The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism

2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vanessa Williamson ◽  
Theda Skocpol ◽  
John Coggin
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Voter Turnout ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Business Elites ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Electoral Defeat ◽  
Conservative Media

In the aftermath of a potentially demoralizing 2008 electoral defeat, when the Republican Party seemed widely discredited, the emergence of the Tea Party provided conservative activists with a new identity funded by Republican business elites and reinforced by a network of conservative media sources. Untethered from recent GOP baggage and policy specifics, the Tea Party energized disgruntled white middle-class conservatives and garnered widespread attention, despite stagnant or declining favorability ratings among the general public. As participant observation and interviews with Massachusetts activists reveal, Tea Partiers are not monolithically hostile toward government; they distinguish between programs perceived as going to hard-working contributors to US society like themselves and “handouts” perceived as going to unworthy or freeloading people. During 2010, Tea Party activism reshaped many GOP primaries and enhanced voter turnout, but achieved a mixed record in the November general election. Activism may well continue to influence dynamics in Congress and GOP presidential primaries. Even if the Tea Party eventually subsides, it has undercut Obama's presidency, revitalized conservatism, and pulled the national Republican Party toward the far right.

Growing Tea With Subnational Roots: Tea Party Affiliation, Factionalism, and GOP Politics in State Legislatures

2021 ◽  
pp. 1532673X2110411
Author(s):  
Stella M. Rouse ◽  
Charles Hunt ◽  
Kristen Essel
Keyword(s):  
Republican Party ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Level ◽  
Party Politics ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Party Affiliation ◽  
Far Right ◽  
Original Dataset

Most research has examined the influence of the Tea Party as a social movement or loose organization, but less is known about its influence within legislative party politics, especially at the state level. In this paper, we argue that in this context the Tea Party is primarily an intraparty faction that has caused significant divisions inside the Republican Party. Using an original dataset of legislators across 13 states for the years 2010 to 2013, we examine legislator and district-level characteristics that predict state legislators’ affiliation with the Tea Party. Our results reveal that in some respects legislators affiliated with the Tea Party are a far-right wing of the Republican Party. However, by other measures that capture anti-establishment political sentiment, Tea Party affiliated legislators comprise a factional group attempting to transform the Party in ways that go beyond ideology. These findings have important implications for the future prospects of the GOP.

The roots of Trumpism

2017 ◽  
Vol 29 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 100-108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles Post
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Social Origins ◽  
Donald Trump ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social

This essay examines the social origins of the election of Donald Trump in November 2016, and assess the possible direction of his presidency. Riding the wave of middle class radicalism that began with the Tea Party insurgency, Trump’s nomination temporarily disrupted the dominance of capitalists over the Republican Party. Despite his economic nationalist rhetoric, Trump will be unable to break in practice with the neo-liberal consensus of the past forty years.

scholarly journals Did the Tea Party Movement Fuel the Trump-Train? The Role of Social Media in Activist Persistence and Political Change in the 21st Century

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 205630511770678 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deana A. Rohlinger ◽  
Leslie Bunnage
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Qualitative Comparative Analysis ◽  
Tea Party ◽  
Observation Data ◽  
White House ◽  
Tea Party Movement ◽  
Political Communities

Arguably, the Tea Party movement played a role in Trump’s rise to power. Indeed, it is difficult to ignore the similarities in the populist claims made by Tea Partiers and those made by Trump throughout his campaign. Yet, we know very little about the potential connections between the Tea Party Movement and the “Trump-train” that crashed through the White House doors in 2017. We take a first step at tracing the connection between the two by examining who stayed involved in the Tea Party Movement at the local level and why. Drawing on interview and participant observation data with supporters of the Florida Tea Party Movement (FTPM) over a 2-year time period, we use qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) to assess the factors that determine whether individuals stay with or leave the movement and how the structure of the movement, which relied heavily on social media, contributed to this decision. We find that individuals who identified as libertarian left the FTPM, while those who identified as “fiscal conservatives” stayed. The FTPM’s reliance on social media further explains these results. Individuals who left the movement blamed the “openness” of social media, which, in their view, enabled the Republican Party to “hijack” the FTPM for its own purposes. Individuals who stayed in the movement attributed social media’s “openness” with the movement’s successes. We find that social media helped politically like-minded people locate one another and cultivate political communities that likely sustained activist commitment to changing the Republican Party over time.

Latina Spaces: Middle–Class Ethnic Capital and Professional Associations in the Latino Community

2009 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 129-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jody Agius Vallejo
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Professional Associations ◽  
Business Culture ◽  
Ethnic Communities ◽  
Business Skills ◽  
Ethnic Capital ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Conversational Interviews ◽  
Depth Interviews

This article examines the incorporation of middle–class Latinas in Southern California. Based on three years of participant observation, 30 in–depth interviews, and 50 conversational interviews with the organization's members, I find that the upwardly mobile Latinas mobilize “middle–class ethnic capital” to create professional associations in ethnic communities that provide valuable business skills, networks, and social capital to coethnics. Members of the organization realize that they must approximate the normative business standards of white middle–class business culture to get ahead, yet they feel that it is vital to retain their ethnic identity and provide resources to the ethnic community. While contemporary immigration research maintains the Latino ethnic communities lack the “high–quality resources” that might buffer against downward assimilation and advance upward mobility, these findings suggest that it takes one or two extra generations for Latinos to mobilize class and ethnic resources to promote mobility.

If You Let Me Play: Young Girls’ Insider-Other Narratives of Sport

2005 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 158-177 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheryl Cooky ◽  
Mary G. McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Multinational Corporations ◽  
Gender Discrimination ◽  
Equal Opportunity ◽  
Female Athletes ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Liberal Feminism ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Multiple Meanings

In this article we explore the narratives that 10 White, middle-class female athletes, ages 11–14, (co)produce around their sport experiences. Through interviews, observation, and participant observation, we argue that, consistent with the advertising rhetoric of such multinational corporations as Nike, these girls all advocate hard work, choice, opportunity, and personal responsibility in playing sport and in challenging gender discrimination. We argue this reflects the girls’ subscription to elements of liberal feminism and to their frequent positioning as “insider-others”—that is, outside the dominant gender norms of sport but simultaneously the beneficiaries of Whiteness and middle-class norms. In contrast to Nike and liberal feminists who frequently argue for equal opportunity in sport, these girls’ insider-other narratives suggest the need for critical interrogation of the multiple meanings and effects of sport experiences.

scholarly journals A Mission for MARS: The Success of Climate Change Skeptic Rhetoric in the US

Res Rhetorica ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Ruser
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Warming ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Climate Skepticism ◽  
The Us ◽  
Conservative Media

Radio and television broadcasters accuse climate scientists of “promoting a global warming hoax”, recommending that they be “named and fi red, drawn and quartered” (Rush Limbaugh); commit “hara kiri” (Glenn Beck); and be “publicly flogged” (Mark Morano). Conservative media are crucial in promoting climate skepticism. Likewise, climate skepticism resonates well with white middle-class men. But why does the middle class continue to support “radical” positions? This article focuses on Anti-Intellectualism to explain why climate skeptic rhetoric resonates with “Middle American Radicals” (MARS).

Engaging Social Justice Methods to Create Palliative Care Programs That Reflect the Cultural Values of African American Patients with Serious Illness and Their Families: A Path Towards Health Equity

2021 ◽  
Vol 49 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-230
Author(s):  
Ronit Elk ◽  
Shena Gazaway
Keyword(s):  
Palliative Care ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
African American ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Cultural Values ◽  
End Of Life Care ◽  
Life Care ◽  
Serious Illness ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Healing Power

AbstractCultural values influence how people understand illness and dying, and impact their responses to diagnosis and treatment, yet end-of-life care is rooted in white, middle class values. Faith, hope, and belief in God’s healing power are central to most African Americans, yet life-preserving care is considered “aggressive” by the healthcare system, and families are pressured to cease it.

Inadvertent Exemplars: Life History Portraits of Two Socially Just Principals

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 79-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Scanlan
Keyword(s):  
Social Justice ◽  
Life History ◽  
Elementary Schools ◽  
Middle Class ◽  
Life Histories ◽  
Public Elementary Schools ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Native English Speaking

This study creates life history portraits of two White middle-class native-English-speaking principals demonstrating commitments to social justice in their work in public elementary schools serving disproportionately high populations of students who are marginalized by poverty, race, and linguistic heritage. Through self-reported life histories of these principals, I create portraits that illustrate how these practitioners draw motivation, commitment, and sustenance in varied, complicated, and at times contradictory ways.

“I Assumed It Was a Much Safer Place Than It Really Is”: Nonbinary Educators’ Strategies for Finding School Jobs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lee Iskander
Keyword(s):  
Middle Class ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Gender Justice ◽  
Hiring Process ◽  
White Middle Class ◽  
Trans People ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
American Schools ◽  
Selling Point ◽  
Transformative Approach

People who are nonbinary—one of many kinds of trans identity that do not fit neatly within a man/woman binary—face particular challenges when seeking employment in P–12 schools, which have historically been places where rigid gender norms are strictly enforced. This paper draws on semistructured interviews conducted in 2018 to explore how 16 nonbinary educators navigated the process of finding, securing, and keeping jobs in Canadian and American schools. I found that most participants were concerned about securing a job or potentially losing their job or their safety at work because others might be inhospitable to their gender identity or expression. At the same time, participants had strategies to ensure that they found and kept jobs they were comfortable with, such as investigating a school’s support for queer and trans people, forging positive relationships with administrators and staff, and presenting their gender in particular ways during the hiring process. This study illustrates the limitations of individualistic, tokenizing forms of trans inclusion and reveals the continued prevalence of gender normativity in schools, despite a rapidly shifting gender landscape. While trans inclusion, at least on the surface, may be a selling point for some schools, trans people continue to face barriers when the underlying structures that privilege White, middle-class, cisgender, and heteronormative gender expression remain intact. I argue that, if trans people are to be fully supported in the education workplace, an intersectional and broadly transformative approach to gender justice is necessary.

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