationwide. A partisan sorting and realignment followed. As a result, the distribution of white Americans who harbor Racial Resentment or Modern Sexist attitudes or who identify as Christian fundamentalists is no longer even across the parties, and now, within the GOP, there is not enough opposition to fully suppress such prejudice or religiosity.
Russell Nieli
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- February 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190877583
- eISBN:
- 9780190926793
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190877583.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
This chapter discusses the life and work of Jared Taylor, the leading American advocate of “race realism” and the claim that white people have legitimate and important racial interests that need to ...
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This chapter discusses the life and work of Jared Taylor, the leading American advocate of “race realism” and the claim that white people have legitimate and important racial interests that need to be both better articulated and publicly affirmed. Through his American Renaissance magazine, annual conferences, and videos, Taylor has set the intellectual standard for highbrow white racial advocacy and what is variously called “White nationalism,” “White identitarianism,” or simply the perspective of the “alternative” or “dissident” Right. Taylor’s thinking combines conventional conservative ideas regarding family and community, classical liberal and libertarian ideas regarding freedom of association and basic property and economic rights, and ideas championing ethnoracial homogeneity within nations and disdain for multiculturalism. His arguments are drawn from both historical experience and contemporary sociobiology.Less
This chapter discusses the life and work of Jared Taylor, the leading American advocate of “race realism” and the claim that white people have legitimate and important racial interests that need to be both better articulated and publicly affirmed. Through his American Renaissance magazine, annual conferences, and videos, Taylor has set the intellectual standard for highbrow white racial advocacy and what is variously called “White nationalism,” “White identitarianism,” or simply the perspective of the “alternative” or “dissident” Right. Taylor’s thinking combines conventional conservative ideas regarding family and community, classical liberal and libertarian ideas regarding freedom of association and basic property and economic rights, and ideas championing ethnoracial homogeneity within nations and disdain for multiculturalism. His arguments are drawn from both historical experience and contemporary sociobiology.
Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- August 2019
- ISBN:
- 9780190265960
- eISBN:
- 9780190939403
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780190265960.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, American Politics
Beginning with Barry Goldwater’s Operation Dixie in 1964, the Republican Party targeted disaffected white voters in the Democratic stronghold of the American South. To realign these voters with the ...
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Beginning with Barry Goldwater’s Operation Dixie in 1964, the Republican Party targeted disaffected white voters in the Democratic stronghold of the American South. To realign these voters with the GOP, the party capitalized on white racial angst that threatened southern white control. However—and this is critical—that decision was but one in a series of decisions the GOP made not just on race, but on feminism and religion as well, in what is called here the “Long Southern Strategy.” In the wake of Second-Wave Feminism, the GOP dropped the Equal Rights Amendment from its platform and promoted traditional gender roles in an effort to appeal to anti-feminist white southerners, and it politicized evangelical fundamentalist Christianity as represented by the Southern Baptist Convention. All three of those decisions were necessary for the South to turn from blue to red. To make inroads in the South, however, GOP politicians not only had to take these positions, but they also had to sell them with a southern “accent.” Republicans had to mirror southern white culture by emphasizing an “us vs. them” outlook, preaching absolutes, accusing the media of bias, prioritizing identity over the economy, depicting one’s way of life as under attack, encouraging defensiveness toward social changes, and championing a politics of vengeance. Over time, that made the party southern, not in terms of place, but in its vision, in its demands, in its rhetoric, and in its spirit. In doing so, it nationalized southern white identity, and that has changed American politics.Less
Beginning with Barry Goldwater’s Operation Dixie in 1964, the Republican Party targeted disaffected white voters in the Democratic stronghold of the American South. To realign these voters with the GOP, the party capitalized on white racial angst that threatened southern white control. However—and this is critical—that decision was but one in a series of decisions the GOP made not just on race, but on feminism and religion as well, in what is called here the “Long Southern Strategy.” In the wake of Second-Wave Feminism, the GOP dropped the Equal Rights Amendment from its platform and promoted traditional gender roles in an effort to appeal to anti-feminist white southerners, and it politicized evangelical fundamentalist Christianity as represented by the Southern Baptist Convention. All three of those decisions were necessary for the South to turn from blue to red. To make inroads in the South, however, GOP politicians not only had to take these positions, but they also had to sell them with a southern “accent.” Republicans had to mirror southern white culture by emphasizing an “us vs. them” outlook, preaching absolutes, accusing the media of bias, prioritizing identity over the economy, depicting one’s way of life as under attack, encouraging defensiveness toward social changes, and championing a politics of vengeance. Over time, that made the party southern, not in terms of place, but in its vision, in its demands, in its rhetoric, and in its spirit. In doing so, it nationalized southern white identity, and that has changed American politics.