The Rational Southerner: Black Mobilization, Republican Growth, and the Partisan Transformation of the American South
- ISBN-10
- 0199873836
- ISBN-13
- 9780199873838
- Category
- Political Science
- Pages
- 256
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2014-05-05
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press
- Authors
- Irwin L. Morris, M. V. Hood III, Quentin Kidd
Description
Since 1950, the South has undergone the most dramatic political transformation of any region in the United States. The once Solid-meaning Democratic-South is now overwhelmingly Republican, and long-disenfranchised African Americans vote at levels comparable to those of whites. In The Rational Southerner, M.V. Hood III, Quentin Kidd, and Irwin L. Morris argue that local strategic dynamics played a decisive and underappreciated role in both the development of the Southern Republican Party and the mobilization of the region's black electorate. Mobilized blacks who supported the Democratic Party made it increasingly difficult for conservative whites to maintain control of the Party's machinery. Also, as local Republican Party organizations became politically viable, the strategic opportunities that such a change provided made the GOP an increasingly attractive alternative for white conservatives. Blacks also found new opportunities within the Democratic Party as whites fled to the GOP, especially in the deep South, where large black populations had the potential to dominate state and local Democratic Parties. As a result, Republican Party viability also led to black mobilization. Using the theory of relative advantage, Hood, Kidd, and Morris provide a new perspective on party system transformation. Following a theoretically-informed description of recent partisan dynamics in the South, they demonstrate, with decades of state-level, sub-state, and individual-level data, that GOP organizational strength and black electoral mobilization were the primary determinants of political change in the region. The authors' finding that race was, and still is, the primary driver behind political change in the region stands in stark contrast to recent scholarship which points to in-migration, economic growth, or religious factors as the locus of transition. The Rational Southerner contributes not only to the study of Southern politics, but to our understanding of party system change, racial politics, and the role that state and local political dynamics play in the larger context of national politics and policymaking.
Get the book
Other editions
-
- 2014-05-29
- 260 pages
- Paperback
- Oxford University Press
Similar books
-
The Rational Southerner: Black Mobilization, Republican Growth, and the Partisan Transformation of the American South
By M. V. HoodIn The Rational Southerner, M.V. Hood, Quentin Kidd, and Irwin L. Morris develop a theory of relative advantage to explain why whites fled the Democratic Party and what propelled black political mobilization.
-
The Southerner as American
By Charles SellersEssays by nine Southern historians.
-
The Long Southern Strategy: How Chasing White Voters in the South Changed American Politics
By Angie Maxwell, Todd Shields... Tim Donovan , “ White People Are More Racist Than They Realize , " Salon , January 16 , 2015 , http://www.salon.com/2015/01/16/ white_people_are_more_racist_than_they_realize_partner / . 21. Tessa M. Ditonto , Richard R. Lau ...
-
The Southerner: A Novel
By Walter Hines PageThe novel is the fictional autobiography of Nicholas Worth, a Harvard-educated Southerner who unsuccessfully champions education reforms in his native state.
-
Deep Roots
By Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell, Maya SenFor example, Warren wrote that “[s]egregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children. ... Rosenberg, The Hollow Hope: Can Courts Bring About Social Change?
-
Southerners All
By F. N. BoneySoutherners All
-
The Rational Consumer: Bad for Business and Politics: Democracy at the Crossroads of Nature and Culture
By B. NyamnjohThis book discusses the seminal role played by Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, in the founding of American-style public relations persuasive communication through manipulation of symbols and his huge (and cynical) impact on the ...
-
In the Shadow of Statues: A White Southerner Confronts History
By Mitch LandrieuEdwards, the Democrat they hated most, was now poised to win against Duke, their candidate by default, who was soon being savaged by TV spots of Nazi troops as his “past” became an international story. Across the state, bumper stickers ...
-
The Gentlemen Theologians: American Theology in Southern Culture, 1795-1860
By E. Brooks HolifieldExploring the relationship between theology and urbanity in the Old South, E. Brooks Holifield examines the patterns of religious thought that pervaded the churches and seminaries of antebellum America. And...
-
Andrew Jackson, Southerner
By Mark R. Cheathem... in CAJ, 1:225– 226; R. David Edmunds, Tecumseh and the Quest for Indian Leadership (New York: HarperCollins, 1984), 20, 124–125. 5. Kanon, “Kidnapping of Martha Crawley,” 7–12; “The Massacre at the Mouth of the Duck River,” [c.