Description
Book SynopsisThe unexpected shift from the election of Barack Obama and the post-racial hope to the racial confrontations in the Trump era begs the question: Why did such a big volatile swing happen in such a short period of time? Uncertainty reigns in volatile political times. This book aims to provide a systemic model for understanding how political volatility throughout the U.S. history has had its root in two competing racial and religious groupings. Moreover, the groupings grounded in white supremacy and egalitarianism have collided, contested, and facilitated the configuration and reconfiguration of the atomic political structure. As demonstrated in this book, the antagonism between the two competing identity groupings led to a history of political volatility in the United States. Contrary to the endless “political deadlocks” suggested by the scholars of American political development, this book explains how and why the two orders persist, reach peaks of volatility, and why one temporarily achieves prominence over the other. Going beyond the simplistic view of racial and religious hierarchy, this book provides an account rooted in structural tensions, strategic imperatives, opportunities, and threats on collective actions.
Table of ContentsIntroduction: The Root of Political Volatility in the United States
Part I: Introducing the Theory and Principles of the Atomic Structure
Chapter 1: Political Volatility and Social Groups: A Puzzle
Chapter 2: An Overview of the Atomic Structure
Chapter 3: Rationality and Perceptions: Political Habits and Responses
Chapter 4: The Origins of Multiple Threats
Chapter 5: Concrete and Abstract Threats: Group Perceptions and Responses
Chapter 6: Hostility and Group Experiences: The ADVICE Principles (I)
Chapter 7: Volatility: The ADVICE Principles (II)
Chapter 8: Internal Threats, Competition and the Atomic Structures: The ADVICE Principles (III)
Part II. Applying the Atomic Structure Theory to American Political Developments
Chapter 9: The Shift Away from WASP Domination
Chapter 10: Atomic Structure and the WASP Decline
Chapter 11: The Core of the New Atomic Structure
Chapter 12: Racial Minority versus Religious Minority: The 2012 Presidential Election
Chapter 13: The Surge of White Nationalism in the Trump Era
Conclusion
