The American Politics Workshop
presents
Alexandra Filindra
Assistant Professor of Political Science
University of Illinois at Chicago
“Raging Against the Machine: Racial Prejudice, White Reactionary Movements, and Public Hostility to Government”
Abstract
We argue that white Americans’ preferences regarding the scope of government and attitudes toward their national government have become racialized. Drawing on historical accounts of the racial realignment at the party level and the narratives that undergird this shift, we theorize that in the 1980s and 1990s, conservative elites became increasingly frustrated with what they viewed as bureaucratic obstructionism of their agenda. In response, they recast the narrative that emerged in the 1960s when the Republican Party mixed laissez-faire and racial ideologies under the banner of “states’ rights.” The new narrative blended racial resentment and open hostility to the national government and its agencies. In the 21stcentury, these ideas were further popularized by the Tea Party. Based on this perspective, we test the hypothesis that among whites, support for small government ideology and perceptions that government is a threat to liberty positively correlate with negative racial considerations. We report supportive evidence based on several waves of the ANES (1992-2016), a second national survey (2015), and a survey experiment.
Wednesday, October 11, 2017
12:00 – 1:20 pm
**Lunch will be served**
Location: Pick Hall, First Floor Lounge, 5828 S. University Ave.
Papers will be circulated in advance through our email list. To join the workshop email list visit: https://lists.uchicago.edu/web/subscribe/americanpolitics. Individuals with disabilities or those who require special accommodations should contact the coordinators, Jenn M. Jackson (jennjackson@uchicago.edu) and Scott Cooley (cooley@uchicago.edu).
Additional information about the American Politics Workshop can be found on our website: https://voices.uchicago.edu/americanpol/.
