Far-Right Fantasy: A Sociology of American Religion and Politics

ISBN-13: 9781138962422 / Angielski / Miękka / 2015 / 168 str.

James Aho

Opis

Far-Right Fantasy is a straight-forward, jargon-free study of contemporary American right-wing extremism. Accessible to both professional and lay audiences, it allows activists to speak for themselves in their own words. It takes the self-announced religious motivations of extremists seriously, and illustrates this by citing numerous cases of radical politics. The book addresses the strengths and weaknesses of the standard psycho-social-cultural explanations of far-right activism. It shows how extremists are similar educationally and psychologically to their more conventional neighbors; that they get into the movement in the same way that others become peace activists or radical environmentalists, namely, through their ties with fellow workers and church-goers, family members, and classmates; and that their views are given a patina of certainty by being repeatedly corroborated within closed, non-contaminated communication systems. The book avoids being preachy or judgmental, but it does try to challenge readers morally by submitting far-right fantasy to a formal ideology critique. It does this by showing how the reforms it recommends - a marketplace free of regulation, draconian immigration restrictions; an end to the federal reserve bank and the income tax; a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution; anti-union "right to work" laws and a return to debt slavery; the privatization of schools, the post office, and the commons, and so on - contradict its ostensible goal, which is to protect and enhance middle class interests. Far-Right Fantasy is suitable for adoption as a supplemental text in political psychology and sociology, sociologies of religion and knowledge, collective behavior, and American political history.

Spis treści

Prologue: The Battle of "Bunker Ville"  Introduction  Interlude 1: Sovereign Citizens  1. The American Far-Right in Perspective  Interlude 2: The Secessionist State of Jefferson  2. Explaining the Far-Right  Interlude 3: Dreams of a Right-Wing Homeland  3. "White Man": Its Extinction and Redemption  Interlude 4: "Cut It or Shut It"  4. The Communicative Preconditions of Far-Right Fantasy  Interlude 5: The Rhetoric of "No Spin" News  5. Far-Right Fantasy.1 The "Satanification" of America  Interlude 6: Nullification  6. Far-Right Fantasy.2 The Christian Reconstruction of America  Interlude 7: "Justus" Served  7. Far-Right Fantasy.3 A Critique  Interlude 8: Biblically Inspired Investing  8. Far-Right Fantasy.4 False Consciousness  Epilogue: A Latter Day Fortress  9. Appendix American Right-Wing Implicated Fatalities from 1980 through 2014

O autorze

James Aho is Professor Emeritus at Idaho State University where he has taught for over forty years. Recognized as a Distinguished Researcher and Teacher, he is author of many books, including Body Matters: A Phenomenology of Sickness, Disease and Illness (co-written with his son, Kevin) and Sociological Trespasses: Interrogating Sin and Flesh. Aho is also author of two award-winning studies of religiously-motivated political violence, The Politics of Righteousness: Idaho Christian Patriotism and This Thing of Darkness: A Sociology of the Enemy.