“ Beyond Tocqueville, Myrdal, and Hartz: The Multiple Traditions in America ” Roger Smith

America as Preeminently Liberal: Hartz, Tocqueville Critique: Important Truths to Liberal worldview, but “ Tocqueville is too narrow ” There are important truths in the liberal narrative, but it fails to “ give due weight to inegalitarian ideologies and conditions that have shaped…American politics…

America as Preeminently Liberal: Hartz, Tocqueville Tocqueville is too narrow: centered on experience on 1) Mostly white men 2) Saw America as egalitarian because it lacked a monarchy. But amid this limited sphere of equality of white males was a sea of inequality… were “ fixed, ascriptive systems of ” inequality.

Limits of Liberalism Fixed, Ascriptive Systems: Scientific racism, Social Darwinism White, northern European men saw themselves as superior and enshrined this view within elaborate intellectual systems justifying inequality, such as “ scientific racism, social Darwinism… ”

Need New Explanation of American Culture Need New Explanation of American Culture: Hartz will not Do To explain the true nature of Amer culture, we need to move beyond the idea that it was equal because it has a non-feudal past…

Multiple Traditions Multiple Traditions: A mix of Liberal and Ascriptive Illiberal ideas in America have been countered by liberal claims. Indeed, “ American politics is best seen as expressing the interaction of multiple traditions, including 1) Liberalism 2) Republicanism 3) Ascriptive forms of Americanism.

Multiple Traditions YearLiberalism: (Individual Rights) Republicanism (Right to Vote) Ascriptive (Theory of Inequality) Abolished Slavery Griswold (1965, Privacy) Passed 15 Amd Voting Rights Act HAVA Act Women’s Opposition Klan Violence, Segregationist Voter ID Laws?

Multiple Traditions How else do we explain the co-existence of both liberal and illiberal ideas in American history/culture? Importance of this View: 1) If we understand the illiberal nature of American culture, we can protect Against illiberal ideas in the future. 2) If it has always been liberal, we would be unaware of this threat. 3) Change has only come through struggle.

Multiple Traditions Multiple Traditions Thesis of American Civic Identity American culture is defined by a combination of these ideas –liberal, republican, ascriptive…rather than being fundamentally liberal… Americans have frequently tried to believe in each at same time. Why? 1) Americans have often found liberal ideas to be unsatisfactory 2) It has been common for Americans to contradictory views 3) The decline of one systems of inequality will frequently be replaced by another.

Multiple Traditions Example: 1870 Some progress had been made, but ascriptve ideas reappeared. Improvements 1) Slavery abolished 2) 14 th amendment passed – national citizenship 3) 15th amendment passed – voting rights

Multiple Traditions Example: 1870 Challenges Neither liberal nor republican can explain what actually happened after the civil war. Ascriptive hierarchy did not disappear: but nor were women and people of color classified as subhuman, or purged from society.

Multiple Traditions Instead, elites came up with elaborate theories of racial hierarchy Evolutionary theories Racial characteristics are innate Example: Laws – Chinese Exclusion Act Literacy tests Cloaked in concern about intelligence of immigrants, intent was to exclude certain “ races ” from citizenship. National-origins quotas Congress imposed explicit restrictions on the immigrant of certain People – “ banned virtually all Asians. ” (24)

Multiple Traditions Counter-Current: Attempts at Equality Despite all these attempts to exclude, Reconstruction amendments were still on the books…and could not be repealed. Moreover, attempts to bar citizenship entirely were limited by these amendments, which forced the Court to acknowledge “ birthplace citizenship. ”

Multiple Traditions Race Relations in America Racists themselves disagreed how race should be “ managed, ” or handled. Radicals: people of color should be removed from the country Conservatives: segregate the races Others: try to “ civilize ” people…

Multiple Traditions Conservatives Won: Segregate the Races Complex systems of segregation were developed 1) Jim Crow (Separate but Equal) 2) Poll taxes 3) White Primaries 4) Civic tests 5) Ban Blacks from juries

Multiple Traditions Dismantling Jim Crow Brown v. Board: went after school segregation Civil Rights Act of 1964: outlawed discrimination based on race or gender.