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Deep Roots Avidit Acharya

Deep Roots By Avidit Acharya

Deep Roots Summary

Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics by Avidit Acharya

The lasting effects of slavery on contemporary political attitudes in the American South

Despite dramatic social transformations in the United States during the last 150 years, the South has remained staunchly conservative. Southerners are more likely to support Republican candidates, gun rights, and the death penalty, and southern whites harbor higher levels of racial resentment than whites in other parts of the country. Why haven't these sentiments evolved or changed? Deep Roots shows that the entrenched political and racial views of contemporary white southerners are a direct consequence of the region's slaveholding history, which continues to shape economic, political, and social spheres. Today, southern whites who live in areas once reliant on slavery-compared to areas that were not-are more racially hostile and less amenable to policies that could promote black progress.

Highlighting the connection between historical institutions and contemporary political attitudes, the authors explore the period following the Civil War when elite whites in former bastions of slavery had political and economic incentives to encourage the development of anti-black laws and practices. Deep Roots shows that these forces created a local political culture steeped in racial prejudice, and that these viewpoints have been passed down over generations, from parents to children and via communities, through a process called behavioral path dependence. While legislation such as the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act made huge strides in increasing economic opportunity and reducing educational disparities, southern slavery has had a profound, lasting, and self-reinforcing influence on regional and national politics that can still be felt today.

A groundbreaking look at the ways institutions of the past continue to sway attitudes of the present, Deep Roots demonstrates how social beliefs persist long after the formal policies that created those beliefs have been eradicated.

Deep Roots Reviews

Winner of the William H. Riker Book Award, Political Economy Section of the American Political Science Association
Best Book of the Year by one of Politico's Top 50 Thinkers (Sean McElwee)
This book is one of the most mind-blowing books I've encountered recently.---Chris Hayes
Scholars of racial attitudes have long considered how such attitudes are transmitted across generations through history, culture, and institutions, and Deep Roots makes a historically penetrating and theoretically meaningful contribution to that body of literature. The book is engaging and thorough in its analysis and puts forth theory that will be useful for readers specifically interested in the intersections of political geography, racial attitudes, and political behavior.---Amber Spry, Science
Avidit Acharya, Matthew Blackwell, and Maya Sen powerfully argue in their recent book Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics, it is the legacy of slavery and post-Civil War segregation that gave rise to the South's current political culture.---Jeffrey D. Sachs, Project Syndicate
A timely tome which explains why, from neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville to Virginia politicians donning blackface, when it comes to the South, the more things change, the more they remain insane.---Kam Williams, Tri-State Defender

About Avidit Acharya

Avidit Acharya is assistant professor of political science at Stanford University. Matthew Blackwell is assistant professor of government at Harvard University. Maya Sen is associate professor of public policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

Additional information

CIN0691176744VG
9780691176741
0691176744
Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics by Avidit Acharya
Used - Very Good
Hardback
Princeton University Press
2018-05-22
296
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Deep Roots