Both the Christian right and right-wing white supremacist groups aspire to overcome a culture they perceive as hostile to whites, families, and heterosexuality. The family is threatened, they claim, by a secular humanist conspiracy that seeks to erase all memory of the nation's Christian heritage by brainwashing its children through sex education, multiculturalism, and pop culture. In Lift High the Cross Ann Burlein looks at two groups that represent, in one case, the hard right, and in the other, the soft right-Pete Peters's Scriptures for America and James Dobson's Focus on the Family -in order to investigate the specific methods these groups rely on to appeal to their followers. Arguing that today's right engenders its popularity not by overt bigotry or hatred but by focusing on people's hopes for their children, Burlein finds a politics of grief at the heart of such rhetoric. While demonstrating how religious symbols, rituals, texts, and practices shape people's memories and their investment in society, she shows how Peters and Dobson each construct counter-memories for their followers that reframe their histories and identities-as well as their worlds-by reversing mainstream perspectives in ways that counter existing power relations. By employing the techniques of niche marketing, the politics of scandal, and the transformation of political issues into gut issues and by re-masculinizing the body politic, Burlein shows, such groups are able to move people into their realm of influence without requiring them to agree with all their philosophical, doctrinal, or political positions. Lift High the Cross will appeal to students and scholars of religion, American cultural studies, women's studies, sociology, and gay and lesbian studies, as well as to non-specialists interested in American politics and, specifically, the Right.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Duke University Press
ISBN-13
9780822328643
eBay Product ID (ePID)
96612298
Product Key Features
Author
Ann Burlein
Publication Name
Lift High the Cross: Where White Supremacy and the Christian Right Converge
Format
Paperback
Language
English
Subject
Government
Publication Year
2002
Type
Textbook
Number of Pages
304 Pages
Dimensions
Item Height
226mm
Item Width
156mm
Item Weight
590g
Additional Product Features
Title_Author
Ann Burlein
Country/Region of Manufacture
United States
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