Face the Nation: Race, Immigration, and the Rise of Nativism in Late Twentieth Century America

1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1009-1030 ◽  
Author(s):  
George J. Sanchez
Keyword(s):  
Los Angeles ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Activity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Recent Scholarship ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
American Society ◽  
Twentieth Century America ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

This article examines the rise of nativism directed at Asian and Latino immigrants to the United States in contemporary American society. By focusing on the Los Angeles riots and other evidence of the rise of anti-immigrant feelings among the population, this study reveals that a racial nativism has arisen which intertwines a new American racism with traditional hostility towards new immigrants in a variety of ways. Both recent scholarship on race and John Higham's classic work on nativism are utilized to provide a conceptual framework for understanding our multiracial contemporary setting. Tellingly, this new racial nativism emerges from both sides of the political spectrum, and is evident in attempts to keep discussions of race focused on solely white/black national construction. Finally, the study explores how immigrants themselves have responded to these attacks by increasing naturalization rates and political activity, forming a newfound ambivalent Americanism.

From Unwatchable Life to Consumable Spectacle: On History and the Black-Korean Conflict

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (3) ◽  
pp. 280-296
Author(s):  
Shelley Sang-Hee Lee
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Economic Inequality ◽  
The United States ◽  
Cultural Phenomenon ◽  
Racial Injustice ◽  
Interethnic Conflict ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

This article considers the immigrant store owner as spectacle, signifier, and actor in Korean-Black relations in Los Angeles during the late twentieth century, arguing that the “Black-Korean conflict” was an historical and cultural phenomenon in which events and their representations built upon each other. Members of these groups sometimes resisted and interrogated the framework of interethnic conflict which was projected onto them, but also incorporated it into their outlooks and organizing strategies. The article also reflects upon efforts to address intergroup tensions and conflict against a backdrop of widespread racial injustice and economic inequality in Los Angeles and the United States.

Strange Whims of Crest Fiends: Marketing Heraldry in the United States, 1880–1980

2015 ◽  
Vol 50 (3) ◽  
pp. 587-611
Author(s):  
FORREST D. PASS
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Gilded Age ◽  
The United States ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Family Identity ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Broad Cross Section ◽  
American Society ◽  
Contemporary United States ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

The display of a “family crest” to signal family identity is prevalent in the contemporary United States. However, during the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century, many American commentators perceived the widespread use of heraldry by the high bourgeoisie as at best a mark of social pretension and at worst a symptom of an un-American predilection for aristocracy. Over the course of a century, heraldic entrepreneurs sought to broaden the market for family crests, and in doing so Americanized heraldic practice. The early projects of Albert Welles, Frank Allaben and Frances M. Smith linked heraldry with new approaches to genealogical research and encouraged its use by a broad cross section of American society. In the late twentieth century, entrepreneur Gary Halbert sold millions of heraldic mementos that epitomized the modern commodification of history and identity. The result of a century of marketing is an American heraldry that is both more accessible than its European antecedents and less closely tied to verifiable genealogical relationships.

Exiles

2020 ◽  
pp. 53-76
Author(s):  
Lauren R. Kerby
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Material Culture ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Moral Majority ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Cultural Power ◽  
White Evangelicals ◽  
Christian Leaders ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

This chapter explores how white evangelicals cast themselves as outsiders from political and cultural power in the United States, despite the lingering legacy of white Christian hegemony. Their sense of alienation depends on their concomitant sense that they ought not to be outsiders at all, based on their claims about the nation’s Christian heritage. But casting themselves as exiles is a savvy political move. Americans tend to romanticize outsiders, assuming they possess a novel perspective and moral clarity that insiders lack. This chapter examines how Christian tourists in D.C. depict themselves as exiles, despite the material culture they encounter at the Washington Monument, U.S. Capitol, and other sites. Phrases such as “In God We Trust” as well as biblical inscriptions and statues of Christian leaders demonstrate continued Christian power. It also looks at how this exile role was constructed by the Moral Majority and Christian Coalition in the late twentieth century. Finally, it considers the political benefits of the exile role in a nation that reveres tradition yet cheers for underdogs. Together, the roles of founders and exiles allow white evangelicals to maximize their political power by claiming the most expedient role in a given situation.

Disconnection and Reorganization: The Transformation of Civic Life in Late-Twentieth-Century America

2005 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theda Skocpol ◽  
Rachael V. Cobb ◽  
Casey Andrew Klofstad
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Voluntary Associations ◽  
The United States ◽  
Civic Life ◽  
Civic Organization ◽  
Theoretical Perspectives ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Scholarly Discussion ◽  
Twentieth Century America ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

From the early 1800s through the middle of the twentieth century, U.S. democracy was energized by the remarkable propensity of Americans to organize and join voluntary associations. Observers of many persuasions agree on this point – and also concur that the final decades of the twentieth century brought fundamental shifts in civic organization and citizen involvements with voluntary groups in the United States. The nature, tempo, and causes of these changes remain a topic for scholarly discussion, however. Investigators highlight different aspects of recent civic transformations and explore these changes using contrasting theoretical perspectives and types of empirical data.

The Rise and Retreat of the Armed Forces

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Orlando J. Pérez ◽  
Randy Pestana
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Central America ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
The Military ◽  
Late Twentieth Century ◽  
Modern Nation State

The armed forces of Central America predate the development of the modern nation-state. It is difficult to understand the political and social history of the region without examining the role of the military. Strong men leading local armed militias emerged out of the ashes of the Spanish Empire to rule the newly independent nations. As military institutions developed, an alliance between the armed forces and powerful economic elites sought to govern the nation-states by suppressing and exploiting popular sectors often through brutal repression. Authoritarianism and economic underdevelopment led to multiple uprisings which helped shape the nature of politics and democratic governance in contemporary Central America. In explaining this we explore the evolution of the armed forces, focusing particular attention on the political influence of the military in the development of the modern nation-state, and on the process of democratization in the late twentieth century. We then examine the role the United States has played in promoting and sustaining military rule. Finally, we analyze the consequences of late-twentieth-century peace processes on the retreat of military power and on the building of democracy.

Voluntarism

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 80-104
Author(s):  
Anders Sevelsted
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
The Political ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Political Spectrum ◽  
Conservative Christians ◽  
Core Meaning ◽  
Late Twentieth Century ◽  
The Welfare State

The article analyzes the varied meanings historically associated with concepts of voluntarism in relation to social relief as they were articulated by changing moral elites in Denmark from the late nineteenth century until the present. Concepts of voluntarism have historically constituted “normative counterconcepts” that link voluntary practices to desired futures in opposition to alternative modes of organizing. The “proximity” of voluntarism vis-à-vis the “distance” of the state has always been a core meaning, but the concept has drifted across the political spectrum from its first articulation by nineteenth-century conservative Christians to its rediscovery by leftist social researchers in the late twentieth century. Paradoxically, the welfare state helped “proximity” become a core meaning, in contrast to its original social-conservative meaning emphasizing proximity and distance.

A New Denominational Historiography?

1995 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-263
Author(s):  
John F. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Recent Analysis ◽  
General Factor ◽  
Religious Organization ◽  
Religious Institution ◽  
Large Numbers ◽  
The Status ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
American Society ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

Over the last decade, a noteworthy number of published studies have, in one fashion or another, been defined with reference to religious denominations. This is an arresting fact, for, coincidentally, the status of religious denominations in the society has been called into question. Some formerly powerful bodies have lost membership (at least relatively speaking) and now experience reduced influence, while newer forms of religious organization(s)—e.g., parachurch groups and loosely structured movements—have flourished. The most compelling recent analysis of religion in modern American society gives relatively little attention to them. Why, then, have publications in large numbers appeared, in scale almost seeming to be correlated inversely to this trend?No single answer to this question is adequate. Surely one general factor is that historians often “work out of phase” with contemporary social change. If denominations have been displaced as a form of religious institution in society in the late twentieth century, then their prominence in earlier eras is all the more intriguing.

Japanese Multinationals in the United States: Continuity and Change, 1879–1990

1990 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 585-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mira Wilkins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Direct Investment ◽  
The United States ◽  
Business Leaders ◽  
Late Nineteenth Century ◽  
Historical Survey ◽  
Continuity And Change ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Nineteenth ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

A great deal of attention has recently been focused on the extent of Japanese direct investment in the United States. In the following historical survey, Professor Wilkins details the size and scope of these investments from the late nineteenth century, showing that Japanese involvements in America have deep historical roots. At the same time, she analyzes the ways in which late twentieth century Japanese direct investment differs from the earlier phenomenon and attempts to explain why it has aroused such concern among both business leaders and the general public.

scholarly journals Corporate Defaults, Workouts, and the Rise of the Distressed Asset Investment Industry

2015 ◽  
Vol 89 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-330 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglas Cumming ◽  
Grant Fleming
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Private Sector ◽  
Scale Effects ◽  
The United States ◽  
Corporate Restructuring ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
Late Twentieth ◽  
Late Twentieth Century

We examine the formation and growth of the distressed asset investment industry during the late twentieth century, with specific focus on the strategies of the leading firms. The distressed asset investment industry is dominated by firms based in the United States and is relatively concentrated, due in large part to early movers developing distinctive investment capabilities through participation in landmark transactions, relationship-specific resources, and exploitation of scale effects. We argue that the participation of these firms in the bankruptcy and corporate restructuring markets has resulted in private-sector workouts becoming more competitive and more efficient over the last thirty years, especially in the United States.

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