Deeply Divided: Racial Politics and Social Movements in Postwar America

by Doug McAdam, Karina Kloos

Overview

By many measures—commonsensical or statistical—the United States has not been more divided politically or economically in the last hundred years than it is now. How have we gone from the striking bipartisan cooperation and relative economic equality of the war years and post-war period to the extreme inequality and savage partisan divisions of today?

In this sweeping look at American politics from the Depression to the present, Doug McAdam and Karina Kloos argue that party politics alone is not responsible for the mess we find ourselves in. Instead, it was the ongoing interaction of social movements and parties that, over time, pushed Democrats and Republicans toward their ideological margins, undermining the post-war consensus in the process. The Civil Rights struggle and the white backlash it provoked reintroduced the centrifugal force of social movements into American politics, ushering in an especially active and sustained period of movement/party dynamism, culminating in today's tug of war between the Tea Party and Republican establishment for control of the GOP.

In Deeply Divided, McAdam and Kloos depart from established explanations of the conservative turn in the United States and trace the roots of political polarization and economic inequality back to the shifting racial geography of American politics in the 1960s. Angered by Lyndon Johnson's more aggressive embrace of civil rights reform in 1964, Southern Dixiecrats abandoned the Democrats for the first time in history, setting in motion a sustained regional realignment that would, in time, serve as the electoral foundation for a resurgent and increasingly more conservative Republican Party. This revised and updated edition features new insights into the upcoming 2016 presidential election, including data from the latest polls, as well as reflections upon the results of the 2014 midterm elections.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780190465179
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	04/01/2016
Pages:	414
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.10(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

Doug McAdam is the Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology at Stanford University and a former Director of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences.

Karina Kloos is Senior Research and Evaluation Specialist, Landsea Rural Development Institute.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 How Did We Get Into This Mess?
Chapter 2 Postwar America: Bipartisan Consensus, the Median Voter, and the Absence of Social Movements
Chapter 3 The Center Will Not Hold: The 1960s and the Shifting Racial Geography of American Politics
Chapter 4 The Strange, Consequential Seventies
Chapter 5 The Reagan Revolution?
Chapter 6 The Slow-Release Revolution: 1988-2008
Chapter 7 The Obama Years: Uncivil War
Chapter 8 Restoring American Democracy

References
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

06/02/2014
Stanford sociologist McAdam and social movements scholar and activist Kloos offer a timely, if at times tendentious, account of how partisan polarization and economic inequality have taken over America since 1960. The authors argue that the bipartisanship of postwar America was anomalous and made possible by the relative lack of social protest in the 1940s and ’50s. The civil rights movement and the segregationist movement subsequently helped push apart the Democrats and the Republicans. The book’s most significant contribution is its account of how the “Reagan Revolution,” which further sharpened America’s partisan divide, was implemented over the two decades after Reagan left office. Today, state legislation that bars ex-felons from voting, gerrymandering, the corrupting influence of money in elections, and the Electoral College suppress minority viewpoints, foster extreme partisanship, and ultimately threaten democracy. Some of the authors’ conclusions are anodyne—elected officials must find “common ground” and “reclaim... the political middle”—and, overall, the book is likely only to please those who already agree with the authors. Still, McAdam and Kloos provide useful historical context for today’s Capitol Hill. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

"This is a fascinating book on the politics of racial and social inequality in the United States, from the time of Mad Men until the Obama years. Power has turned upside down at the Oval office, but what happened at the bottom? A must-read." —Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century

"Deeply Divided reveals in sharp relief how extreme inequality and unprecedented partisan polarization are threatening our democratic ideals and practices. Doug McAdam and Karina Kloos's insightful discussion of the roots of these developments and how they can be overcome deserves a wide audience." —William Julius Wilson, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor, Harvard University

"In this timely book, Doug McAdam and Karina Kloos masterfully illuminate the often neglected role that social movements of the left and right have played in replacing bipartisan politics of the 1950s with the rancorous divisions of the twenty-first century." —Nolan McCarty, Susan Dod Brown Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Princeton University

"This thoughtfully provocative reading of transformations to American politics and society since the close of World War Two artfully weaves together issues, themes, and types of analysis too often kept apart. Placing race, social movements, and economic inequality front and center, Deeply Divided develops a fresh and compelling analytical account of the origins, content, and dynamics of current democratic distempers." —Ira Katznelson, author of Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time

"McAdam and Kloos bring out the critical, but mostly ignored, role of the counterpoint between social movements and electoral politics responsible for major shifts in public policy since the beginning of the Republic—to the left and, more recently, to the right. This book is essential reading for any who seek to understand the sources of political dysfunction gripping American government, especially the forces responsible for the battle within the Republican Party and the currents of anti-government policy in both parties." —Marshall Ganz, Senior Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School

"This title is a fascinating and enlightening look at the contemporary political quagmire." —Library Journal

"Timely... McAdam and Kloos provide useful historical context for today's Capitol Hill." —Publishers Weekly

"Why have American politics become so partisan and fractious? What is the role of social movements in American politics? These questions drive this important book by the political sociologists Doug McAdam and Karina Kloos. Exploring party politics since World War II, the authors link the issues of partisanship and social movements via a provocative thesis that challenges the way we write American political history"
—James N. Gregory, University of Washington, The Journal of American History

"Deeply Divided provides a powerful and timely analysis of the causes and consequences of growing political polarization and economic inequality...The study is a sweeping synthesis that weaves together scholarship by historians, economists, political scientists, and sociologists to provide a sobering, insightful, and much-needed interpretation of our current political predicament…McAdam and Kloos make several important contributions to our understanding of U.S. politics. While many scholars have worked on pieces of the story, this book's synthetic narrative shows the historical processes that have given rise to our highly unequal and polarized society."
—Kenneth Andrews, Contemporary Sociology

From the Publisher

★ 07/01/2014
Sociologists McAdam and Kloos seek to explain how U.S. politics moved from the post-World War II era of bipartisanship and economic stability to a time as politically divisive as Reconstruction and more economically unequal than the Great Depression. Through a sweeping analysis of the interaction among race, region, and social movements, the authors make a strong case for how the combined force of the three pushed today's political parties to their ideological edges. Using a solid collection of sources and data, the authors show how, for instance, the pro-life movement, the Christian Right, and the nationwide tax revolt contributed to Ronald Reagan's rise to and Jimmy Carter's eviction from the White House. Despite the complex and multifaceted topic, this title is a fascinating and enlightening look at the contemporary political quagmire. Of note are the chapters on Reagan and the "slow-release revolution" stemming from his admirable communication skills and influence. VERDICT Although this is a scholarly work, the authors' interdisciplinary approach, thorough explanations, and accessible writing style, coupled with their fresh analysis of modern American politics make it a satisfying choice for both general readers and scholars.—Lisa Ennis, Univ. of Alabama at Birmingham Lib.

Library Journal