IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/socsci/v103y2022i3p649-669.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Undoing reconstruction: Racial threat and the process of Redemption, 1870–1920

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Greenberger

Abstract

Objective Over the course of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, steps made toward full enfranchisement of African Americans, competitive elections, and representative democracy in the former Confederate States collapsed. White “Redeemers” established a subnational authoritarian regime that encompassed nearly the entire formerly Confederate South—reasserting the rule of political and economic white supremacy. This paper aims to understand how racial threat affected the political decisions made by disfreanchisers. Methods Analyzing an originally constructed data set of congressional elections returns and demographic data from 1870 to 1920. Results I find evidence that racial threat, properly specified, explains why democracy deteriorated in particular pockets of the South faster and more completely than in others. Conclusion I argue that racial threat, despite its contemporary limitations, is a useful theory for understanding the political development of the American South.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Greenberger, 2022. "Undoing reconstruction: Racial threat and the process of Redemption, 1870–1920," Social Science Quarterly, Southwestern Social Science Association, vol. 103(3), pages 649-669, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:103:y:2022:i:3:p:649-669
    DOI: 10.1111/ssqu.13149
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/ssqu.13149
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/ssqu.13149?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ryan D. Enos, 2016. "What the Demolition of Public Housing Teaches Us about the Impact of Racial Threat on Political Behavior," American Journal of Political Science, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 60(1), pages 123-142, January.
    2. Hopkins, Daniel J., 2010. "Politicized Places: Explaining Where and When Immigrants Provoke Local Opposition," American Political Science Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 104(1), pages 40-60, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Daria Denti, 2022. "Looking ahead in anger: The effects of foreign migration on youth resentment in England," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(2), pages 578-603, March.
    2. Akira IGARASHI & Yoshikuni ONO, 2020. "The Effects of Negative and Positive Information on Attitudes toward Immigration," Discussion papers 20023, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    3. Gabriel Heller‐Sahlgren, 2023. "Group threat and voter turnout: Evidence from a refugee placement program," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(2), pages 470-504, July.
    4. David Switzer & Jiwoong Jung, 2023. "Contextual responsiveness in U.S. local government climate policy," Review of Policy Research, Policy Studies Organization, vol. 40(6), pages 920-949, November.
    5. Sekeris, Petros & Vasilakis, Chrysovalantis, 2016. "The Mediterranean Refugees Crisis and Extreme Right Parties: Evidence from Greece," MPRA Paper 72222, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Jakub Lonsky, 2021. "Does immigration decrease far-right popularity? Evidence from Finnish municipalities," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 34(1), pages 97-139, January.
    7. Matti Sarvimäki, 2021. "Managing Refugee Protection Crises: Policy Lessons from Economics and Political Science," RF Berlin - CReAM Discussion Paper Series 2131, Rockwool Foundation Berlin (RF Berlin) - Centre for Research and Analysis of Migration (CReAM).
    8. Marrow, Helen B., 2012. "Deserving to a point: Unauthorized immigrants in San Francisco’s universal access healthcare model," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(6), pages 846-854.
    9. Jasjeet Singh Sekhon & Richard D. Grieve, 2012. "A matching method for improving covariate balance in cost‐effectiveness analyses," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(6), pages 695-714, June.
    10. McArthur, Daniel, 2020. "Hidden figures: A longitudinal analysis of the relationship between local context and beliefs about the causes of unemployment," SocArXiv x79fy_v1, Center for Open Science.
    11. G. Bellettini & C. Berti Ceroni & C. Monfardini, 2017. "Ethnic diversity and political participation: the role of individual income," Working Papers wp1114, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    12. Tesei, Andrea, 2015. "Trust and racial income inequality: evidence from the U.S," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 61029, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Müller, Daniel, 2019. "The anatomy of distributional preferences with group identity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 785-807.
    14. Sebastian Fietkau & Kasper M Hansen, 2018. "How perceptions of immigrants trigger feelings of economic and cultural threats in two welfare states," European Union Politics, , vol. 19(1), pages 119-139, March.
    15. Yolande Pottie-Sherman & Rima Wilkes, 2017. "Does Size Really Matter? On the Relationship between Immigrant Group Size and Anti-Immigrant Prejudice," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(1), pages 218-250, March.
    16. Matt A. Barreto & Claudia Alegre & J. Isaiah Bailey & Alexandria Davis & Joshua Ferrer & Joyce Nguy & Christopher Palmisano & Crystal Robertson, 2023. "Black Lives Matter and the Racialized Support for the January 6th Insurrection," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 708(1), pages 64-82, July.
    17. Matthew Hall, 2013. "Residential Integration on the New Frontier: Immigrant Segregation in Established and New Destinations," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 50(5), pages 1873-1896, October.
    18. Betts, Alexander & Flinder Stierna, Maria & Omata, Naohiko & Sterck, Olivier, 2023. "Refugees welcome? Inter-group interaction and host community attitude formation," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    19. Salomon, Katja, 2020. "Dynamics of immigrant resentment in Europe," Discussion Papers, Presidential Department P 2020-002, WZB Berlin Social Science Center.
    20. Lange, Martin & Schmidt, Alexander, 2023. "High-profile crime and perceived public safety: Evidence from Cologne's new year's eve in 2015," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-068, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:socsci:v:103:y:2022:i:3:p:649-669. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journal.asp?ref=0038-4941 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.