During the 2016 election, a new term entered the mainstream American political lexicon: “alt-right,” short for “alternative right.” Despite the innocuous name, the alt-right is a white-nationalist movement. Yet it differs from earlier racist groups: it is youthful and tech savvy, obsessed with provocation and trolling, amorphous, predominantly online, and mostly anonymous. And it was energized by Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. In Making Sense of the Alt-Right, George Hawley provides an accessible introduction and gives vital perspective on the emergence of a group whose overt racism has confounded expectations for a more tolerant America. Hawley explains the movement’s origins, evolution, methods, and core belief in white-identity politics. The book explores how the alt-right differs from traditional white nationalism, libertarianism, and other online illiberal ideologies such as neoreaction, as well as from mainstream Republicans and even Donald Trump and Steve Bannon. The alt-right’s use of offensive humor and its trolling-driven approach, based in animosity to so-called political correctness, can make it difficult to determine true motivations. Yet through exclusive interviews and a careful study of the alt-right’s influential texts, Hawley is able to paint a full picture of a movement that not only disagrees with liberalism but also fundamentally rejects most of the tenets of American conservatism. Hawley points to the alt-right’s growing influence and makes a case for coming to a precise understanding of its beliefs without sensationalism or downplaying the movement’s radicalism.
George Hawley, who has written extensively on conservatism and right-wing ideologies in the U.S., presents a telling portrait of conservatism’s relationship with identity politics. The American conservative movement has consistently declared its opposition to all forms of identity politics, arguing that such a form of politics is at odds with individualism. In this persuasive study, George Hawley examines the nature of identity politics in the United States: how conservatives view and understand it, how they embrace their own versions of identity, and how liberal and conservative intellectuals and politicians navigate this equally dangerous and potentially explosive landscape. Hawley begins his analysis with a synopsis of the variety both of conservative critiques of identity politics and of conservative explanations for how it has come to define America’s current political terrain. This historical account of differing conservative approaches to identitarian concerns from the post-war era until today—including race, gender, and immigration—foregrounds conservatism’s lack of consistency in its critiques and ultimately its failure to provide convincing arguments against identity politics. Hawley explores the political right’s own employment of identity politics, particularly in relation to partisan politics, and highlights how party identification in the United States has become a leading source of identity on both sides of the political spectrum. Hawley also discusses this generation’s iteration of American white nationalism, the Alt-Right, from whose rise and fall conservatism may develop a more honest, realistic, and indeed relevant approach to identity politics. Conservatism in a Divided America examines sensitive subjects from a dispassionate, fair-minded approach that will appeal to readers across the ideological divide. The book will interest scholars in and enthusiasts of political theory and psychology, American history, and U.S. electoral politics.
The American conservative movement as we know it faces an existential crisis as the nation's demographics shift away from its core constituents—older white middle-class Christians. It is the American conservatism that we don't know that concerns George Hawley in this book. During its ascendancy, leaders within the conservative establishment have energetically policed the movement’s boundaries, effectively keeping alternative versions of conservatism out of view. Returning those neglected voices to the story, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism offers a more complete, complex, and nuanced account of the American right in all its dissonance in history and in our day. The right-wing intellectual movements considered here differ both from mainstream conservatism and from each other when it comes to fundamental premises, such as the value of equality, the proper role of the state, the importance of free markets, the place of religion in politics, and attitudes toward race. In clear and dispassionate terms, Hawley examines localists who exhibit equal skepticism toward big business and big government, paleoconservatives who look to the distant past for guidance and wish to turn back the clock, radical libertarians who are not content to be junior partners in the conservative movement, and various strains of white supremacy and the radical right in America. In the Internet age, where access is no longer determined by the select few, the independent right has far greater opportunities to make its many voices heard. This timely work puts those voices into context and historical perspective, clarifying our understanding of the American right—past, present, and future.
In recent years, political scientists and journalists have taken a great interest in the question of whether the American electorate is "sorting" into communities based on partisan affiliation. That is, there is concern that American communities are becoming increasingly politically homogenous and this is because Americans are considering politics explicitly when determining where to live. Academics have since debated the degree to which this is a real phenomenon and, if it is, whether it has important normative implications. However, little empirical research has examined which factors turned some closely-contested counties into Republican enclaves and others into Democratic strongholds. Examining individual and aggregate data and employing a large number of statistical methods, George Hawley explores the increasing political homogenization of small geographic units and explains the causal mechanisms driving this phenomenon as well as its consequences for individual political attitudes and behavior among residents residing in these geographic units. He argues that some partisans are self-selecting into communities of likeminded partisans, causing some areas to become overwhelmingly Republican and others to become overwhelmingly Democratic. The book also notes that the migratory patterns of Republicans and Democrats differ in systematic ways for other reasons, due to the different demographic and economic characteristics of these partisan groups. At a time when many studies argue that a large percentage of the electorate is self-selecting into communities based on their political preferences, this bookshelf essential presents a much needed account on the different migratory patterns of Republicans and Democrats and how these patterns are shaping the geography of American politics.
The Moderate Majority examines the Republican electorate and challenges the conventional narrative that today’s Republicans are all radicalized, reactionary ideologues. It illuminates the substantial gap between the elites and diverse, mostly moderate rank-and-file GOP voters. With a historically grounded, mixed-methods approach that draws on a rich collection of empirical survey data and face-to-face interviews, this book presents a comprehensive portrait of contemporary mass Republican opinion and behavior.
The United States is experiencing remarkable demographic changes that are having an important impact on the American electorate. As the minority share of the voting-eligible population continues to grow, the political clout of non-Hispanic whites will further decline. The 2012 election demonstrated that the Democratic Party can secure an Electoral College victory even when it loses badly, in the aggregate, among non-Hispanic whites. This does not mean that white voters are unimportant, however. The political behavior of whites in the decades ahead will largely determine the direction of American politics. This book examines the political behavior of non-Hispanic whites. It considers the trends within the white vote, how white voters differ geographically, and the primary fault lines among white voters. It also examines how white political behavior changes in response to diversity. It considers whether or not the day is approaching when whites consolidate into a largely homogenous voting bloc, or whether whites will remain politically heterogeneous in the decades ahead Whereas other books have examined the political behavior of specific social classes within the non-Hispanic white community (working class whites, for example), this is the first book to examine whites as a whole, and provide a useful summary of recent trends within this group and thoughtful speculation about its future.
In recent years, the so-called Alt-Right, a white nationalist movement, has grown at an alarming rate. Taking advantage of high levels of racial polarization, the Alt-Right seeks to normalize explicit white identity politics. Growing from a marginalized and disorganized group of Internet trolls and propagandists, the Alt-Right became one of the major news stories of the 2016 presidential election, and exploded into public consciousness after its march through Charlottesville in summer 2017. Discussions of the Alt-Right are now a regular part of political discourse in the United States and beyond. In The Alt-Right: What Everyone Needs to Know®, George Hawley, one of the world's leading experts on the conservative movement and right-wing radicalism, provides a clear explanation of the ideas, tactics, history, and prominent figures of one of the most disturbing movements in America today. Although it presents itself as a new phenomenon, the Alt-Right is just the latest iteration of a longstanding radical right-wing political tradition. Throughout, Hawley discusses the other primary ideological influences on the Alt-Right: libertarianism, paleoconservatism, neo-reaction, and the Men's Rights Movement. The Alt-Right represents a genuine challenge to pluralistic liberal democracy, but its size and influence are often exaggerated. Whether intentionally or not, President Donald Trump energized the Alt-Right in 2016, yet conflating Trump's variety of right-wing politics with the Alt-Right causes many observers to both overestimate the Alt-Right's size and downplay its radicalism. Hawley provides a tour of the contemporary radical right, and explains how it differs from more mainstream varieties of conservatism. Dispassionate and accessible, this is an essential overview for anyone seeking to understand to this disruptive and dangerous political movement.
The United States is experiencing remarkable demographic changes that are having an important impact on the American electorate. As the minority share of the voting-eligible population continues to grow, the political clout of non-Hispanic whites will further decline. The 2012 election demonstrated that the Democratic Party can secure an Electoral College victory even when it loses badly, in the aggregate, among non-Hispanic whites. This does not mean that white voters are unimportant, however. The political behavior of whites in the decades ahead will largely determine the direction of American politics. This book examines the political behavior of non-Hispanic whites. It considers the trends within the white vote, how white voters differ geographically, and the primary fault lines among white voters. It also examines how white political behavior changes in response to diversity. It considers whether or not the day is approaching when whites consolidate into a largely homogenous voting bloc, or whether whites will remain politically heterogeneous in the decades ahead Whereas other books have examined the political behavior of specific social classes within the non-Hispanic white community (working class whites, for example), this is the first book to examine whites as a whole, and provide a useful summary of recent trends within this group and thoughtful speculation about its future.
In recent years, the so-called Alt-Right, a white nationalist movement, has grown at an alarming rate. Taking advantage of high levels of racial polarization, the Alt-Right seeks to normalize explicit white identity politics. Growing from a marginalized and disorganized group of Internet trolls and propagandists, the Alt-Right became one of the major news stories of the 2016 presidential election, and exploded into public consciousness after its march through Charlottesville in summer 2017. Discussions of the Alt-Right are now a regular part of political discourse in the United States and beyond. In The Alt-Right: What Everyone Needs to Know®, George Hawley, one of the world's leading experts on the conservative movement and right-wing radicalism, provides a clear explanation of the ideas, tactics, history, and prominent figures of one of the most disturbing movements in America today. Although it presents itself as a new phenomenon, the Alt-Right is just the latest iteration of a longstanding radical right-wing political tradition. Throughout, Hawley discusses the other primary ideological influences on the Alt-Right: libertarianism, paleoconservatism, neo-reaction, and the Men's Rights Movement. The Alt-Right represents a genuine challenge to pluralistic liberal democracy, but its size and influence are often exaggerated. Whether intentionally or not, President Donald Trump energized the Alt-Right in 2016, yet conflating Trump's variety of right-wing politics with the Alt-Right causes many observers to both overestimate the Alt-Right's size and downplay its radicalism. Hawley provides a tour of the contemporary radical right, and explains how it differs from more mainstream varieties of conservatism. Dispassionate and accessible, this is an essential overview for anyone seeking to understand to this disruptive and dangerous political movement.
The United States is experiencing remarkable demographic changes that are having an important impact on the American electorate. As the minority share of the voting-eligible population continues to grow, the political clout of non-Hispanic whites will further decline. The 2012 election demonstrated that the Democratic Party can secure an Electoral College victory even when it loses badly, in the aggregate, among non-Hispanic whites. This does not mean that white voters are unimportant, however. The political behavior of whites in the decades ahead will largely determine the direction of American politics. This book examines the political behavior of non-Hispanic whites. It considers the trends within the white vote, how white voters differ geographically, and the primary fault lines among white voters. It also examines how white political behavior changes in response to diversity. It considers whether or not the day is approaching when whites consolidate into a largely homogenous voting bloc, or whether whites will remain politically heterogeneous in the decades ahead Whereas other books have examined the political behavior of specific social classes within the non-Hispanic white community (working class whites, for example), this is the first book to examine whites as a whole, and provide a useful summary of recent trends within this group and thoughtful speculation about its future.
The American conservative movement as we know it faces an existential crisis as the nation's demographics shift away from its core constituents—older white middle-class Christians. It is the American conservatism that we don't know that concerns George Hawley in this book. During its ascendancy, leaders within the conservative establishment have energetically policed the movement’s boundaries, effectively keeping alternative versions of conservatism out of view. Returning those neglected voices to the story, Right-Wing Critics of American Conservatism offers a more complete, complex, and nuanced account of the American right in all its dissonance in history and in our day. The right-wing intellectual movements considered here differ both from mainstream conservatism and from each other when it comes to fundamental premises, such as the value of equality, the proper role of the state, the importance of free markets, the place of religion in politics, and attitudes toward race. In clear and dispassionate terms, Hawley examines localists who exhibit equal skepticism toward big business and big government, paleoconservatives who look to the distant past for guidance and wish to turn back the clock, radical libertarians who are not content to be junior partners in the conservative movement, and various strains of white supremacy and the radical right in America. In the Internet age, where access is no longer determined by the select few, the independent right has far greater opportunities to make its many voices heard. This timely work puts those voices into context and historical perspective, clarifying our understanding of the American right—past, present, and future.
The Moderate Majority examines the Republican electorate and challenges the conventional narrative that today’s Republicans are all radicalized, reactionary ideologues. It illuminates the substantial gap between the elites and diverse, mostly moderate rank-and-file GOP voters. With a historically grounded, mixed-methods approach that draws on a rich collection of empirical survey data and face-to-face interviews, this book presents a comprehensive portrait of contemporary mass Republican opinion and behavior.
In recent years, political scientists and journalists have taken a great interest in the question of whether the American electorate is "sorting" into communities based on partisan affiliation. That is, there is concern that American communities are becoming increasingly politically homogenous and this is because Americans are considering politics explicitly when determining where to live. Academics have since debated the degree to which this is a real phenomenon and, if it is, whether it has important normative implications. However, little empirical research has examined which factors turned some closely-contested counties into Republican enclaves and others into Democratic strongholds. Examining individual and aggregate data and employing a large number of statistical methods, George Hawley explores the increasing political homogenization of small geographic units and explains the causal mechanisms driving this phenomenon as well as its consequences for individual political attitudes and behavior among residents residing in these geographic units. He argues that some partisans are self-selecting into communities of likeminded partisans, causing some areas to become overwhelmingly Republican and others to become overwhelmingly Democratic. The book also notes that the migratory patterns of Republicans and Democrats differ in systematic ways for other reasons, due to the different demographic and economic characteristics of these partisan groups. At a time when many studies argue that a large percentage of the electorate is self-selecting into communities based on their political preferences, this bookshelf essential presents a much needed account on the different migratory patterns of Republicans and Democrats and how these patterns are shaping the geography of American politics.
George Hawley, who has written extensively on conservatism and right-wing ideologies in the U.S., presents a telling portrait of conservatism’s relationship with identity politics. The American conservative movement has consistently declared its opposition to all forms of identity politics, arguing that such a form of politics is at odds with individualism. In this persuasive study, George Hawley examines the nature of identity politics in the United States: how conservatives view and understand it, how they embrace their own versions of identity, and how liberal and conservative intellectuals and politicians navigate this equally dangerous and potentially explosive landscape. Hawley begins his analysis with a synopsis of the variety both of conservative critiques of identity politics and of conservative explanations for how it has come to define America’s current political terrain. This historical account of differing conservative approaches to identitarian concerns from the post-war era until today—including race, gender, and immigration—foregrounds conservatism’s lack of consistency in its critiques and ultimately its failure to provide convincing arguments against identity politics. Hawley explores the political right’s own employment of identity politics, particularly in relation to partisan politics, and highlights how party identification in the United States has become a leading source of identity on both sides of the political spectrum. Hawley also discusses this generation’s iteration of American white nationalism, the Alt-Right, from whose rise and fall conservatism may develop a more honest, realistic, and indeed relevant approach to identity politics. Conservatism in a Divided America examines sensitive subjects from a dispassionate, fair-minded approach that will appeal to readers across the ideological divide. The book will interest scholars in and enthusiasts of political theory and psychology, American history, and U.S. electoral politics.
Big-city mayors and other political leaders face the triple challenge of assembling a winning political coalition; translating this into an effective governing coalition; and coping with a tightening local budget constraint. The challenge is still greater when elections have produced a change in ethnic control of local government, bringing into power new groups that want to use government spending to serve their constituents' demands but are resisted by those controlling the economic resources. This volume explores the political transition now going on in big cities. One group of chapters examines recent electoral politics in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Miami, and San Antonio, where different types of ethnic and class lines have been drawn, and where different strategies have been employed to adjust political machines to the new realities. A second group of chapters considers the business of governing under the conflicting pressures of community organizations, the press, the business community, and higher levels of government. A final group of chapters examines the fiscal and budgetary constraints upon big-city governments, and the difficulty that these governments, no matter how well motivated, face in generating jobs and economic opportunity for their political constituents.
The Metropolis in Black and White highlights a stark fact: America's metropolitan areas are more polarized along racial lines than at any time since the mid-1960s. Though urban areas have become multicultural, the editors argue that black-white racial differences will outlast ethnic differences in metropolitan America and that the race issue in most urban areas is perceived as a black-white one. Galster and Hill perceive that the theme of place, power, and polarization is most powerful when blacks and whites are contrasted. African Americans, on average, are the poorest, most segregated, most disadvantaged urban racial (or ethnic) group, because they are deeply entangled in the web of interrelationships connecting place, power, and polarization. Since these interrelationships form a comprehensive set of social structures that oppress African Americans, they can be judged to be racist at their core. Race, not merely class, continues to play a pivotal role in shaping urban African Americans. In clear analyses, the contributors examine employment, income, the underclass, education, housing, health and mortality, political participation, and racial politics. Intertwined themes of spatial isolation, political empowerment, and racial disparities-place, power, and polarization-guide the analyses. Thisis a vital text for courses in urban affairs, American studies, economics, geography, sociology, political science, urban planning, and racial and ethnic studies. In clear analyses, the contributors examine employment, income, the underclass, education, housing, health and mortality, political participation, and racial politics. Intertwined themes of spatial isolation, political empowerment, and racial disparities-place, power, and polarization-guide the analyses. This is a vital text for courses in urban affairs, American studies, economics, geography, sociology, political science, urban planning, and racial and ethnic studies.
This book evaluates the validity of a key proposition of public choice theory: that competition is associated with superior performance by governmental organisations. Three forms of competition in local government are identified: competition between local authorities, competition between councils and private contractors, and competition between parties for political power. The extent and consequences of competition are assessed in both the UK and USA. The analysis is used to draw conclusions on the effects of competition and the validity of public choice theory.
In this provacative study of the "disease" afflicting American industry today, George Lodge, a distinguished professor at the Harvard Business School, reveals the malady as a psychological disorder, characterized by a refusal to face the facts of interdependence in a competetive world; by a reluctance to confront the grave inadequacies in the operation of our great institutions—business, labor, and government; and by the fact that "leaders do not lead; those with responsibility do not fight. Timidity, born of resignation, discourages change." Lodge begins by defining the disease through its symptoms: failing industries, stubborn unemployment, lagging economic growth, stagnant productivity, overseas competition, focus on short-term financial gain, and, perhaps most telling, the pervasive feeling among Americans that their land of plenty has become a land of want. He examines the gradually changing roles and relationships between government, great corpoations, and trade unions that are nevertheless obscure by traditional and detrimental assumptions, distrust, and a set of ideologies that are increasingly inefficient, ineffective, inconsistent, and irrelevant. And he finds the incoherence of American industrial policy exemplified by the fact the we preach the old virtues of free trade and the sanctity of the market while in actuality we pursue a strategy—including tax incentives and trade subsidies—the misshapes the free market. Based on interviews with more than 150 leaders of the nation's institutions, The American Disease goes beyond diagnosis to offer logical and feasible proposals to cure this dangerous condition. Lodge suggests, for example, that the office of the United States Trade Representative be expanded and strengthened to deal with the growing pressure for protection against imports and with the confusion among our trading partners. He shows why business and labor must work together more closely in a non-adversarial way with federal and local government to determine community needs. He explains why Washington will be forced to direct the future of electric power in America, rather than leave the decisions to fifty different sets of state regulators. And he makes a number of recommendations to alter the ways in which corporations manage themselves and deal with government, and to reduce the social and economic costs that are implicit in these changes. George C. Lodge believes that recovery from our institutional ailments is possible, and this timely and perceptive book offers a resoundingly rational course toward that crucial goal.
More than a century after his death in 1897, Henry George remains one of the most original and influential economic thinkers in American history. His revolutionary theory on land taxation gained a tremendous following, reshaped the nation's political and economic debate, and continues today to be a widely discussed and controversial subject throughout the world. George's seminal work was Progress and Poverty (1879), but as a reformer, economist, journalist, and political candidate he wrote scores of articles on a vast array of topics, including political thought, election reform, immigration, labor, Lincoln, presidential campaigns, private property, socialism, industrialization, Ireland, Australia, the Chinese in California, and his race for mayor of New York City. His writing shaped a generation of statesmen and intellectuals, including Winston Churchill, Robert La Follette, Clarence Darrow, George Bernard Shaw, and Milton Friedman. Despite his profound influence on economic thought and American reform, he remains understudied, in part because many of his writings appeared in obscure journals, long-defunct daily newspapers, and long out-of-print collections. This four-volume set rectifies this problem by gathering all of George's hard-to-find articles and essays in one comprehensive edition. It also includes the first biographical sketch of him, written in 1884 and never before republished, as well as numerous articles he wrote during his tour of Australia in 1890. Edited by noted George scholar Kenneth C. Wenzer, each article is reprinted in its original form with annotations. There is a general introduction to each volume. A timeline of George's activities and travels is also included.
Show students the relevance of sociology to their lives. While providing a rock-solid foundation, Ritzer and Wiedenhoft illuminate traditional sociological concepts and theories, as well as some of the most compelling contemporary social phenomena: globalization, consumer culture, the Internet, and the "McDonaldization" of society.
In his new book, George W. Liebmann discusses the work of six largely forgotten figures: Octavia Hill, William Glyn-Jones, Mary Richmond, George William Brown, Mary Parker Follet, and Bryan Keith-Lucas. Three are British; three American. Some came from affluent backgrounds; some grew up poor. One was barely educated; another spent eleven years at some of the world's more prestigious institutions of higher learning. What united them all was a shared conviction that citizenship involved more than voting, that society consists of more than the marketplace or political institutions, and that professional values are important for shaping a civil discourse. With a sympathetic eye toward the fulfillment of these common aspirations, Liebmann looks at the national health, social work, housing management, and educational initiatives spearheaded by these powerful figures over the past two centuries. This study is a fascinating retort to our cynical age of political disillusionment and an innovative contribution to social and political history.
Vast changes in U.S. environmental policy from the New Deal through the Reagan administration have occurred that shed light on the nature of the American regulatory state. This book focuses on the sweeping transformation of regulatory policymaking that took place around 1970. The rise of social regulation and the advent of public interest movement during the 1960s and 1970s led to a significant change in policy outcomes, as the influence of governmental actors and political activists increased at the expense of business. By homing in on two specific areas, pesticide regulation and air pollution control, this study attempts to describe and explain these changes. This book is distinguished by its explanation of the transformation to the new system, its understanding of the way the new regulatory arrangements affect policy outcomes, and, most important, its explicit consideration of recent controversies in empirical political theory. The results provide an assessment of both the strengths and the weaknesses of the new institutionalism as a theoretical approach to studying domestic public policy in the United States. The regime framework developed here is designed to emphasize the multiplicity of forces behind public policy. This volume will be of interest to students of the American policy process, environmental policy and regulation, and theories of the American state, in academia, government, and the environmental policy community.
While providing a rock-solid foundation of sociology, Introduction to Sociology: Canadian Version, by renowned sociologists George Ritzer and Neil Guppy, illuminates traditional sociological concepts and theories, as well as some of today’s most compelling social phenomena: Globalization, consumer culture, and the Internet. Ritzer and Guppy bring students into the conversation by bridging the divide between the outside world and the classroom. The international version of the book by Ritzer has been redesigned with an explicitly Canadian core. The result is this compelling Canadian version featuring George Ritzer’s distinctive voice and style blended with Neil Guppy’s definitive views on Canadian sociology—highlighting the place of Canada in a globalizing world.
Thank you for visiting our website. Would you like to provide feedback on how we could improve your experience?
This site does not use any third party cookies with one exception — it uses cookies from Google to deliver its services and to analyze traffic.Learn More.