Culture War Wikipedia
History of ethnocultural politics in the United States Wikipedia
Culture Wars: the struggle to define America Wikipedia
Culture Wars: The Struggle To Control The Family, Art, Education, Law, And Politics In America James Davison Hunter 1991
...presents a riveting account of how Christian fundamentalist, Orthodox Jews, and conservative Catholics have joined forces in a fierce battle against their progressive counterparts–secularist, reform Jews, liberal Catholics and Protestants–as each side struggles to gain control over such fields of conflict as the family, art, education, law, and politics. Not since the Civil War has there been such fundamental disagreement over basic assumptions about truth, freedom, and our national identity.
(publisher's blurb)
Culture Wars: The Endgame Nihilism's Grip on American Democracy James Davison Hunter (2024) at Hedgehog Review
...where we used to think that on political matters you could compromise (unlike on issues of moral truth), suddenly politics had become an arena where ultimate values were at stake. Compromise was now impossible, debate interminable....Our emerging common culture is chillingly nihilistic.
"Nihilism," according to the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, is "not only the belief that everything deserves to perish; but one actually puts one's shoulder to the plough; one destroys." A nihilistic culture is defined by the drive to destroy, by the will to power. And that definition now describes the American nation.
Culture wars: How identity became the center of politics in America ABC News 7vii23 and perhaps a bit facile...
The Culture War's Impact on Public Schools National Education Association
...believe in opportunity for all students and in the power of public education to transform lives and create a more just and inclusive society......in the midst of political conflicts, students have limited opportunities to engage in learning and respectful dialogue on controversial topics, and it's become harder to address rampant misinformation. The highly charged environment has also led to marked declines in support for teaching about race, racism, and racial and ethnic diversity. Meanwhile, harassment of LGTBQ youth has increased.
...we found that the conflict was most heightened in politically contested or "purple" communities—schools in districts where the vote in the 2020 election was roughly even. They were far more likely to experience community-level conflict than those in blue or red districts.
...Our society usually does not do well in promoting dialogue about race and equity in ways that are meaningful, productive, and respectful. Consequently, it can be exceedingly difficult for educators to facilitate these discussions with their students. This is challenging work that requires creativity, insight, and empathy. These attacks make it harder to lean into this work. They need that support because we don't want public education to back away from its critical role in protecting our democracy.
Everything you wanted to know about the culture wars — but were afraid to ask Andrew Anthony Guardian 13vi2021 (a British perspective)
"There have always been cultural conflicts but it's become much sharper in the last 20 years thanks to declining trust in institutions that were meant to hold together the cohesion of society, some of the growing inequalities, and most of all the proliferation of technology that enables and indeed encourages people to cluster in their cultural groups." Matthew d'Ancona...symbolic issues and questions of identity occupy a larger and more antagonistic position in the general culture than they did 10 or 20 years ago.
Culture Wars Context, Models and Anthropologists' Accounts Deborah James et al. 2010
The relationship between anthropologists' ethnographic investigations and the lived social worlds in which these originate is a fundamental issue for anthropology. Where some claim that only native voices may offer authentic accounts of culture and hence that ethnographers are only ever interpreters of it, others point out that anthropologists are, themselves, implanted within specific cultural contexts which generate particular kinds of theoretical discussions. The contributors to this volume reject the premise that ethnographer and informant occupy different and incommensurable “cultural worlds.” Instead they investigate the relationship between culture, context, and anthropologists’ models and accounts in new ways.
(publisher's blurb)
Going Meta on Culture Wars Eric Scliesser at Crooked Timber 26iv24
...Now, anything can become a culture war topic. That's because anything can become of symbolic importance and become instrumental in solidifying affective and instrumental ties among people. Don't believe me? Go re-read Swift's Gulliver’s Travels!...in culture wars ridicule and mockery don't unmask the powerful and bring us back to our senses. Rather, they reinforce the affective ties of the tribe or coalition. And so earnestly (or mockingly) one, thereby, keeps the culture war going rather than (ahh) changing the topic.
The Culture Wars Revisited Gregory Wolfe at Image
...The twin sources of culture, I concluded, are art and religious faith. From these two springs come the fundamental symbols and emotional attachments of a social order. Because ideological politics tends to reduce these symbols to slogans and channel emotions into tribalistic anger and resentment, we must engage in a vigorous effort to renew our cultural life by purifying the sources.
The Very Online Culture Wars Matt Stewart at frontporchrepublic.com
...If the national electorate was voting to reject the nihilism of campus infatuation with Hamas, DEI gone wild, Drag Queen Story Hour, and the ridiculous "We Believe . . ." yard signs gracing impeccable lawns in gated communities, I applaud. The last four years have revealed the vacuousness of such posturing, and its apocalypse is well-deserved. Only a dedicated member of the VOL could believe in the real value or durability of these gestures....Pretending to ourselves that Trump II represents a culture war victory threatens to render traditionalist accounts of the true, the good, and the beautiful incoherent. Several of the celebrities in the Trump II entourage closely resemble villains from the classical Christian education curriculum that I teach; some are hardly even wolves in sheep's clothing and are just outright wolves.