A Discussion of Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen’s Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics

If the election of Donald Trump has proven anything indisputably, it is that the notion of America as a “postracial” society in the aftermath of the Obama presidency is a canard. Yet how should we understand the specific pattern of race’s persistent salience in US politics? In Deep Roots , Avidit Ac...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perspectives on politics 2020-03, Vol.18 (1), p.209-210
Main Author: Kousser, J. Morgan
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
African Americans
Aftermath
Carter, Jimmy
Civil rights movements
Clinton, Bill
Elections
Experts
Path dependence
Political behavior
Political culture
Political development
Political science
Politics
Prejudice
Presidents
Race
Slavery
Social development
White supremacy
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Summary:If the election of Donald Trump has proven anything indisputably, it is that the notion of America as a “postracial” society in the aftermath of the Obama presidency is a canard. Yet how should we understand the specific pattern of race’s persistent salience in US politics? In Deep Roots , Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen argue that it is the long legacy of chattel slavery that continues to shape politics in the US South in distinctive fashion. Comparing regions that were once marked by slavery with those that were not, the authors develop the concept of “behavioral path dependence” to describe the production and reproduction of a political culture marked by intergenerational racial prejudice. They argue that this legacy continues to shape US politics today in a fashion that is both understandable and predictable with the tools of empirical political science. We asked several scholars with expertise on politics and race, US political development, and political behavior to address this controversial argument.
ISSN:1537-5927
1541-0986
DOI:10.1017/S1537592719004572