From Coalition to Constraint: Modes of Thought in Contemporary American Conservatism |
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Authors: | Andrew J Perrin J Micah Roos Gordon W Gauchat |
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Institution: | 1. Department of Sociology, University of North Carolina, , Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 27599‐3210;2. Quantitative Measurement and Evaluation Program, School of Education, University of California, , Berkeley, California, 94720;3. Department of Sociology, University of Wisconsin, , Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 53201 |
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Abstract: | We advocate a relational approach to understanding contemporary conservatism in the United States. Our approach suggests that conservatism provides a cultural repertoire for adherents to use in adapting to new or changed political situations. We provide evidence based on public opinion data that conservatism is neither a single, monolithic ideology nor a mere coalition of convenience among disparate interest groups. Instead, conservatism should be understood as an amalgam of overlapping but distinct styles of thought, held together through a cultural identification with conservative identity. |
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Keywords: | conservatism culture ideology political identity public opinion relational analysis |
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