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Languages of Class in US Party Platforms, 1880–1936
Author(s) -
HURST ALLISON L.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of historical sociology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.186
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1467-6443
pISSN - 0952-1909
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-6443.2010.01383.x
Subject(s) - class consciousness , presidential system , politics , social class , working class , polarization (electrochemistry) , political economy , political science , legislation , politics of the united states , democracy , legislature , identity politics , law , sociology , chemistry
This article will explore the shifting use of class language in party platforms during the Lochner era, a period of increased class polarization, social unrest, and laissez faire judicial philosophy. It explores the ways in which political parties responded to the growing inequality of wealth and the judicial distaste for “class legislation.” Using as a dataset all available party platforms of the presidential elections years during this period, I analyze the impact of class identity and class consciousness on politics and social movements during this time, finding that (1) class language increased during this period, with its sharpest images and depictions found in third party platforms; (2) the use of class language was directly connected to calls for an end to “government by injunction” and very specific proposals for workers; (3) the two major parties often took on some of these specific recommendations in the following presidential cycle or cycles, but without the attendant class language; leading to (4) a general muting of explanations for the cause of industrial conflict (irrecoof industrialncilable interests of labor and capital) in favor of specific reforms leading to government as mediator, picked up primarily by the Democratic Party.