The strength of weekly ties: Relations of material and symbolic exchange in the conservative movement

Politics and Society

Volumn 34, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 343-368

  Medvetz, Thomas ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Conservative movement; Grover Norquist; Pierre Bourdieu; Right wing activism; Social movements

Indexed keywords

EID: 33746603455     PISSN: 00323292     EISSN: 15527514     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1177/0032329206290424     Document Type: Article

References (97)

1. Karl Rove, from a speech given at the Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) conference, February 17, 2005.
2. At the start of the 2005 governing sessions, Republicans held fifty-five out of 100 seats in the U.S. Senate, 232 out of 435 seats in the House of Representatives, twenty-eight out of fifty state governorships, and majorities in fifty-four out of 100 state legislative chambers. By 2008, Republicans will have controlled the White House for twenty-eight of the previous forty years.
3. Thomas Frank, What's the Matter with Kansas?: How Conservatives Won the Heart of America (New York: Metropolitan, 2004).
4. Jacob S. Hacker and Paul Pierson, Off Center: The Republican Revolution and the Erosion of American Democracy (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 2006). The study of American conservatism remained underdeveloped until somewhat recently, but there is now a burgeoning literature on the subject.
5. See, for example, Sidney Blumenthal, The Rise of the Counter- Establishment: From Conservative Ideology to Political Power (New York: Times, 1986);
6. Thomas Ferguson and Joel Rogers, Right Turn: The Decline of the Democrats and the Future of American Politics (New York: Hill & Wang, 1986);
7. Paul Gottfried and Thomas Fleming, The Conservative Movement (Boston: Twayne, 1988);
8. Jerome L. Himmelstein, To the Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1990);
9. Alan Brinkley, "The Problem of American Conservatism," American Historical Review 99, no. 2 (1994): 409-29;
10. Leo P. Ribuffo, "Why Is There So Much Conservatism in the United States and Why Do So Few Historians Know Anything about It?" American Historical Review 99, no. 2 (1994): 438-49;
11. Mary C. Brennan, Turning Right in the Sixties: The Conservative Capture of the COP (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1995);
12. Sara Diamond, Roads to Dominion: Right-Wing Movements and Political Power in the United States (New York: Guilford, 1995);
13. John Ehrman, The Rise of Neoconservatism: Intellectuals and Foreign Affairs, 1945-1994 (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995);
14. Lisa McGirr, Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2001);
15. Rick Perlstein, Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus (New York: Hill & Wang, 2001);
16. Jonathan Schoenwald, A Time for Choosing: The Rise of Modern American Conservatism (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001);
17. Matthew Dallek, The Right Moment: Ronald Reagan's First Victory and the Decisive Turning Point in American Politics (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004);
18. and John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, The Right Nation: Conservative Power in America (New York: Penguin, 2004).
19. Micklethwait and Wooldridge, The Right Nation.
20. Murray J. Edelman, Politics as Symbolic Action: Mass Arousal and Quiescence (Chicago: Markham, 1971).
21. William Gamson, The Strategy of Social Protest (Homewood, Ill.: Dorsey, 1975).
22. The Wednesday meeting has been discussed prominently in many newspaper and magazine articles and in a few books. See, for example, Robin Toner, "Conservatives Savor Their Role as Insiders at the White House," New York Times, March 19, 2001;
23. "The Caveman Cometh," The Economist, March 31, 2001;
24. Robert Dreyfuss, "Grover Norquist: 'Field Marshal' of the Bush Plan," The Nation, May 14, 2001;
25. Peter Beinart, "Going Stronger; What Conservatives Understand about Taxes," The New Republic, May 21, 2001 ;
26. Mara Liasson, "Political Activist Grover Norquist," Morning Edition Roll Call, National Public Radio, May 25,2001;
27. Susan Page, "Norquist Power High, Profile Low," USA Today, June 1, 2001;
28. John Aloysius Farrell, "Right Where He Belongs," Boston Globe, April 17, 2002;
29. Jill Zuckman, "Pipeline Leads to White House," Chicago Tribune, June 9, 2003;
30. Michael Scherer, "The Soul of the New Machine," Mother Jones, January-February 2004;
31. and Laura Blumenfeld, "Sowing the Seeds of GOP Domination," Washington Post, January 12, 2004.
32. See also John B. Judis, The Paradox of American Democracy (New York: Routledge, 2001);
33. and Micklethwait and Wooldridge, The Right Nation.
34. 1 secured permission to attend the Wednesday meeting through personal contacts developed as part of a study of the history of American think tanks. My initial purpose in observing these sessions was to learn more about the role played by the right-wing think tanks in the conservative movement. I spread out my observations over a fourteen-month period, attending sessions in several clusters in order to observe long-term patterns in the meeting's form and content. I took extensive fieldnotes, both during and after the meetings, but was not permitted to record the sessions.
35. A 2001 profile of Norquist in The Nation (Dreyfuss, "Grover Norquist") identifies him, Keene, and Weyrich as three of the four major leaders of the conservative movement during the past generation: [O]ver the past decade Norquist has eclipsed such older stalwarts as Ed Feulner of the Heritage Foundation, David Keene of the American Conservative Union and Paul Weyrich of the Free Congress Foundation to emerge as the managing director of the hard-core right in Washington.
36. Reprinted with permission from the May 14, 2001, issue of The Nation magazine. For subscription information, call 1 -800-333-8536.
37. Portions of each week's Nation magazine can be accessed at http://www.thenation.com.
38. J. Craig Jenkins, "Resource Mobilization Theory and the Study of Social Movements," Annual Review of Sociology 9 (1983): 527-53.
39. Pierre Bourdieu and Loïc Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992), 7.
40. Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, trans. Karen E. Fields (1912; reprint, New York: Free Press, 1995).
41. Max Weber, The Theory of Social and Economic Organization, trans. A. M. Henderson and Talcott Parsons (1915; reprint, New York: Free Press, 1947).
42. Examining the linkage between social and mental structures has recently been an explicit priority for social movement scholars, yet a systematic approach to this project has not been developed. See Jeff Goodwin and James M. Jasper, "Caught in a Winding, Snarling Vine: The Structural Bias of Political Process Theory," Sociological Forum 14, no. 1 (1999): 27-54;
43. David S. Meyer, "Tending the Vineyard: Cultivating Political Process Research," Sociological Forum 14, no. 1 (1999): 79-92;
44. Francesca Polletta, "Snarls, Quacks, and Quarrels: Culture and Structure in Political Process Theory," Sociological Forum, 14, no. 1 (1999): 63-70;
45. Charles Tilly, "Wise Quacks," Sociological Forum 14, no. 1 (1999): 55-61;
46. and Jeffrey P. Broadbent, "Movement in Context: Thick Social Networks and Environmental Mobilization in Japan," in Social Movements and Networks: Relational Approaches to Collective Action, ed. Mario Diani and Doug McAdam (New York: Oxford University Press, 2003).
47. Emile Durkheim and Marcel Mauss, Primitive Classification, trans. Rodney Needham (1903; reprint, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1963);
48. and Pierre Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice (1980; reprint, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 1990).
49. The following four paragraphs draw from Himmelstein, To the Right.
50. There is some disagreement as to which side, the libertarian or the traditionalist, was more successful in imposing its definition of conservatism. In her review of Himmelstein, To the Right, for example, Klatch (p. 802) argues, "Although he concludes that the fusionist synthesis leans heavily toward libertarianism, the evidence presented indicates that the emphasis on religion actually accommodates traditionalism more than libertarianism."
51. Rebecca E. Klatch, "Review of To the Right: The Transformation of American Conservatism.
52. by Jerome Himmelstein," American Journal of Sociology 96, no. 3 (1990): 801-3.
53. In addition to bringing together disparate intellectual strands on the right, the effort to reconstruct conservative ideology involved purging certain others, particularly the most racist and nationalist elements, from the conservative ranks. On this point, see Brennan, Turning Right in the Sixties.
54. In this regard, the Republican nomination of Barry Goldwater for president in 1964 has increasingly been identified as the watershed moment of conservative influence within the party. See, for example, Brennan, Turning Right in the Sixties;
55. Robert Alan Goldberg, Barry Goldwater (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1995);
56. and Perlstein, Before the Storm.
57. R. Kent Weaver, "The Changing World of Think Tanks," PS: Political Science and Politics 22, no. 3 (1989): 563-78;
58. Frank Fischer, "American Think Tanks: Policy Elites and the Politicization of Expertise," Governance, 4, no. 3 (1991): 332-53;
59. James A. Smith, The Idea Brokers: Think Tanks and the Rise of the New Policy Elite (New York: Free Press, 1991);
60. Jean Stefanie and Richard Delgado, No Mercy: How Conservative Think Tanks and Foundations Changed America's Social Agenda (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996);
61. Andrew Rich, Think Tanks, Public Policy, and the Politics of Expertise (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004);
62. and Thomas Medvetz, "Merchants of Expertise: Think Tanks and Intellectuals in the U.S. Field of Power" (PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 2006).
63. John Judis (p. 212) names Grover Norquist as the "key political operative in engineering Clinton's [health care] defeat," and suggests that the "Wednesday group" was the original source of public scrutiny of President Clinton's Arkansas land deal ("Whitewater"), which eventually led to the special investigation by Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr resulting in Clinton's impeachment. Judis, The Paradox of American Democracy.
64. Gingrich praises Norquist in a 2001 article in The Nation: "He is essentially the most creative and most effective conservative activist in the country. He is both a serious conservative intellectual [and] a remarkable implementer of effective communications and grassroots political strategies";
65. Dreyfuss, "Grover Norquist."
66. Hence, in 2001, The Economist suggested that the Wednesday meeting was both the key to understanding George Bush's Washington and proof that Hillary Clinton was correct about the existence of a vast right-wing conspiracy; see "The Caveman Cometh." Months later, NPR noted on its Morning Edition show, "If you believe in a vast, right-wing conspiracy, this is its clubhouse";
67. Liasson, "Political Activist Grover Norquist." For other explicit associations between the Norquist meeting and the "vast right-wing conspiracy,"
68. see Fan-ell, "Right Where He Belongs";
69. and Zuckman, "Pipeline Leads to White House."
70. According to The Nation in 2001 (Dreyfuss, "Grover Norquist"), Norquist's support was decisive in swinging the bulk of the conservative movement into Bush's camp by early 1999.... Then, when Bush ran into trouble battling Senator John McCain of Arizona, Norquist mobilized the right against McCain in the early primaries, especially in South Carolina - and, in the process, cemented his ties to Bush and Rove. The same article goes on to speculate, To a significant degree, George W. Bush owes his election to Norquist, whose early support was crucial in lining up the right behind the Texas governor's campaign. And if Bush ... has managed to forge a governing coalition that includes both Big Business and the far right, Norquist's skillful ability to hold that coalition together is a big reason why.
71. While it is difficult to weigh the various lines of influence leading to the passage of the Bush tax cuts, a journalistic consensus has emerged that Norquist was one of the key figures in their implementation. For example, NPR reported in 2001, "No piece of legislation is as important to the president's agenda as the tax cut, and no one person outside of Congress had more to do with getting it passed than a conservative activist named Grover Norquist"; Liasson, "Political Activist Grover Norquist."
72. See Zuckman, "Pipeline Leads to White House."
73. See also Dante Chinni, "Washington's Tax-Cut True-Believers Are 'in' Again," Christian Science Monitor, February 20, 2001.
74. Toner, "Conservatives Savor Their Role." The Nation
75. quote is from Dreyfuss, "Grover Norquist."
76. Blumenfeld, "Sowing the Seeds of GOP Domination." (c) 2004, The Washington Post. Reprinted with permission.
77. For example, in a typical flourish, the Washington Post marvels, "The shades are down, the lights are weak, yet an incandescent assuredness infuses the room"; Blumenfeld, "Sowing the Seeds of GOP Domination." Such invocations of secret, backroom dealings are not uncommon in accounts of the Wednesday meeting.
78. See also Scherer, "The Soul of the New Machine."
79. 1 have altered or omitted the names of participants who are not public figures.
80. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is a non-profit animal rights organization.
81. The Federal Pledge, "started in 1986 as the first project of Americans for Tax Reform," runs as follows: I, _, pledge to the taxpayers of the _ district of the State of _ and to the American People that I will: ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates. Tim Michels lost his Senate race to Russ Feingold in the November 2004 elections.
82. In an interview with NPR (Liasson, "Political Activist Grover Norquist"), Goeglein explains,
83. I attend Grover Norquist's meeting at least twice and sometimes three times a month, and the reason I go is because I am specifically tasked in the White House with outreach to conservatives. I make it a point to make sure that they, the conservative community, understand exactly what the president's message is and to make sure that I bring from those meetings thoughts from the groups and individuals back to the White House.
84. In general, attendees of the Wednesday meeting tend to prefer the Washington Times to the Post, sometimes referring to the latter as an organ of the "liberal establishment."
85. There is a considerable amount of talk at the Wednesday meeting about local party and campaign structures, much of it rooted in very particular historical and regional circumstances.
86. The term "Hillary-care" is a pejorative reference to President Bill Clinton's 1993 health care plan. First Lady Hillary Clinton led the administration's unsuccessful effort to install this plan as federal law. The Contract With America was a 1994 policy plan written by Republicans in anticipation of their new status as the majority party in Congress. Newt Gingrich played a leading role in its design.
87. Author interview with Grover Norquist, Americans for Tax Reform, August 2, 2004.
88. Interview with Grover Norquist, August 2, 2004.
89. One of the most apt characterizations of resources may be found in William H. Sewell Jr.'s theory of structure, which is worth quoting at length: Resources are of two types, human and nonhuman. Nonhuman resources are objects, animate or inanimate, naturally occurring or manufactured, that can be used to enhance or maintain power; human resources are physical strength, dexterity, knowledge, and emotional commitments that can be used to enhance or maintain power, including knowledge of the means of gaining, retaining, controlling, and propagating either human or nonhuman resources. Both types of resources are media of power and are unevenly distributed. William H. Sewell Jr., "A Theory of Structure: Duality, Agency, and Transformation," American Journal of Sociology 98 (1992): 9-10. Resources, then, are forms of power needed for collective action. They may be incorporated in the person of the social actor, or they may be physical objects like factories, weapons, land, and money.
90. Durkheim and Mauss, Primitive Classification;
91. and Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice.
92. Pierre Bourdieu, "The Attitude of the Algerian Peasant toward Time," in Mediterranean Countrymen, ed. Jesse Pitt-Rivers (Paris: Mouton, 1964), 55-72;
93. Bourdieu, The Logic of Practice;
94. and Pierre Bourdieu, "Bodily Knowledge," in his Pascalian Meditations (1997; reprint, Cambridge: Polity, 2000), 128-63.
95. On the concept of habitus, see also Loïc Wacquant, "Habitus," in International Encyclopedia of Economic Sociology, ed. Milan Zafirovski (London: Routledge, 2005).
96. Owing perhaps to the apparent seamlessness of this model, one of the most common errors is to interpret Bourdieu as a theorist of social reproduction. However, the possibility - in fact, the necessity - of structural transformation is built into the model because agents are socialized into multiple settings and traverse social space, routinely transposing schemas of classification, evaluation, and action they have acquired from one domain into another. The theory is therefore just as well suited to describing cases of structural change arising out of the tension or incongruity between structure and habitus as it is to describing cases of perfect congruity and reproduction.
97. Himmelstein, To the Right.