Party Activists in Southern Politics
Mirrors and Makers of Change
Description:... The American South in the twentieth century has witnessed more dramatic changes in its political party system than any other region in the country. Once dominated by the Democrats, the South has become solidly two-party. Once a region notorious for its legalized discrimination against African Americans, the South has seen remarkable shifts in its political culture as a result of black enfranchisement. The implications of these and other significant realignments -- especially as reflected among grassroots activists in the two major parties -- are the focus of this valuable new book.The essays in this volume analyze and interpret results of the Southern Grassroots Party Activists Project, an in-depth survey sponsored by the National Science Foundation and conducted in the early 1990s among county party committee members and chairs in eleven southern states. The chapters in Part I, Sociodemographic Factors, investigate the impact of race, religion, generation, and gender on the changing politics of the South. In Part II, Psychological Factors, the effects of ideology, political issues, and split-party identification are explored. Finally, the essays in Part III, Political Change, consider the impact of migration and party switching.The big political story in the contemporary South, notes Diane Blair in the concluding essay, is the shift toward Republicanism, a shift demonstrated in the 1994 elections and in the small but steady stream of elected Democrats resigning or switching parties ever since. The essays contained here not only offer fresh explanations for this phenomenon but also provide an illuminating picture of those people who have contributed to or been influencedby that change.
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