The Rational Basis of Irrational Politics

John D. Kincaid

Politics & Society, 2016, vol. 44, issue 4, 525-550

Abstract: Right-wing social movements in the United States have been underexplored in the sociological literature. This article examines how right-wing social movements have been able to capture a foothold in the Texas state Republican Party, and maintain political support even as their policies and politics have grown increasingly partisan and increasingly extreme. Through in-depth analysis of the state Republican Party’s internal battles over the past twenty years, coupled with a fixed-effects regression analysis of statewide election results 1994–2012, the article uses the context of statewide battles over equalization of education finance to explain how right-wing movements in Texas have maintained durable support for radical, right-wing candidates and policies. The article demonstrates the role played by material and symbolic “threats†in maintaining and increasing support for the Republican Party, even among previously moderate populations.

Keywords: politics; Texas; right-wing; social movements (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:polsoc:v:44:y:2016:i:4:p:525-550

DOI: 10.1177/0032329216674003

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