Culture war

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A culture war (or culture wars) is a struggle between two sets of conflicting cultural values.

Origins[edit]

The phrase culture war represents a loan translation (calque) from the German Kulturkampf. The German word, Kulturkampf, was used to describe the clash between cultural and religious groups in the campaign from 1871 to 1878 under Chancellor Otto von Bismarck of the German Empire against the influence of the Roman Catholic Church.[1]

United States of America[edit]

In American usage the term culture war is used to claim that there is a conflict between those values considered traditionalist or conservative and those considered progressive or liberal. It originated in the 1920s when urban and rural American values came into clear conflict. This followed several decades of immigration to the cities by people considered alien to earlier immigrants. It was also a result of the cultural shifts and modernizing trends of the Roaring 20s, culminating in the presidential campaign of Al Smith.[2][3] However, the "culture war" in United States of America was redefined by James Davison Hunter's 1991 book Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America. In this work, it is traced to the 1960s.[4] The perceived focus of the American culture war and its definition have taken various forms since then.

1990s[edit]

The expression was introduced again by the 1991 publication of Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America by James Davison Hunter, a sociologist at the University of Virginia. Hunter described what he saw as a dramatic realignment and polarization that had transformed American politics and culture.

He argued that on an increasing number of "hot-button" defining issues — abortion, gun politics, separation of church and state, privacy, recreational drug use, homosexuality, censorship — there existed two definable polarities. Furthermore, not only were there a number of divisive issues, but society had divided along essentially the same lines on these issues, so as to constitute two warring groups, defined primarily not by nominal religion, ethnicity, social class, or even political affiliation, but rather by ideological world views.

Hunter characterized this polarity as stemming from opposite impulses, toward what he referred to as Progressivism and Orthodoxy. Others have adopted the dichotomy with varying labels. For example, Fox News commentator Bill O'Reilly emphasizes differences between "Secular-Progressives" and "Traditionalists."

Patrick Buchanan, pictured in 2008.

In 1990 commentator Pat Buchanan mounted a campaign for the Republican nomination for President of the United States against incumbent George H. W. Bush in 1992. He received a prime time speech slot at the 1992 Republican National Convention, which is sometimes dubbed the "'culture war' speech."[5] During his speech, he claimed: "There is a religious war going on in our country for the soul of America. It is a cultural war, as critical to the kind of nation we will one day be as was the Cold War itself." [1] In addition to criticizing "environmental extremists" and "radical feminism," he said public morality was a defining issue:

The agenda [Bill] Clinton and [Hillary] Clinton would impose on America — abortion on demand, a litmus test for the Supreme Court, homosexual rights, discrimination against religious schools, women in combat — that's change, all right. But it is not the kind of change America wants. It is not the kind of change America needs. And it is not the kind of change we can tolerate in a nation that we still call God's country.[6]

A month later, Buchanan said that the conflict was about power over society's definition of right and wrong. He named abortion, sexual orientation and popular culture as major fronts – and mentioned other controversies, including clashes over the Confederate Flag, Christmas and taxpayer-funded art. He also said that the negative attention his "culture war" speech received was itself evidence of America’s polarization.[7]

When Buchanan ran for President in 1996, he promised to fight for the conservative side of the culture war:

I will use the bully pulpit of the Presidency of the United States, to the full extent of my power and ability, to defend American traditions and the values of faith, family, and country, from any and all directions. And, together, we will chase the purveyors of sex and violence back beneath the rocks whence they came.[8]

Culture war disputes are considered by many to have had significant impacts on national politics in the United States in the 1990s. Some say extreme conservative rhetoric of the Christian Coalition of America hurt then-president George H.W. Bush's chances for reelection in 1992 and helped his successor, Bill Clinton, win reelection in 1996.[9] On the other hand, conservative “cultural warriors'” rhetoric helped Republicans gain control of Congress in 1994, and the subsequent impeachment of Clinton by Congress over a sex scandal is widely understood as having been a divisive "culture war" battle.[10]

The culture wars influenced the debate over public school history curricula in the United States in the 1990s. In particular, debates over the development of national educational standards in 1994 revolved around whether the study of American history should be a "celebratory" or "critical" undertaking and involved such prominent public figures as Lynne Cheney, Rush Limbaugh, and historian Gary Nash.[11][12]

2000s[edit]

In a 2004 column, Pat Buchanan said the culture war had reignited and that certain groups of Americans no longer inhabited the same moral universe. He gave such examples as same-sex civil unions, the "crudity of the MTV crowd," and the controversy surrounding Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ. He wrote:

Who is in your face here? Who started this? Who is on the offensive? Who is pushing the envelope? The answer is obvious. A radical Left aided by a cultural elite that detests Christianity and finds Christian moral tenets reactionary and repressive is hell-bent on pushing its amoral values and imposing its ideology on our nation. The unwisdom of what the Hollywood and the Left are about should be transparent to all.[13]

Peter Beinart, best known as a senior fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations, argued in a January 2009 column for The Daily Beast that the new election of Barack Obama as President could be the beginning of the end for the American culture war. He wrote:

When it comes to culture, Obama doesn’t have a public agenda; he has a public anti-agenda. He wants to remove culture from the political debate. He wants to cut our three-sided political game back down to two.... Barack Obama was more successful than John Kerry in reaching out to moderate white evangelicals in part because he struck them as more authentically Christian. That’s the foundation on which Obama now seeks to build. He seems to think there are large numbers of conservative white Protestants and Catholics who will look beyond culture when they enter the voting booth as long as he and other Democrats don’t ram cultural liberalism down their throats.[14]

In response, author and writer Rod Dreher stated in a RealClearPolitics column that the rhetoric of a culture war disguises the fact that American society truly is deeply divided on some moral issues, which is not an artificial creation of political parties seeking to drum up support. He wrote that the economic positions of the Democratic Party are generally popular enough that, if it chose to drop polarizing social issues, it would become a majority party in ongoing control. He describes the culture war as "inevitable."[15] Columnist Ross Douthat, then with The Atlantic, wrote that he had "a lot to agree with" Beinart, but he stated that what Obama and his supporters seem to be doing is "winning" the culture wars for their side rather than coming to some kind of compromise.[16]

In a February 2009 column in The New York Times, William Saletan stated that a holistic mix of left-wing and right-wing ideas would come out of the culture war. He wrote, "morality has to be practical, and that practicality requires morals." He concluded that conservatives should embrace family planning as a way to reduce abortion and government assistance while liberals should embrace personal responsibility, which means that unprotected sex is criticized "bluntly." He also advocated same sex marriage as a way to lead LGBT Americans to an "ethic of mutual support and sacrifice" involving stricter personal responsibility.[17]

2010s[edit]

Canada[edit]

"Culture war" (or "culture wars") in Canada describes the polarization between the different values of Canadians. This can be West versus East, rural versus urban, or traditional values versus progressive values.[18] "Culture war" is a relatively new phrase in Canadian political commentary. It can still be used to describe historical events in Canada, such as the Rebellions of 1837, Western Alienation, Quebec sovereignty movement, and any Aboriginal conflicts in Canada, but is more relevant to current events such as the Caledonia conflict with Natives and the increasing hostility between conservative and liberal Canadians. Controversy erupted in 2010 when pollster Frank Graves suggested that the Liberal Party launch a 'culture war' against the Conservative Party. "I told them that they should invoke a culture war. Cosmopolitanism versus parochialism, secularism versus moralism, Obama versus Palin, tolerance versus racism and homophobia, democracy versus autocracy. If the cranky old men in Alberta don’t like it, too bad. Go south and vote for Palin."[19] The culture wars has also been used to describe the Harper government's attitude towards the arts community. Andrew Coyne termed this negative policy towards the arts community as 'class warfare'.[20] Its use has increased considerably recently on account of prorogation rallies, abortion, and the gun registry.[21]

See also[edit]

Battleground issues in the "culture wars"[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Martin Spahn, "Kulturkampf", The Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 8, Robert Appleton Company, 1910.
  2. ^ Seminar on the Culture Wars of the 1920s
  3. ^ "Culture Wars: How 2004" Article by E.J. Dionne
  4. ^ Cameron, Douglas (2010). Cultural Strategy. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-958740-7. 
  5. ^ "Not since Pat Buchanan's famous "culture war" speech in 1992 has a major speaker at a national political convention spoken so hatefully, at such length, about the opposition."
    "Dogs of War". New. 2004-09-02. Archived from the original on 2005-03-08. Retrieved 2006-08-29. 
  6. ^ Buchanan, Patrick (1992-08-17). "1992 Republican National Convention Speech". Archived from the original on 2007-10-18. Retrieved 2007-11-03. 
  7. ^ The Cultural War for the Soul of America - by Pat Buchanan - Articles, Essays and Speeches - T H E I N T E R N E T B R I G A D E - Official Web Site
  8. ^ Announcement Speech by Patrick J
  9. ^ Chapman, Roger (2010). Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe. p. 88. ISBN 978-0-7656-1761-3. 
  10. ^ Chapman, Roger (2010). Culture Wars: An Encyclopedia of Issues, Viewpoints, and Voices. Armonk, NY.: M.E. Sharpe. p. 136. ISBN 978-0-7656-1761-3. 
  11. ^ Eric Foner, "Who Owns History: Rethinking the Past in a Changing World". New York: Hill & Wang, 2002.
  12. ^ Gary B. Nash, Crabtree, Charlotte, and Ross E. Dunn, "History on Trial: Culture Wars and the Teaching of the Past". New York: Knopf, 1997.
  13. ^ Pat Buchanan (March 8, 2004). "The Aggressors in the Culture Wars". theamericancause.org. Retrieved January 26, 2009. 
  14. ^ Peter Beinart (January 26, 2009). "The End of the Culture Wars". The Daily Beast. Retrieved January 5, 2010. 
  15. ^ Rod Dreher (February 16, 2009). "Obama Won't End the Culture Wars". RealClearPolitics. Retrieved January 5, 2010. 
  16. ^ Ross Douthat (January 28, 2009). "Ending or Winning?". The Atlantic. Retrieved January 5, 2010. 
  17. ^ William Saletan (February 21, 2009). "This Is the Way the Culture Wars End". The New York Times. Retrieved January 5, 2010. 
  18. ^ "Culture clash splits Canadians over basic values". The Globe and Mail (Toronto). October 20, 2012. 
  19. ^ http://canuckpolitics.com/2010/04/23/culture-wars/
  20. ^ http://www2.macleans.ca/2008/10/02/this-isnt-a-culture-war-its-a-good-old-class-war/
  21. ^ Canadian Culture War
  22. ^ Climate Science as Culture War: The public debate around climate change is no longer about science—it’s about values, culture, and ideology Fall 2012 Stanford Social Innovation Review

Further reading[edit]

  • Buchanan, Patrick J., The Death of the West: How Dying Populations and Immigrant Invasions Imperil Our Country and Civilization, New York: St. Martin's Griffin, 2002 ISBN 0-312-30259-2
  • D'Antonio, William V., Steven A. Tuch and Josiah R. Baker, Religion, Politics, and Polarization: How Religiopolitical Conflict Is Changing Congress and American Democracy, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2013 ISBN 1442223979 ISBN 978-1442223974
  • Fiorina, Morris P., with Samuel J. Abrams and Jeremy C. Pope, Culture War?: The Myth of a Polarized America, London: Longman, 2004 ISBN 0-321-27640-X
  • Gerald Graff. Beyond the Culture Wars: How Teaching the Conflicts Can Revitalize American Education (1992)
  • Hunter, James Davison, Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America, New York: Basic Books, 1992 ISBN 0-465-01534-4
  • Jay, Gregory S., American Literature and the Culture Wars, Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997 ISBN 0-8014-3393-2 ISBN 978-0801433931
  • Jensen, Richard. "The Culture Wars, 1965-1995: A Historian's Map" Journal of Social History 29 (Oct 1995) 17-37.
  • Jones, E. Michael, Degenerate Moderns: Modernity As Rationalized Sexual Misbehavior, Ft. Collins, CO: Ignatius Press, 1993 ISBN 0-89870-447-2
  • Strauss, William & Howe, Neil, The Fourth Turning, An American Prophecy: What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America's Next Rendezvous With Destiny, 1998, Broadway Books, New York
  • Thomson, Irene Tavis., Culture Wars and Enduring American Dilemmas, Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, 2010 ISBN 978-0-472-07088-6
  • Walsh, Andrew D., Religion, Economics, and Public Policy: Ironies, Tragedies, and Absurdities of the Contemporary Culture Wars, Westport, CT: Praeger, 2000 ISBN 0-275-96611-9
  • Webb, Adam K., Beyond the Global Culture War, Routledge, Jan 2006 ISBN 0-415-95313-8
  • Zimmerman, Jonathan, Whose America? Culture Wars in the Public Schools, Harvard University Press, 2002 ISBN 0-674-01860-5

External links[edit]

United States[edit]

Australia[edit]

  • [2] John Howard, speech: A sense of balance: The Australian Achievement in 2006, prime ministerial address to the National Press Club, 25 January 2006.