Religion as Political Tribalism

The Forum ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 499-518
Author(s):  
David E. Campbell
Keyword(s):  
American Politics ◽  
Conventional Wisdom ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Standard Account ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
White Voters ◽  
Religious Landscape

Abstract Is religion a form of political tribalism? Conventional wisdom suggests it is. Discussion of religion and American politics generally focuses on the “God Gap”—the tendency for religious Americans to vote Republican, while the non-religious vote Democratic. However, there is also reason to argue that religion cannot be reduced to political tribalism. The God Gap is found mostly among white voters; among people of color, religiosity is a far weaker predictor of the vote. Even among white voters, the size of the God Gap varies across different religious traditions. Furthermore, there is more nuance to the non-religious population than suggested by the standard account of the God Gap. When the analysis includes the full scope of the American religious landscape, religion is not as “tribal” as conventional wisdom suggests.

A Long, Long Way

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg Garrett
Keyword(s):  
People Of Color ◽  
Racial Reconciliation ◽  
Cultural Narratives ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hollywood Films ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Race And Culture

Hollywood films are perhaps the most powerful storytellers in American history, and their depiction of race and culture has helped to shape the way people around the world respond to race and prejudice. Over the past one hundred years, films have moved from the radically prejudiced views of people of color to the depiction of people of color by writers and filmmakers from within those cultures. In the process, we begin to see how films have depicted negative versions of people outside the white mainstream, and how film might become a vehicle for racial reconciliation. Religious traditions offer powerful correctives to our cultural narratives, and this work incorporates both narrative truth-telling and religious truth-telling as we consider race and film and work toward reconciliation. By exploring the hundred-year period from The Birth of a Nation to Get Out, this work acknowledges the racist history of America and offers the possibility of hope for the future.

Black Infidels

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sikiyu Hutchinson
Keyword(s):  
African Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Global Capitalism ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Religious Groups ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Secular Humanism ◽  
Religious Traditions ◽  
Secular Humanist ◽  
Economic Injustice

African Americans are among the most religious groups in the United States. Consequently, secular humanism and atheism are largely anathema to mainstream African Americans. Nonetheless, secular humanist and atheist traditions have coexisted with religious traditions in African American social thought and community as a progressive political and cultural counterweight to black religious orthodoxy. Radical or progressive humanism is specifically concerned with the liberation struggle of disenfranchised peoples. Organized religion is one of many powerful forces solidifying inequity based on race, gender, class, and sexual orientation. Racism, classism, sexism, and heterosexism are amplified and reinforced by economic injustice institutionalized under global capitalism. Hence, humanism is especially relevant for people of color living in conditions of structural inequality in which the state serves only the human rights of the wealthy.

scholarly journals The Differential Effects of Economic Conditions and Racial Attitudes in the Election of Donald Trump

2018 ◽  
Vol 17 (02) ◽  
pp. 358-379 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Green ◽  
Sean McElwee
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Racial Attitudes ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Economic Data ◽  
Economic Distress ◽  
White Voters ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Zip Code ◽  
Limited Scope

Debates over the extent to which racial attitudes and economic distress explain voting behavior in the 2016 election have tended to be limited in scope, focusing on the extent to which each factor explains white voters’ two-party vote choice. This limited scope obscures important ways in which these factors could have been related to voting behavior among other racial sub-groups of the electorate, as well as participation in the two-party contest in the first place. Using the vote-validated 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Survey, merged with economic data at the ZIP code and county levels, we find that racial attitudes strongly explain two-party vote choice among white voters—in line with a growing body of literature. However, we also find that local economic distress was strongly associated with non-voting among people of color, complicating direct comparisons between racial and economic explanations of the 2016 election and cautioning against generalizations regarding causal emphasis.

Gone For Good: Deindustrialization, White Voter Backlash, and US Presidential Voting

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
LEONARDO BACCINI ◽  
STEPHEN WEYMOUTH
Keyword(s):  
Social Identity Theory ◽  
Economic Voting ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
Dominant Group ◽  
Group Status ◽  
Racial Hierarchy ◽  
Economic Distress ◽  
White Voters ◽  
Black Voters

Globalization and automation have contributed to deindustrialization and the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs, yielding important electoral implications across advanced democracies. Coupling insights from economic voting and social identity theory, we consider how different groups in society may construe manufacturing job losses in contrasting ways. We argue that deindustrialization threatens dominant group status, leading some white voters in affected localities to favor candidates they believe will address economic distress and defend racial hierarchy. Examining three US presidential elections, we find white voters were more likely to vote for Republican challengers where manufacturing layoffs were high, whereas Black voters in hard-hit localities were more likely to vote for Democrats. In survey data, white respondents, in contrast to people of color, associated local manufacturing job losses with obstacles to individual upward mobility and with broader American economic decline. Group-based identities help explain divergent political reactions to common economic shocks.

White Voters, A Key Piece of the Puzzle: Education, Race, and Electoral Politics

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (03) ◽  
pp. 517-522
Author(s):  
DeeAnn Grove
Keyword(s):  
School Desegregation ◽  
Electoral Politics ◽  
Black Children ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
School Vouchers ◽  
Campaign Strategy ◽  
The Past ◽  
White Voters ◽  
School Voucher ◽  
Black Voters

ABSTRACTIn 2004, Jennifer L. Hochschild challenged political scientists to give greater attention to education policy and politics. Although it challenges Hochschild’s interpretation of the politics of school vouchers, this article demonstrates her central assertion that the era of school desegregation continues to impact American politics. Internal campaign strategy documents from presidential election campaigns reveal how the two parties have arrived at different school voucher positions because of the different challenges each party faced as a result of the battle over school desegregation. Republican strategists were concerned that white voters believed their candidates did not care about people of color. Supporting vouchers for urban Black children allowed Republicans to reassure white voters of their racial sensitivity. In contrast, Democratic candidates were more concerned that they might alienate white voters by taking another position that seemed to pander to Black voters. Strategists’ perceptions of white voters’ attitudes toward education and race comprise the thread that connects the past to the present.

scholarly journals The Differential Effects of Economic Conditions and Racial Attitudes in the Election of Donald Trump

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon Green ◽  
Sean McElwee
Keyword(s):  
Voting Behavior ◽  
Racial Attitudes ◽  
Vote Choice ◽  
People Of Color ◽  
Economic Data ◽  
Economic Distress ◽  
White Voters ◽  
2016 Election ◽  
Zip Code ◽  
Limited Scope

Debates over the extent to which racial attitudes and economic distress explain voting behavior in the 2016 election have tended to be limited in scope, focusing on the extent to which each factor explains white voters’ two-party vote choice. This limited scope obscures important ways in which these factors could have been related to voting behavior among other racial sub-groups of the electorate, as well as participation in the two-party contest in the first place. Using the vote-validated 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Survey, merged with economic data at the ZIP code and county levels, we find that racial attitudes strongly explain two-party vote choice among white voters – in line with a growing body of literature. However, we also find that local economic distress was strongly associated with non-voting among people of color, complicating direct comparisons between racial and economic explanations of the 2016 election and cautioning against generalizations regarding causal emphasis.

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