The Kanawha County Textbook Controversy: A Study of the Politics of Life Style Concern

Page, Ann L.; Clelland, Donald A.

doi:10.1093/sf/57.1.265

Cited by 69 publications

(32 citation statements)

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“…In general, the media referred to the Kanawha County textbook controversy as a matter of "class warfare" in ways that invoked an established narrative of class consciousness. Specifically, in the pages of the Social Forces, Billings and Goldman (1979) differed with Page and Clelland (1978;see also Clelland and Page 1980) about the source of the conflict, relying on the established history of coal wars and the class consciousness attributed to them (Mason 2005,354-59 9. Naples's discussion of "community control" is important to consider here insofar as it delineates the differences between campaigns launched by conservatives from those pursued by liberals and radicals (2003,(89)(90)(91)(92)(93)(94)(95)(96)(97)(98)(99)(100)(101)(102)(103)(104)(105)(106)(107).…”

Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproducing the Souls of White Folk

Mason¹

2007

Hypatia

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Focusing on a textbook controversy that emerged in Kanawha County, West Virginia, in 1974, Mason explores the discursive production of white ethnicity in the rhetorical, visual, and political strategies used during an organized protest against the new multicultural curriculum adopted by the local school board. What the author finds puzzling is the ways in which these productions of “soul” and “nation” enabled unlikely political alliances between national conservative elites and the local, historically left-leaning working class protesters. The author argues that “soul” is reproduced through racialized discourse signifying the spiritual and ethnic purity of whiteness, the consolidation of white ethnicity, and the spirit of white resistance, articulated through campaigns to save children from future captivity in an “alien” world. Through this on-site theoretical analysis, the author demonstrates how a right-wing narrative of victimhood facilitates the reproduction of ethnic identification among the protesters, whose whiteness apparently can be jeopardized by reading the “wrong” books.

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Section: Notesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reproducing the Souls of White Folk

Mason¹

2007

Hypatia

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“…Morality politics involves conflict over the authoritative legitimatization of one set of rights or values over another (Gusfield, 1963;Page & Clelland, 1978;Moen, 1984;Hunter, 1991;Meier, 1994). The debate generated by morality politics is one of "first principles," in which "at least one advocacy coalition .…”

Section: Morality Policy: Definition and Distinguishing Characteristicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public School Search Policies and the “Politics of Sin”

Blankenau¹,

Leeper²

2003

Policy Studies Journal

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In recent years, high school students have been subjected to greater levels of drug searching and surveillance on school grounds. The effect of such searching is potentially wideranging, because public schools "play an important role in socializing students according to the norms and mores of society" (Vergari, 2000). Using the "morality politics" framework, this study reports and analyzes the presence of random, suspicionless drug searches in the Nebraska public schools. Whereas most studies of morality policy have focused on the state as the unit of analysis, we consider the perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors of principals in regards to drug policies in schools. Our findings, based on a survey of 181 high school principals, reflect several features of morality policy. There has been a significant rise in the number of random drug searches, despite the principals' observation that these measures neither lessen drug use nor catch perpetrators. The most important predictors of drug policy are pressure from local sources, perception of the problem within the community (but not the schools), and the racial composition of schools. Principals articulate limited concern for student rights, and students largely accept searches without resistance. In the discussion, we consider these findings in light of recent court rulings and introduce the potential ramifications of waging the drug war in our nation's classrooms and hallways.

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“…Status politics is not so much a symbolic response to economic and political interests as it is an attempt to buttress a cherished lifestyle against the threat of modernism. Page and Clelland (1978) call this the "politics of life-style concern." The status politics argument, in one form or the other, has been used to explain such right-wing movements as the Ku Klux Klan, the John Birch Society, and McCarthyism (Lipset and Raab 1978), the rise of Prohibition (Gusfield 1966) and community campaigns against pornography (Zurcher and Kirkpatrick 1976).…”

Section: Status Politics and Cultural Fundamentalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Indeed, the Moral Majority gained prominence at a time when fundamentalism was gaining in power and influence. An alternative explanation, favored by Tamney and Johnson (1982), Wood and Hughes (1984) and others, is that support for the Moral Majority stems from cultural and socialization factors and reflects a form of "cultural fundamentalism" (Gusfield 1966;Page and Clelland 1978;Harper and Leicht 1984;Wood and Hughes 1984). Wood and Hughes (1984, p. 89) characterize cultural fundamentalism as involving "adherence to traditional norms, respect for family and religious authority, asceticism and control of impulse."…”

Section: Status Politics and Cultural Fundamentalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Multiple Dimensions of the Moral Majority Platform: Shifting Interest Group Coalitions

Moore¹,

Whitt²

1986

The Sociological Quarterly

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The issues raised by the New Political Right and the Moral Majority have overlapped in recent political history. Researchers have assumed that a single additive scale across conservative issues can identify the base of support for the Moral Majority as an organization. We examine general support for the Moral Majority separately from support for six specific issues: teaching creationism, voluntary public school prayer, military defense spending, gun control, pornography and abortion. Data are from a 1982 random sample of adult respondents from Nebraska (N=1907). Overall, support for the Moral Majority organization is low. Discriminant analysis identifies fundamentalist and evangelical religious affiliation and Biblical literalism as independent predictors of support for the Moral Majority per se. Education increases knowledge of the organization, but does not influence support for it. Respondents with high income levels are more likely to support the Moral Majority organization. These findings contradict theories of both status politics and cultural fundamentalism. Support for the six specific platform items also varies considerably and is affected by religious conservatism and, independently, by other attitudinal and demographic indicators including age, sex, income, rural residence, education and perception of declining economic conditions. These patterns do not entirely fit the predictions of status politics or cultural fundamentalism theories. Rather, they provide evidence that distinct coalitions form on specific issues. Our conclusion is that a simple additive index of support for the Moral Majority masks these differences and oversimplifies complex patterns of coalitions in the religio‐political arena.

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The Kanawha County Textbook Controversy: A Study of the Politics of Life Style Concern

Cited by 69 publications

References 0 publications

Reproducing the Souls of White Folk

Reproducing the Souls of White Folk

Public School Search Policies and the “Politics of Sin”

Multiple Dimensions of the Moral Majority Platform: Shifting Interest Group Coalitions

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