Race, Class, Religion and the Southern Party System: A Field Report from Dixie
-
M.V. Hood
M.V. (Trey) Hood III is a Professor of political science at the University of Georgia where he conducts research in American politics and policy. He is co-author ofThe Rational Southerner: Black Mobilization, Republican Growth, and the Partisan Transformation of the American South .
Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to provide a contemporary examination of the political party system in the Southern US. In doing so, an assessment is undertaken to determine which cleavage line – race, class, or religion – does the best job of explaining the division between Republicans and Democrats in the region. Using survey research data from the 2012 Cooperative Congressional Election Study three multivariate models are employed to study partisan affiliation, presidential voting, and voting in US Senate elections. The results indicate that race, especially the Black-White dichotomy, is the largest dividing line between the Republican and Democratic Parties in the region. In fact, in terms of party identification race dwarfs the effects of religion and class. As related to presidential and Senate voting behavior race continues to exert a significant influence, even after controlling for partisan identification. Conversely, class and religion produced minimal or no effects in models of vote choice. In conclusion, it would appear that the contemporary Southern political landscape, like its predecessor, continues to be defined by racial divisions.
About the author
M.V. (Trey) Hood III is a Professor of political science at the University of Georgia where he conducts research in American politics and policy. He is co-author of The Rational Southerner: Black Mobilization, Republican Growth, and the Partisan Transformation of the American South.
References
Ansolabehere, Stephen, and Brian Schaffner. 2013. “CCES Common Content, 2012.” http://hdl.handle.net/1902.1/21447, Harvard Dataverse, V8.Search in Google Scholar
Black, Earl, and Merle Black. 1987. Politics and Society in the South. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Search in Google Scholar
Green, John C., James L. Guth, Corwin E. Smidt, and Lyman A. Kellstedt. 1996. Religion and the Culture Wars. New York: Rowman and Littlefield.Search in Google Scholar
Green, John C., Lyman Kellstedt, Corwin E. Smidt, and James L. Guth. 2014. “The Soul of the South.” In The New Politics of the Old South, 5th ed. edited by Charles S. Bullock, III, and Mark J. Rozell, New York: Rowman and Littlefield.Search in Google Scholar
Hanmer, Michael J., and Kerem Ozan Kalkan. 2013. “Behind the Curve: Clarifying the Best Approach to Calculating Predicted Probabilities and Marginal Effects from Limited Dependent Variable Models.” American Journal of Political Science 57 (1): 263–277.10.1111/j.1540-5907.2012.00602.xSearch in Google Scholar
Hood, III. M. V., Quentin Kidd, and Irwin L. Morris. 2012. The Rational Southerner: Black Mobilization, Republican Growth, and the Partisan Transformation of the American South. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199873821.001.0001Search in Google Scholar
Kellstedt, Lyman A. 1989. “Evangelicals and Political Realignment.” In Contemporary Evangelical Political Involvement, edited by Corwin E. Smidt, New York: University Press of America.Search in Google Scholar
Key, Jr., V.O. 1949. Southern Politics in State and Nation. New York: Knopf.Search in Google Scholar
Lublin, David. 2004. The Republican South: Democratization and Partisan Change. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.10.1515/9780691227870Search in Google Scholar
McKee, Seth C., and Melanie J. Springer. 2015. “A Tale of “Two Souths”: White Voting Behavior in Contemporary Southern Elections.” Social Science Quarterly 96 (2): 588–607.10.1111/ssqu.12149Search in Google Scholar
Nadeau, Richard, Richard G. Niemi, Harold W. Stanley, and Jean-Francois Godbout. 2004. “Class, Party, and South/Non-South Differences.” American Politics Research 32 (1): 52–67.10.1177/1532673X03259193Search in Google Scholar
Shafer, Byron E., and R. G. C. Johnston. 2006. The End of Southern Exceptionalism: Class, Race, and Partisan Change in the Postwar South. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.10.4159/9780674043466Search in Google Scholar
Wilcox, Clyde. 2000. Onward Christian Soldiers. 2nd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.Search in Google Scholar
©2016 by De Gruyter
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction Spring 2016 Issue
- After Obama
- Obama and Race in America
- White Populism and the Transformation of the Silent Majority
- Race, Party, and American Voting Rights
- African Americans and Contemporary Southern Politics
- Race, Class, Religion and the Southern Party System: A Field Report from Dixie
- Reflections on the Achievements of Sidney Verba
- Book reviews
- Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class
- Legislating in the Dark: Information and Power in the House of Representatives
Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Introduction Spring 2016 Issue
- After Obama
- Obama and Race in America
- White Populism and the Transformation of the Silent Majority
- Race, Party, and American Voting Rights
- African Americans and Contemporary Southern Politics
- Race, Class, Religion and the Southern Party System: A Field Report from Dixie
- Reflections on the Achievements of Sidney Verba
- Book reviews
- Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism & Wrecked the Middle Class
- Legislating in the Dark: Information and Power in the House of Representatives
