Race, Class, and Social Welfare: American Populism Since the New Deal

Erik J. Engstrom · Robert Huckfeldt

jul 2020 · Cambridge University Press

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What makes it so difficult to enact and sustain comprehensive social welfare policy that would aid the disadvantaged in the United States? Addressing the relationship between populism and social welfare, this book argues that two competing camps of populists divide American politics. Regressive populists motivated by racial resentment frequently clash with progressive populists, who embrace an expansion of social welfare benefits for the less affluent, regardless of race or ethnicity. Engstrom and Huckfeldt uncover the political forces driving this divided populism, its roots in the aftermath of the civil rights revolution of the mid-twentieth century, and its implications for modern American politics and social welfare policy. Relying on a detailed analysis of party coalitions in the US Congress and the electorate since the New Deal, the authors focus on the intersection between race, class, and oligarchy.

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Erik J. Engstrom is Professor of Political Science, University of California, Davis. He is the author of Partisan Gerrymandering and the Construction of American Democracy (2013) and co-author of Party Ballots, Reform, and the Transformation of America's Electoral System (2014). The latter was the co-winner of the 2015 J. David Greenstone Prize for best book in Politics and History from the American Political Science Association.

Robert Huckfeldt is Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of California, Davis. He is the author or co-author of a series of journal articles and books, including most recently Experts, Activists, and Interdependent Citizens with T.K. Ahn and John Barry Ryan. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2014.