Studying the U.S. Political Right

On PRA's Public Eye Website:

Selected Resources

• Online Introductory Slide Show: The "Right Wing" 101
• Bibliographies, Reading Lists, & Study Guides
• What are the Different Sectors of the Right?
• Timeline of Organizing by the U.S. Right
• Glossary of terms used on this website
• Authors with Articles or Resources on the Web
• Studying the European Political Right
• Topical Contents of PRA's Public Eye Website
• More

Archives Online on this Website

• Institute for First Amendment Studies
• The Body Politic
• Group Watch: was hosted here for several years, but now the collection has returned to the Resource Center where it is part of an updated collection.

Patriot Movement & Militias

• What is the Patriot Movement?
• More

The Ultra Right

• Ethnoviolence in Marquette Park
• More

Dynamics

• Dynamics of Demonization (& Tools of Fear)
• Conspiracism
  • Toxic to Democracy
• Apocalyptic Fears and Millennial Expectation
• Scapegoating
• Right-Wing Populism
  • Right-Wing Populism in America (book)
  • Producerism
  • Charts Showing How Right-wing Populism and Producerism Interact
  • Tea Party Movement
  • Armed Citizens Militias
• Timeline of Conspiracist Scapegoating
• Ideological Frameworks and Assumptions
• Conceptualizing and Mapping the Political Right
• More

What to do!

Building Equality

Strategies for Challenging the Political Right

Building Democracy & Diversity

Challenging Conservative & Theocratic Policies

Challenging the Far Right & Hate Groups

Browse Links to our Key Allies

More

Books & Reports from Political Research Associates

Major Reports, Books, & Studies from PRA

Online Bookstore

Books

• Mobilizing Resentment by Jean Hardisty
• Right-Wing Populism in America by Chip Berlet & Matthew N. Lyons
• Eyes Right! Challenging the Right Wing Backlash
• More

Reports

• Platform for Prejudice
• Globalizing the Culture Wars
• Toxic to Democracy
• New Report! Marriage as a Cure for Poverty?
• Pushed to the Altar: The Right Wing Roots of Marriage Promotion
• Deliberate Differences: Campus Activism Report
• More

Links Pages & Directories on this Website

• Undermining Democracy, Diversity, and Human Rights
  • Directories
    • Main List
    • Undermining Pluralist Modern Education and Curricula
    • Undermining Immigrant or Language Rights
    • Undermining Full Reproductive Rights
    • Undermining Progressive Criminal Justice System
• Introduction to Anti-democratic Right-Wing Groups
• View a chart showing different sectors of the US political right

• Defending Democracy, Diversity, and Human Rights
  • Directories
    • Main List
    • Defending Immigrant Rights
    • Defending Pluralist Modern Public Education
    • Defending Reproductive Rights
    • Defending Fair and Equitable Criminal Justice System
• Other Resources
  • John Birch Society Pamphlets
  • Selected serials collected and cataloged by PRA
  • More Links from PRA

Selected Research, Resources, Course Outlines, and Links

Mark Rupert - Syracuse University

Virtual Guided Tour of Regressive Populist Anti-Globalism

Globalization and the Reconstruction of Common Sense in the US
 

James Danky - University of Wisconsin - The American Right

An Annotated List of Selected Serials Published by the Far Right by John Cherney and Jim Danky

Books about the Far Right: A Selected Bibliography by John Cherney and Jim Danky

Selected Links

Student Bibliographic Studies

Studying Racism - Camara Phyllis Jones - Harvard School of Public Health

Ethnicity, Migration, Racism - Dutch SocioSite

Challenging Centrist/Extremist Theory

The language many people use to talk about right-wing groups and movements -- "extremist," "lunatic fringe, "radical right," "wing nuts," -- and the idea of a political "horseshoe" map where "extremists of the left and right" merge, is a legacy of Centrist/Extremist Theory, sometimes called the Pluralist School. These ideas come from Lipset, Bell, and others who went on to form the neoconservative movement in the US. Many sociologists who study right wing movements consider Centrist/Extremist Theory to have been thoroughly discredited, yet it remains the primary model for public discussions, and influences major human relations groups in the US.

As a reaction against Centrist/Extremist theories, several theoretical frameworks emerged: resource mobilization, political process model, political opportunity structures, new social movements theory, frame analysis, collective identities, etc. These can be lumped together under the name "complex social movement theories. Complex social movement theories are highly critical of Centrist/Extremist Theory as a legacy of cold war liberal politics.

There are three historic analytical models for studying social and political movements of the right:

Overviews of the Three Conceptual Models

• Countersubversion Theory
• Centrist Extremist Theory
• Complex Social Movement Theories

Ideological Frameworks and Assumptions Regarding Dissident Social Movements

There are repercussions when applying Centrist/Extremist Theory to dissident movements, since it is a framework that encourages the violation of civil liberties. Centrist/Extremist Theory anticipates violence as an inevitable outcome of dissent. Overreaction in the form of police excessive use of force or surveillance abuse is a common outcome. The article

This study has four topical reviews:

• Liberal & Neoconservative Collaboration in State Repression
• The San Francisco Spying Scandal and ADL
• Repression, RICO, and Anti-abortion Terrorism
• Repression and the Patriot and Armed Militia Movements.

Authoritarian State Repression and Countersubversion is an in-depth review of the theories of Frank Donner

• Study the Right
• What's Wrong with Centrist/Extremist Theory?
• Repression & Ideology (Report)
• Theories of Frank Donner
• Demonizing Dissent

Basic Sociology of Social Movements

Some Sociological Sense by Dan Brook
An introduction to basic sociological concepts

Glossary of Terms Used to Study Social Movements
Washington State University - American Studies

American Social Movement Cultures
Washington State University - American Studies

Other Research Resources

MediaTransparency.org -- The Money Behind the Media: A large searchable collection of grant data from 990 forms from right-wing foundations and their grantees on this site. Can be daunting at first, but worth the effort.

Data Center's Impact Research Collection of Links

Research-Oriented Websites

Virtual Gumshoe: Investigative Resources on the Web

Researching Right-Wing Policy Formation

Researching Right-Wing Funding & Foundations

Research Skills, Logic, & Propaganda

Websites Debunking Conspiracism & Urban Legends

Social Psychology Links

Bibliography on Holocaust Denial

Glossaries

Audio Programs Online

Changesurfer Radio:
Right-wing Populism in America
07/13/2002 - Length: 29:30
Subtitle: Interview with Chip Berlet

WBAI:
Beyond the Pale: The Progressive Jewish Radio Hour
7/6/01 Length: 60:00
Subtitle: Guest Chip Berlet, expert on the Right Wing, discusses conspiracy theory in "Rule by Secrecy" by Jim Marrs

The Electoral Right in the U.S.

A Selected Bibliography for Researching the Contemporary Scene

Himmelstein, Jerome L. 1990. To the Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Diamond, Sara. 1995. Roads to Dominion: Right–Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States, New York: Guilford.

Frank, Thomas. 2004. What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America. New York: Metropolitan Books.

Ferguson, Thomas, and Joel Rogers. 1986. Right Turn: The Decline of the Democrats and the Future of American Politics. New York: Hill and Wang.

Lakoff, George. [1996] 2002. Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. Chicago: University of Chicago.

Kazin, Michael. 1995. The Populist Persuasion: An American History. New York: Basic Books.

Faludi, Susan. 1992. Backlash: The Undeclared War Against American Women. New York: Doubleday.

Brennan, Mary C. 1995. Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the GOP. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Balz, Daniel J., and Ronald Brownstein. 1996. Storming the Gates: Protest Politics and the Republican Revival. Boston: Little, Brown.

Hodgson, Godfrey. 1996. The World Turned Right Side Up: A History of the Conservative Ascendancy in America. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.

Hardisty, Jean V. 1999. Mobilizing Resentment: Conservative Resurgence from the John Birch Society to the Promise Keepers. Boston: Beacon.

Berlet, Chip and Matthew N. Lyons. 2000. Right-Wing Populism in America: Too Close for Comfort. New York: Guilford Press.

Easton, Nina J. 2000. Gang of Five: Leaders at the Center of the Conservative Crusade. New York: Simon and Schuster.

McGirr, Lisa. 2001. Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Perlstein, Rick. 2001. Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus. New York: Hill and Wang.

Schoenwald, Jonathan M. 2001. A Time for Choosing: The Rise of Modern American Conservatism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Physical Archives

Political Research Associates has one of the largest physical collections of right-wing literature available by appointment to serious scholars in the United States. In terms of breadth--from conservative electoral groups to extreme right neonazis, with both primary and secondary material on racism, sexism, heterosexism, antisemitism, authoritarianism, and other forms of oppression--it is the most comprehensive public collection on the U.S. political right. The collection contains over 5,000 books, 1100 serial titles, 48 drawers of files, scores of archival boxes, and hundreds of video and audio tapes: more than 500,000 documents and other items.

Other large general library/archive collections open to scholars through special arrangement include:

The University of Iowa - Social Documents Collection. The largest collection of right-wing periodicals and ephemera. "Today the Collection contains periodicals, pamphlets, flyers, radio broadcast scripts, handbills, leaflets, bulletins, news sheets, correspondence, bumper stickers, and even tea bags issued by the Tax Rebellion Committee of Los Angeles County. Periodicals in the Collection include such titles as America's Future, Christian News, Colorado Leader, Free China Journal, Spotlight, and Sword of the Lord. Most of the publications in the collection have been received as gifts from the publishers. There are 918 document boxes and 36 file drawers of material.

The University of Kansas - Wilcox Collection. Printed material from both Right & Left dissident groups.
" is one of the largest assemblages of US left and right wing political literature in this country. Established in 1965, the collection has grown steadily to include coverage of more than 10,000 individuals and organizations. The bulk of the collection covers 1960 to the present and is comprised of nearly 10,000 books, pamphlets and periodicals, 800 audio tapes, 73 linear feet of manuscript materials and more than 100,000 pieces of ephemera including flyers, brochures, mailings, clippings and bumper stickers."

The State Historical Society of Wisconsin - Newspapers & Periodicals Collection - has an extraordinary collection of microfilmed right-wing periodicals. The Social Action Collection includes material on right-to-life groups. Try searching online. This works best if you know the name of a specific periodical: Chronicles of Culture, American Mercury. Otherwise, try using a keywords or subject browse search: conservatives; abortion; extremists; white supremacy movements; neo-nazis.

University of California at Berkeley

The Bancroft Library at U.C. Berkeley maintains the Sara Diamond Collection on the U.S. Right:

"A collection of materials on the conservative movement in the United States, some of which date back to the '40s and '50s, has been given to the Bancroft Library by sociologist Sara Diamond. The 62 boxes of material from her personal archive contain primary source material from right-wing organizations, and also notes by Diamond which she took during conservative meetings and rallies. Described as critical of conservatives, Diamond is the author of several books about the U.S. right, including Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States, and... Not by Politics Alone: The Enduring Influence of the Christian Right."

This collection is currently unprocessed, but portions have been cleared. Contact the library for more information.

The Center for the Comparative Study of Right-Wing Movements is also housed at the University of California at Berkeley (http://ccsrwm.berkeley.edu).

U.S Holocaust Memorial Museum Library

http://www.ushmm.org/research/library/

The Simon Wiesenthal Center - Antisemitism, Nazi Genocide, Race Hate. Library is open to serious scholars and students who apply in writing. "The Simon Wiesenthal Center Museum of Tolerance Library and Archives has grown from a fledgling fifty books in 1978, to a collection of over 40,000 volumes and non-print materials. The Archives is a repository, incorporating photographs, diaries, letters, artifacts, artwork and rare books, which are available to researchers, students and the general public."

Tufts University - (being cataloged) the Institute for First Amendment Studies collection focusing on the Christian Right.

University of Oregon - Ask for the Keith Stimely Collection. Historical Revisionism / Holocaust Denial / Neofascism.

Researchers Gordon Hall and Grace Hoag provided "extremist" literature to several library/archive collections:

Brown University - Request information on the Hall-Hoag Collection of Extremist and Dissenting Literature - especially good collection on the John Birch Society. "The Hall-Hoag Collection includes post-World War II materials on racism, politics, and the civil rights movement in America, mostly ephemeral and controversial in nature....111,000 different items representing the publications of 3,884 different organizations."

Brandeis University - "Hall-Hoag Archives on Extremism in the United States. The collection includes approximately 5,000 exemplars of right and left wing "extremist literature" pertaining to social, religious and political issues. The materials cover the period from 1960 through the 1980's and are arranged alphabetically by title under the name of the sponsoring organization. A Checklist of Materials in the Hall-Hoag Collection of Extremist Literature, is available in the Special Collections Department (Z7164 .L65 B79 1987)."

University of Akron in Ohio - (being cataloged) Another set of documents from the Hall-Hoag Collection.

Assorted Other Locations

University of Michigan - Labadie Collection

Michigan State University - Ku Klux Klan and some racist right serials.