American Culture War
Professor Alan Wolfe
Political Science 358
Spring 2008
There is no precise date at which the American culture war began, but the best guess would be in 1973, when the U. S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade. Women, the Court essentially ruled, had the right to control their own bodies, especially after the first trimester of a pregnancy, and no state could refuse to allow them access to abortion. In thereby choosing the importance of individual autonomy over moral prohibitions rooted in many religious beliefs, the Court's decision contributed to the mobilization of groups determined to overrule the decision or at least to limit its applicability.
Abortion is symbolic of a new set of issues that came to dominate American politics over the past three decades. Unlike the issues with which the New Deal was concerned, which were primarily economic in nature, these new issues are moral, religious and culture. They involve such questions as what is right and wrong, what obligations people have to current and future generations, and where the line between public and private should be drawn. Besides abortion, issues involving the family, homosexuality, and race have defined the American culture war. These issues, and others much like them, accounts for the increased ideological division in American politics, as well as such bitterly contested events as the elections of 2000 and 2004. Indeed one of the questions we will address in this class is whether the 2006 election, in which the war in Iraq played a major role, constitutes the beginning of the end of the American culture war.
This course is meant to introduce students to the major issues in the American culture war. We will read books that have been influential in defining these issues, as well as others that either take sides in them or attempt to provide greater clarity. Students should complete the course with a greater understanding of how contemporary American politics has taken the form it has.
There will be a mid-term and a final exam in the course. In addition, each student will be expected to take one issue in the culture war, especially one that is not discussed in the reading, and to offer an overview of how that issue has played out. This assignment will involve an oral presentation to the class.