Search

Describes the congressional support of the US National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), linking bicameral differences and institutional reform within Congress to arts funding. History of the NEA; Views of the Senate and House toward the NEA; Eruption of cultural schism in 1989.

Examines former US President Ronald Reagan's support for the Christian Right during his administration. Public support accorded by Reagan for the legislative objectives of the Christian Right; Analysis of Reagan's State of the Union addresses; Reagan's attention to social issues.

This research examines the issue of prayer in the public schools from a status politics framework, arguing the struggle over prayer may be understood as a surface conflict reflecting a much deeper struggle between two contending ways of life. Regression analysis of original survey data finds strong support for the model hypothesized. Cultural fundamentalists are likely to support reinstitution of prayer in the public schools as an affirmation of their cherished and once dominant values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Status politics has been used by scholars to explain social protest movements, particularly those that have been right-wing in orientation. In recent years, some scholars have placed the Christian Right within the context of status politics, while others have suggested it is erroneous to do so. This article examines the applicability of status politics to the Christian Right from the perspective of the political agenda the movement has pushed in the Congress. The argument is that status politics fails to explain adequately the moral, nonsymbolic, and "offensive" dimensions of the Christian Right. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This interpretive essay examines major organizational and tactical changes in the Christian Right, from its origin in the late 1970s to the present. It argues that the Christian Right has passed through several distinctive phases, gradually becoming much more of a traditional political actor following conventional strategies in American politics. This essay also examines popular and scholarly understanding of the movement's rise and evolution, with special attention to paradigms impeding understanding of the Christian Right. It closes with suggestions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]