The Write Stuff: U.S. Serial Print Culture from Conservatives out to Neo-Nazis

Insufficient scholarly attention has been devoted to alternative or "oppositional" serials from the political right, even though a number of scholars have used these materials as primary sources for studies in several academic disciplines. This overview reviews some of the terms used to describe these serials, explores the development of distinct post???WWII right-wing ideologies, and proposes that these serials usefully can be analyzed through a sociological lens as movement literature that both reflects and shapes different sectors through frames and narratives. How oppositional serials can play a role in constructing rhetorical pipelines and echo chambers to take movement grievances and push them into mainstream political policy initiatives is explored. The sectors defined and examined are the secular right, religious right, and xenophobic right. Examples from each sector are provided, with selected periodicals highlighted in detail.published or submitted for publicatio

Public Intellectuals, Scholars, Journalists, & Activism: Wearing Different Hats and Juggling Different Ethical Mandates

In democratic civil society a public intellectual can spark deep conversations aboutdisparities of privilege and power. This brings with it the need to be intentionalabout ethics. The author reviews different roles in which he has been cast where hehas played the role of a “public intellectual”. The different hats he has worn includescholar, journalist, paralegal investigator, and leftwing movement activist. In eachcase, there were normative or at least expected ethical boundaries which usuallyvaried by project and sometimes conflicted with other roles. After exploring thedifferent roles and related ethical issues, there is a discussion from a progressiveperspective of basic ethical mandates and tools for building human rights. Anextensive set of references is provided to assist researchers

Reflections From a Lifetime of Activism. An Interview with Chip Berlet

Chip Berlet is a widely published independent scholar who studies right-wing movements in the United States and Europe, as well as the global spread of conspiracy theories. He is an award-winning investigative journalist and photographer. Since the 1995 Oklahoma bombing, Berlet has appeared frequently in the media to discuss these issues. For over twenty years, Berlet was a senior analyst at Political Research Associates (PRA), a non-profit think tank in the United States that tracks right-wing networks. Berlet is co-author (with Matthew N. Lyons) of Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort (Guilford 2000) and more recently editor of Trumping Democracy: From Reagan to the Alt-Right (Routledge 2019). Despite a lack of a college degree, Berlet has served on the advisory board of the Journal of Totalitarian Movements and Political Religions (now Politics, Religion & Ideology); and the advisory board for the Center of Millennial Studies at Boston University. He also served for over twenty years on the board of predecessor groups of what is now the Defending Dissent Foundation. He is active in the American Sociological Association in the sections on Collective Behavior and Social Movements and Marxism. Berlet’s main website is at http://www.researchforprogress.us/

Modern American populism: Analyzing the economics behind the Silent Majority, the Tea Party and Trumpism

This article researches populism, more specifically, Modern American Populism (MAP), constructed of white, rural, and economically oppressed reactionarianism, which was borne out of the political upheaval of the 1960’s Civil Rights movement. The research looks to explain the causes of populism and what leads voters to support populist movements and politicians. The research focuses on economic anxiety as the main cause but also examines an alternative theory of racial resentment. In an effort to answer the question, what causes populist movements and motivations, I apply a research approach that utilizes qualitative and quantitative methods. There is an examination of literature that defines populism, its causes and a detailed discussion of the case studies, including the 1972 election of Richard Nixon; the Tea Party election of 2010; and the 2016 election of Donald Trump. In addition, statistical data analysis was run using American National Election Studies (ANES) surveys associated with each specific case study. These case studies were chosen because they most represent forms of populist movements in modern American history. While ample qualitative evidence suggested support for the hypothesis that economic anxiety is a necessary condition for populist voting patterns that elected Nixon, the Tea Party and Trump, the statistical data only supported the hypothesis in two cases, 2010 and 2016, with 1972 coming back inconclusive. The data also suggested that both economic anxiety and racial resentment played a role in 2010 and 2016, while having no significant effect in 1972 in either case. This suggests that further research needs to be conducted into additional populist case studies, as well as an examination into the role economic anxiety and economic crises play on racial resentment and racially motivated voting behavior

Public Intellectuals, Scholars, Journalists, & Activism: Wearing Different Hats and Juggling Different Ethical Mandates

In democratic civil society a public intellectual can spark deep conversations aboutdisparities of privilege and power. This brings with it the need to be intentionalabout ethics. The author reviews different roles in which he has been cast where hehas played the role of a “public intellectual”. The different hats he has worn includescholar, journalist, paralegal investigator, and leftwing movement activist. In eachcase, there were normative or at least expected ethical boundaries which usuallyvaried by project and sometimes conflicted with other roles. After exploring thedifferent roles and related ethical issues, there is a discussion from a progressiveperspective of basic ethical mandates and tools for building human rights. Anextensive set of references is provided to assist researchers

Populism-Chart-full-2017-k.pdf

A chart illustrating the rhetorical style of Right-Wing Populism with its identification as representing the "real people" of a nation in a struggle against alleged parasitic forces above and below. Originally in Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons, <i>Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort</i>: Guilford, 2000: http://www.rightwingpopulism.us

Populism-Chart-full-2017-k.png

A chart illustrating the rhetorical style of Right-Wing Populism with its identification as representing the "real people" of a nation in a struggle against alleged parasitic forces above and below. Originally in Chip Berlet and Matthew N. Lyons, <i>Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort</i>: Guilford, 2000: http://www.rightwingpopulism.us