Constructing the new right ethnic: Cultural politics at the intersection of nostalgia and anger

Richard G Moss, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation analyzes the “New Ethnicity” of the 1970s as a way of understanding America’s political turn to the right in that decade. An upsurge of vocal ethnic consciousness among second-, third-, and fourth-generation Southern and Eastern Europeans, the New Ethnicity simultaneously challenged and emulated earlier identity movements such as Black Power and La Raza. Using the mainstream and ethnic press, association and government records, and personal papers, the project examines the experience of white ethnics and the ways in which their group consciousness evolved. Contrary to the historical memory of racist, reactionary white ethnic leaders, the movement began with a significant grassroots effort to gain more economic assistance for “near poor” white ethnic neighborhoods and ease tensions between the African Americans and whites who shared the physical and psychological space of urban neighborhoods. The reassertion of ethnicity necessarily involved the invention of myths, symbols, and traditions, however, and this process actually served to retard progress and strengthen the position of New Right politicians who hoped to encourage racial and ethnic discord, as well as dismantle the very welfare programs for which progressive New Ethnic leaders were arguing. Public intellectuals such as Michael Novak, Richard Gambino, and others, while concerned with concrete issues, became more interested in pushing the rhetoric of identity and creating a mythical white ethnic who shunned welfare, valued the family, and provided an antidote to what was increasingly seen as an elitist liberalism. Corporations and publishers embraced this invented ethnic identity and codified it through consumption. Finally, politicians like Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan appropriated the rhetoric of the New Ethnicity while ignoring its demands. The image of hard-working, self-sufficient ethnics who took care of their own neighborhood problems became powerful currency in the effort to dismantle New Deal and Great Society protections. Politicians were thus able to use the (invented) cultural interests of the poor and near-poor to both divide them and deny their economic interests.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Curtis, Purdue University.

Subject Area

American studies|American history|Ethnic studies

COinS