Dog Whistle Politics: How Coded Racial Appeals Have Reinvented Racism and Wrecked the Middle ClassCampaigning for president in 1980, Ronald Reagan told stories of Cadillac-driving welfare queens and strapping young bucks buying T-bone steaks with food stamps. In trumpeting these tales of welfare run amok, Reagan never needed to mention race, because he was blowing a dog whistle: sending a message about racial minorities inaudible on one level, but clearly heard on another. In doing so, he tapped into a long political tradition that started with George Wallace and Richard Nixon, and is more relevant than ever in the age of the Tea Party and the first black president. In Dog Whistle Politics, Ian Haney López offers a sweeping account of how politicians and plutocrats deploy veiled racial appeals to persuade white voters to support policies that favor the extremely rich yet threaten their own interests. Dog whistle appeals generate middle-class enthusiasm for Rejecting any simple story of malevolent and obvious racism, Haney López links as never before the two central themes that dominate American politics today: the decline of the middle class and the Republican Party's increasing reliance on white voters. Dog Whistle Politics will generate a lively and |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - mcelhra - LibraryThingI found Dog Whistle Politics utterly fascinating, horrifying and heartbreaking all at the same time. López defines dog whistling as “inaudible and easily denied in one range, yet stimulating strong ... Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - Mithalogica - LibraryThingOn the one hand, I love this book, and I think it's terrifically important. On the other, I was disappointed in its lack of scope. Let me back up; I received this for Early Reviewers, and I've been ... Read full review
Contents
IntroductionRacial Politics and the Middle Class | 1 |
1 The GOPs Rise as the White Mans Party | 13 |
Strategic Racism | 35 |
Reagan | 55 |
4 The False Allure of Colorblindness | 77 |
Clinton and W | 105 |
6 Getting Away with Racism | 127 |
The Tea Party and Romney | 147 |