American Culture Wars

elective courses
proseminars

This proseminar examines the contemporary culture wars as well as the scholarly debates around this phenomenon. The term refers to public conflicts around issues having to do with deeply held moral and religious beliefs, such as abortion, gun control, family and LGBTQ rights, the role of religion in public education, the cultural canon, the limits of free expression. The concept is usually applied to debates with roots in the turbulent 60s – key battles took place in the 80s and 90s (following the rise of the Religious Right). But similar conflicts had unfolded much earlier and culture wars continue even today, significantly transformed by the internet. Students will develop their own research projects focusing on a specific conflict, figure or theoretical debate concerning the culture wars.

How and why did conflicts around beliefs and values translate into political polarization? What is the relationship between the culture wars and America’s racial history and how does class figure in these conflicts? Why do so many of them focus on gender issues? What is really at stake in such debates and what are the costs of polarization? While exploring such questions, we will discuss works by historians, sociologists, philosophers and journalists such as James Davison Hunter, Jill Lepore, Andrew Hartman, Stephen Prothero, Gertrude Himmelfarb, Thomas Frank, Ellen Willis, Jonathan Haidt, Angela Nagle, Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning. We will also examine selected historical documents (speeches, essays, polemics, memoirs, etc.) produced by actors on both sides, including figures such as Anita Bryant, Billy Graham, Pat Robertson, Phillis Schlafly, Patrick Buchanan, Gloria Steinem, Irving Howe, Allan Bloom, Dinesh D’Suoza, Catharine Stimpson, Henry Louis Gates, Cornel West, Stanley Fish. Our aim is to understand the sources, meanings and dynamics of these clashes, the rhetorical strategies used by both sides, as well as the broader effects of polarization on culture, politics and social life.

Selected theoretical readings (cultural documents to be announced later)

Bradley Campbell and Jason Manning, The Rise of Victimhood Culture: Microaggressions, Safe Spaces, and the New Culture Wars (2018)

Thomas Frank, What's the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (2004)

Andrew Hartman, A War for the Soul of America. A History of the Culture Wars (2015)

Jonathan Haidt, The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided By Politics And Religion (2013)

Gertrude Himmelfarb, One Nation, Two Cultures (1999)

James Davison Hunter, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America (1991)

Jill Lepore, These Truths. A History of The United States (2018)

Angela Nagle, Kill All Normies: Online Culture Wars From 4Chan And Tumblr To Trump And The Alt-Right (2016)

Stephen Prothero, Why Liberals Win the Culture Wars (Even When They Lose)

Ellen Willis, Escape from Freedom: What's the Matter with Tom Frank? (and the Lefties who love him (2005)

Upon completion of this seminar, the student:

KNOWLEDGE:

- knows the history of American Culture Wars;

- knows the details of several specific battles, the key arguments and players;

- is familiar with a number of critical and theoretical studies examining this phenomenon and understands how the various approaches differ;

SKILLS

- can critically analyze theoretical texts, paying attention to differences among scholarly approaches;

- can critically analyze historical documents with a strong ideological aspect;

- is able to prepare, formulate and present (in both oral and written form) a coherent analysis of an independently developed topic

COMPETENCES:

- is able to cooperate in a group;

- is open to conflicting readings of specific texts and differing visions of culture and society;

- is able to formulate and defend his/her opinion coherently, while learning and respecting other views.

REQUIREMENTS: regular attendance; thorough preparation for each seminar; independent research project developed through a sequence of tasks and with guidance offered at individual meetings with the instructor

FINAL GRADE COMPONENTS:

• participation in class discussion and short quiz results (10%)

• paper proposal with annotated bibliography of secondary texts for the paper (20%)

• in-class presentation of final project (20%)

• research paper (around 15 pages) (50%)