The Radical Right: A Problem for American Democracy

Lipset, Seymour Martin

doi:10.2307/587483

Cited by 57 publications

(75 citation statements)

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“…In short, under conditions of massive societal change, the "losers of modernization" will vote for populist radical right parties (e.g. Decker 2004;Minkenberg 1998;Betz 1994;but also Bell 1964;Lipset 1955).…”

Section: Normal Pathology and Academic Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Populist Radical Right: A Pathological Normalcy

Mudde¹

2010

West European Politics

502

329

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In recent years more and more studies have pointed to the limitations of demand-side explanations of the electoral success of populist radical right parties. They argue that supply-side factors need to be included as well. While previous authors have made these claims on the basis of purely empirical arguments, this paper provides a (meta)theoretical argumentation for the importance of supply-side explanations. It takes issue with the dominant view on the populist radical right, which considers it to be alien to mainstream values in contemporary western democracies, expressed most explicitly in the "normal pathology thesis". Instead, it argues that the populist radical right should be seen as a radical interpretation of mainstream values, or, to stay in Scheuch and Klingemann's terminology, as a pathological normalcy. This argument is substantiated on the basis of an empirical analysis of party ideologies and mass attitudes. The proposed paradigmatic shift has profound consequences for the way the populist radical right and western democracy relate, as well as on how the populist radical right is best studied. Most importantly, it makes demand for populist radical right politics an assumption rather than a puzzle, and turns the prime focus of research on the political struggle over issue saliency and positions, and on the role of populist radical right parties within these struggles.

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Section: Normal Pathology and Academic Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Populist Radical Right: A Pathological Normalcy

Mudde¹

2010

West European Politics

502

329

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“…Thus, even some US conservative sociologists identify and implore original Puritanism as the main and even self-perpetuating, via its survivals or revivals in sectarian Protestantism, source of what is observed as pervasive and persisting intolerance and other related illiberal tendencies and practices in contemporary American politics and society (Lipset 1955;. By implication, such tendencies originate in and hence perpetuate what J. S. Mill identifies as original Puritans' "fanatical" political as well as moral and religious intolerance wherever and whenever they become "sufficiently powerful," including Great Britain in the wake of the Puritan Revolution, New England during the long "Biblical Commonwealth" of the 1620s-1830s, and the US South in its "Bible-Belt" phase, especially via and following the Second Awakening of the 1800s.…”

Section: Puritanism and Liberty In Politymentioning

confidence: 95%

“…In particular, in America Protestantism's, notably Puritanism's, supposed connection or equation to freedom and political democracy (Parsons 1967), as well as modern science and technology (Merton 1968), has become the original and major element of the American civil religion (Munch 2001) or religiouslike creed (Lipset 1996) of "liberty, justice and equality for all" in Jefferson's rendition and meaning, including political democracy and civil liberties, plus free market enterprise. In a sense, Puritanism is at the root, heart and soul, even in some celebratory views (Gelernter 2005) an equivalent, of what Weber calls Americanism (Lipset 1955)-whose "professed" virtues he describes yet as Puritan-rooted "pure hypocrisy"- Merton (1939) names American nativism or ethnocentrism, and other US sociologists term superior, though admittedly "double-edged," libertariandemocratic exceptionalism (Lipset 1996) and triumphalism (Bell 2002). To that extent, Puritanism represents what Weber describes, referring to modern Calvinist capitalism, as the "most fateful force" in American history and society, or simply, as Tocqueville specifically describes it, America's "destiny."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

The Most Cherished Myth: Puritanism and Liberty Reconsidered and Revised

Zafirovski

2007

Am Soc

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This paper revisits and reconsiders the prevailing assumption or conventional wisdom about the association or affinity between Puritanism and liberty in historically Puritan societies, especially America and to a lesser extent Great Britain. It argues and elaborates on that the "Puritanism and liberty" equation or link is a naïve assumption, speculative explanation or cherished liberal-democratic mythology analogous and related to, as well as even more enduring and prevalent than, what contemporary sociologists call the "beloved myth" of an elective affinity or connection between Calvinism and modern capitalism. The paper aims to fill in a void in the current sociological literature in which attempts to question and reveal the Puritanism and liberty equivalence as a myth are relatively infrequent. Overall, the paper aims to contribute to the existing literature on the relationships between Puritanism, Calvinism and other ascetic Protestantism on the one hand and modern democratic society on the other.Keywords Liberty . Puritanism . Calvinism . ProtestantismPuritanism was not merely a religious doctrine, but corresponded in many points with the most absolute democratic and republican theories (Alexis Tocqueville).Puritanism and democracy have worked together [and America] is a lineal descendent of Puritanism (Edward Ross). Puritanism [is] anti-authoritarian (Max Weber).

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“…Examples of fear response are noted through U.S. immigration policy literature (Daniels, 2004;Lipset, 1955;Sanchez, 1997 (Lipset, 1955). The changes post 9-11 have been previously discussed in this paper as a response to fear (Daniels, 2004).…”

Section: Exclusion: Fear and Group Threat Theorymentioning

confidence: 73%

“…The 1920s noted the rise of the Ku Klux Klan's (KKK) strident voice against minority races (Lipset, 1955). The American Federation of Labor (AFL) encouraged more restrictive immigration policies for fear of the threat to working class Americans (Sanchez, 1997).…”

Section: Current Immigration Policy Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

A proposed evolution of immigration model applied to the United States, Germany, and Russia.

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The Radical Right: A Problem for American Democracy

Cited by 57 publications

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The Populist Radical Right: A Pathological Normalcy

The Populist Radical Right: A Pathological Normalcy

The Most Cherished Myth: Puritanism and Liberty Reconsidered and Revised

A proposed evolution of immigration model applied to the United States, Germany, and Russia.

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