Description
Book SynopsisSeeks to uncover the democratic, populist, and even anticapitalist legacy of the middle class. By examining, in particular, the independent small business sector or petite bourgeoisie, using Progressive Era Portland, Oregon, as a case study, this book shows that class still matters in America.
Trade ReviewWinner of the 2002 President's Book Award, Social Science History Association "[A] magnificent work of political and historical reconstruction... The excitement of this book lies in its engaging combination of passion and rigor."--Jeffrey Sklansky, Reviews in American History The Radical Middle Class credits the lower middle class with providing the leadership and grassroots support for a variety of reform and even radical measures that animated politics in Portland, Oregon during the first quarter of the twentieth century... Johnston has presented scholars with another template of reform that needs to be taken seriously and applied elsewhere."--John F. Reynolds, H-SHGAP "If progressives are to enjoy any success rebuilding a democratic populism that questions a corporate political economy, Johnston's book might suggest some useful (and hopeful) perspectives."--Ken Fones-Wolf, Enterprise & Society "[An] extraordinarily ambitious work... Sure to spark debate, this book is a fine example of the renaissance in political history."--Ron Formisano, Journal of Southern History "[F]ew interested in the history of American social movements, the political role of the middle class, or the contemporary revival of populist politics will fail to find this book insightful and provocative."--Daniel Geary, Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas "[An] exhaustive and illuminating critique of the historiography of the petit bourgeoisie... Robert D. Johnston has convinced this reviewer that we need to know much more about this crucial middling group and the impact it has had, and continues to have, on U.S. politics as both a local and national force. Historians need to take the lead this book provides."--Adam J. Hodges, H-Net Reviews
Table of ContentsList of Illustrations and Maps ix Preface xi Acknowledgments xvii PART I: REHABILITATING THE AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS 1 One: Rethinking the Middle Class: Politics, History, and Theory 3 Two: Curt Muller and the Capitalist Middle Class: Social Misconstructions of Reality 18 Three: Harry Lane and the Radicalism of Middle-Class Reform 29 PART II: THE POPULIST POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PROGRESSIVE ERA PORTLAND 47 Four: The Contours of Class in Portland 51 Five: Capitalism, Anticapitalism, and the Solidarity of Middle Class and Working Class 74 Six: Petit Bourgeois Politics in Portland and World History 90 Seven: Will Daly: The Petit Bourgeois Hero of Labor 99 PART III: "THE MOST COMPLETE DEMOCRACY IN THE WORLD": THE POPULIST RADICALISM OF DIRECT DEMOCRACY 115 Eight: Direct Democracy as Antidemocracy? The Evolution of the Oregon System, 1884-1908 119 Nine: Direct Democracy's Mechanic: William S. U'Ren 127 Ten: From the Grand Reorganization to a Syndicalism of Housewives: Feminist Populism and the Other Spirit of '76 138 Eleven: The Political Economy of Populist Democracy: The Single Tax Movement in Portland, 1908-1916 159 PART IV: A POPULISM OF THE BODY: THE RATIONALITY AND RADICALISM OF ANTIVACCINATIONISM 177 Twelve: A Deluded Mob of Ignorant Fools? The Historiography of Antivaccination, and the Risks of Vaccination 179 Thirteen: Shutting Down the Schools: Parents and Protest in Mt. Scott 191 Fourteen: From the Death of a Child to Sedition against the State: The Life and Ideology of Lora C. Little 197 Fifteen: Direct Democracy and Antivaccination 207 Sixteen: The Success and Radicalism of Antivaccination 218 PART V. THE USES OF POPULISM AFTER PROGRESSIVISM: THE 1922 SCHOOL BILL AND THE TRIUMPH OF THE KU KLUX KLAN 221 Seventeen: School Boards and Strikes: Petite Bourgeoisie against Elite 223 Eighteen: Liberal Populism: The Compulsory Public School Bill 227 Nineteen: Corporate Tools: The Middling World of the Portland Klan 234 Twenty: The Producer's Call and the Portland Housewives' Council: The Tenuous Survival of Petit Bourgeois Radicalism 248 PART VI: CONCLUSION: POPULISM, CAPITALISM, AND THE POLITICS OF THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY AMERICAN MIDDLE CLASS 255 Twenty-One: The Lower Middle Class in the American Century 257 Twenty-Two: The Fate of Populism: Moral Economy and the Resurgence of Middle-Class Politics 266 Appendix 1: Tables 279 Appendix 2: Map, Voter Registration Density by Precinct, 1916 291 Abbreviations 293 Notes 295 Index 381
