The American Right Wing: Readings in Political Behavior

318 Pages·1969·8.618 MB·English

by  Robert A Schoenberger

The
American
Right
Wing

The
American
Right
Wing
READINGS
IN POLITICAL BEHAVIOR
Edited by
ROBERT A. SCHOENBERGER
The University of Michigan
HOLT, RINEHART AND WINSTON, INC.
NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO ATLANTA DALLAS
MONTREAL TORONTO LONDON SYDNEY
Copyright © 1969 by Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 71-82452
SBN: 03-079335-1
Printed in the United States of America
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Preface
This collection of essays grew out of a search for empirical
and nonpolemical materials on the modern American right wing.
Although theory and hypothesis-testing techniques have expanded
hugely in recent decades, they have rarely been employed in the study
of the attitudes and behavior of ideologues. In the selections that
follow, all but two of which were written specifically for this volume,
the authors have attempted to combine a serious interest in the sub­
stance of rightist political characteristics with both a rigorous schol­
arly distance from the passions that have distorted so many other
attempts to deal with these phenomena, and the application of re­
search and analysis methods that are appropriate to the controversial
nature of the topics discussed.
v
vi PREFACE
I am grateful to Morris Janowitz for helpful suggestions; to Herbert
J. Addison and Jeanette Ninas Johnson of Holt, Rinehart and Winston,
Inc., for their editorial help and guidance; to my contributors for
making my editorial tasks an unexpected pleasure; and to my wife,
Barbara, for the gift of another season of happiness.
Robert A. Schoenberger
Ann Arbor, Michigan
April 1969
Contents
Preface v
Introduction 1
Part 1 THE EXTREME RIGHT:
POLITICAL AND ORGANIZATIONAL
PERSPECTIVES 7
America’s Radical Right: Politics and Ideology 9
Raymond E. Wolfinger, Barbara Kaye Wolfinger,
Kenneth Prewitt, Sheilah Rosenhack
The Radical Right and the Politics of Consensus 48
Sheilah Koeppen
The Political Perspectives of Birch Society Members 83
Fred W. Grupp, Jr.
Social Disorganization and Availability: Accounting
for Radical Rightism 119
Scott G. McNall
vii
vîii CONTENTS
Pari 2 THE EXTREME RIGHT:
SOCIAL AND PSYCHOLOGICAL
PERSPECTIVES 141
Psychological Factors in Right-Wing Extremism 143
Alan C. Elms
Social Psychological Characteristics of Super-Patriots 164
Mark Chester, Richard Schmuck
Social and Psychological Determinants ofR adical Rightism 193
Ira S. Rohter
Part 3 THE CONVENTIONAL RIGHT:
GOLDWA TER CONSER VA TIVES 239
Conservatism or Extremism: Goldwater Supporters
in the 1964 Presidential Election 241
James McEvoy III
The Conservative Movement: A View from the East 280
Robert A. Schoenberger
Notes on Contributors 299
Index 301
The
American
Right
Wing