In this landmark exploration of how male anxiety has come to define our political culture, Stephen J. Ducat shows the link between the desperate macho strutting of male politicians, the gender gap in voting behavior, and fundamentalist holy wars. He argues that a direct association exists between the magnitude of a man's femiphobia-that is, his terror of being perceived as feminine-and his tendency to embrace right-wing political opinions. From the strenuous efforts by handlers to counter George H. W. Bush's "wimp factor" to the swaggering arrogance that led to the moral and military quagmire in U.S.-occupied Iraq, anxious masculinity has been a discernible subtext in politics. Ducat shows how this anxiety has been an underlying force in public life throughout the history of Western culture, and also explores why and how certain political issues get gendered. Analyzing various aspects of popular culture and drawing on pioneering research on the gender gap, The Wimp Factor is a fascinating exposé that will alter our understanding of contemporary politics.
An in-depth psychological, anthropological, neuroscientific, and historical look at MAGA Republicans and the American Far Right. Fueled by conspiracy thinking and a growing indifference to facts, some Americans, especially on the Right, are increasingly seeing their fellow citizens as threats that must be eliminated. We are witnessing an epidemic of domestic terrorism with a rapidly accumulating body count. This may be the most serious challenge to the integrity of the United States since the Confederate insurrectionists launched their assault on Fort Sumpter in 1861. While an in-depth psychological reading of political events, Hatreds We Love: The Psychology of Political Tribalism in Post-Truth America is grounded in the scholarship and insights of social psychologists, anthropologists, historians, psychoanalysts, neuroscientists, and the many intrepid journalists increasingly threatened by authoritarians who have good reasons to fear truthful reporting. And, of course, author Stephen J. Ducat draws on his own experiences, visions, and values. A major topic addressed in the book is the malignant mindset animating MAGA neo-fascism's zealous partisans. Donald Trump’s fortunes may fade in the coming months and years, but Trumpism will likely remain ascendant. Of course, xenophobic bigotry, violent aversion to democracy, political cults of personality, and indifference to facts are global phenomena and not limited to the United States. But America plays a prominent role, even abroad. In December 2022, it was revealed that a right-wing coup attempt in Germany was, to some extent, modeled on America’s own post-election insurrection, which was planned and executed by the paramilitary wing of the MAGA movement. That German episode was not the first time that the actions of American anti-democratic and white supremacist groups became the template for similar efforts worldwide. In the 1930s, German fascists looked to America as a blueprint for implementing race-based tribalism. Hitler so admired Jim Crow laws in the United States, especially concerning citizenship and anti-miscegenation laws, that he sent a team of legal scholars to study their statutory framework for addressing the problem of "racial pollution." While the Nazis initially found a lot to love and incorporate into the Nuremberg Laws, they ironically rejected much of the American model as too harsh. Many pundits have decried the “extremism” of Trumpian lynch-mob politics. On the contrary, Hatreds We Love argues that it is contiguous with the long history of American conservatism going back at least to the antebellum South. From this perspective, the worldview and actions of the GOP's MAGA faction are the logical outcomes of the consistently expressed right-wing ethos of domination, xenophobia, and the "freedom" to harm. Although there is much handwringing about the toxic synergy of authoritarian political forces, white identity politics, and the embrace of post-factuality, there is insufficient understanding of the links between them. Chief among those links is tribal psychology. Nearly every political pundit decries political tribalism. Yet, public discussion rarely addresses more than its most disturbing symptoms. Hatreds We Love speaks to the causes and underlying dynamics of what is now one of the greatest threats to the viability of what remains of American democracy and global democratic governance more broadly.
In this landmark exploration of how male anxiety has come to define our political culture, Stephen J. Ducat shows the link between the desperate macho strutting of male politicians, the gender gap in voting behavior, and fundamentalist holy wars. He argues that a direct association exists between the magnitude of a man's femiphobia-that is, his terror of being perceived as feminine-and his tendency to embrace right-wing political opinions. From the strenuous efforts by handlers to counter George H. W. Bush's "wimp factor" to the swaggering arrogance that led to the moral and military quagmire in U.S.-occupied Iraq, anxious masculinity has been a discernible subtext in politics. Ducat shows how this anxiety has been an underlying force in public life throughout the history of Western culture, and also explores why and how certain political issues get gendered. Analyzing various aspects of popular culture and drawing on pioneering research on the gender gap, The Wimp Factor is a fascinating exposé that will alter our understanding of contemporary politics.
An in-depth psychological, anthropological, neuroscientific, and historical look at MAGA Republicans and the American Far Right. Fueled by conspiracy thinking and a growing indifference to facts, some Americans, especially on the Right, are increasingly seeing their fellow citizens as threats that must be eliminated. We are witnessing an epidemic of domestic terrorism with a rapidly accumulating body count. This may be the most serious challenge to the integrity of the United States since the Confederate insurrectionists launched their assault on Fort Sumpter in 1861. While an in-depth psychological reading of political events, Hatreds We Love: The Psychology of Political Tribalism in Post-Truth America is grounded in the scholarship and insights of social psychologists, anthropologists, historians, psychoanalysts, neuroscientists, and the many intrepid journalists increasingly threatened by authoritarians who have good reasons to fear truthful reporting. And, of course, author Stephen J. Ducat draws on his own experiences, visions, and values. A major topic addressed in the book is the malignant mindset animating MAGA neo-fascism's zealous partisans. Donald Trump’s fortunes may fade in the coming months and years, but Trumpism will likely remain ascendant. Of course, xenophobic bigotry, violent aversion to democracy, political cults of personality, and indifference to facts are global phenomena and not limited to the United States. But America plays a prominent role, even abroad. In December 2022, it was revealed that a right-wing coup attempt in Germany was, to some extent, modeled on America’s own post-election insurrection, which was planned and executed by the paramilitary wing of the MAGA movement. That German episode was not the first time that the actions of American anti-democratic and white supremacist groups became the template for similar efforts worldwide. In the 1930s, German fascists looked to America as a blueprint for implementing race-based tribalism. Hitler so admired Jim Crow laws in the United States, especially concerning citizenship and anti-miscegenation laws, that he sent a team of legal scholars to study their statutory framework for addressing the problem of "racial pollution." While the Nazis initially found a lot to love and incorporate into the Nuremberg Laws, they ironically rejected much of the American model as too harsh. Many pundits have decried the “extremism” of Trumpian lynch-mob politics. On the contrary, Hatreds We Love argues that it is contiguous with the long history of American conservatism going back at least to the antebellum South. From this perspective, the worldview and actions of the GOP's MAGA faction are the logical outcomes of the consistently expressed right-wing ethos of domination, xenophobia, and the "freedom" to harm. Although there is much handwringing about the toxic synergy of authoritarian political forces, white identity politics, and the embrace of post-factuality, there is insufficient understanding of the links between them. Chief among those links is tribal psychology. Nearly every political pundit decries political tribalism. Yet, public discussion rarely addresses more than its most disturbing symptoms. Hatreds We Love speaks to the causes and underlying dynamics of what is now one of the greatest threats to the viability of what remains of American democracy and global democratic governance more broadly.
One of the most enduring themes in American political discourse is the idea of decline. Since the very beginnings of the European settlement of North America there have been voices pointing to an inevitable regression of the people from the standards set by heroic ancestors. This discourse of decay has often taken the form of the jeremiad in which public intellectuals, pundits, and politicians point to the causes of decline and call for a return to older and nobler standards of conduct. The Jeremiad has seen a revival in the last 25 years. Jendrysik traces the history of this form of political discourse from its modern reinvention by Allan Bloom to its current uses by such figures as Bill O'Reilly and Hillary Clinton.
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1978.
What was childhood like in ancient Greece? What activities and games did Greek children embrace? How were they schooled and what religious and ceremonial rites of passage were key to their development? These fascinating questions and many more are answered in this groundbreaking book--the first English-language study to feature and discuss imagery and artifacts relating to childhood in ancient Greece.Coming of Age in Ancient Greece shows that the Greeks were the first culture to represent children and their activities naturalistically in their art. Here we learn about depictions of children in myth as well as life, from infancy to adolescence. This beautifully illustrated book features such archaeological artifacts as toys and gaming pieces alongside images of them in use by children on ancient vases, coins, terracotta figurines, bronze and stone sculpture, and marble grave monuments. Essays by eminent scholars in the fields of Greek social history, literature, archaeology, anthropology, and art history discuss a wide range of topics, including the burgeoning role of childhood studies in interdisciplinary studies; the status of children in Greek culture; the evolution of attitudes toward children from the Bronze Age to the Hellenistic period as documented by literature and art; the relationships of fathers and sons and mothers and daughters; and the roles of cult practice and death in a child's existence.This delightful book illuminates what is most universal and specific about childhood in ancient Greece and examines childhood's effects on Greek life and culture, the foundation on which Western civilization has been based.
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