Stations of the Cross

Apostolidis Paul Apostolidis

Description

Since the 1970s, American society has provided especially fertile ground for the growth of the Christian right and its influence on both political and cultural discourse. In Stations of the Cross political theorist Paul Apostolidis shows how a critical component of this movement's popular culture-evangelical conservative radio-interacts with the current U.S. political economy. By examining in particular James Dobson's enormously influential program, Focus on the Family-its messages, politics, and effects-Apostolidis reveals the complex nature of contemporary conservative religious culture.Public ideology and institutional tendencies clash, the author argues, in the restructuring of the welfare state, the financing of the electoral system, and the backlash against women and minorities. These frictions are nowhere more apparent than on Christian right radio. Reinvigorating the intellectual tradition of the Frankfurt School, Apostolidis shows how ideas derived from early critical theory-in particular that of Theodor W. Adorno-can illuminate the political and social dynamics of this aspect of contemporary American culture. He uses and reworks Adorno's theories to interpret the nationally broadcast Focus on the Family, revealing how the cultural discourse of the Christian right resonates with recent structural transformations in the American political economy. Apostolidis shows that the antidote to the Christian right's marriage of religious and market fundamentalism lies not in a reinvocation of liberal fundamentals, but rather depends on a patient cultivation of the affinities between religion's utopian impulses and radical, democratic challenges to the present political-economic order.Mixing critical theory with detailed analysis, Stations of the Cross provides a needed contribution to sociopolitical studies of mass movements and will attract readers in sociology, political science, philosophy, and history.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• USA
• International relations
• Christianity
• États-Unis

Informations

• Publié par: Duke University Press
• Date de parution: 02 juin 2000
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780822381006
• Langue: English

Extrait

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

STATIONS OF THE CROSS

Adorno and Christian Right Radio

Paul Apostolidis

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS

Durham and London 2000

∫2000 Duke University Press

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper$

Typeset in Trump Mediaeval by Keystone Typesetting, Inc.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

appear on the last printed page of this book.

This book is dedicated to

Jeannie Morefield.

4

2

1

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

1

ix

Adorno on Mass Culture and Cultural Criticism 31

Adorno’s Critique of Christian Right Radio in the New Deal Era 57

3

Christian Professionals and the Fraying Fabric

of Health and Human Services 90

Christian Politicians and the Decline of Democratic Accountability 130

5

6

Christian Victims in the Backlash Society 172

Negative Dialectics and Political Practice 208

Appendix A

Appendix B

Complete Listing ofFocus on the Family

Broadcasts Selected for Research 221

Itinerary for Research Visit to Colorado Springs,

21–25 February 1996 228

Notes 233

Bibliography 259

Index 269

Acknowledgments

Many people have helped me bring this project to fruition, and to them I offer my heartfelt thanks. Most of all, I owe gratitude to Jeannie More- field, whose intellectual insights, political concern, and personal com- panionship have vitally contributed to my work on this book since its in- ception. I have also benefited immeasurably over many years from Susan Buck-Morss’s great dedication as a dissertation adviser and friend. Addi- tional thanks go to Isaac Kramnick and Theodore J. Lowi, both valued members of my dissertation committee, and to Anna Marie Smith, whose detailed comments on my work have continually provoked me to com- plexify my thinking. Timothy Kaufman-Osborn, Lisa Disch, Jodi Dean, and Jeremy Varon all read drafts of various parts of this book and rendered extremely useful comments and criticisms. This book would not have been possible without the benefit of sustained conversations over the last several years with Richard Clayton, Elizabeth Nishiura, Libbie Rifkin, Juliet Williams, and Douglas Usher. I owe another debt of gratitude to Douglas Kellner and the other (still anonymous) reader of my manuscript for their precise and knowledgeable comments, along with Valerie Mill- holland, Miriam Angress, Kay Alexander, and Laura Sell at Duke Univer- sity Press. Thanks also to my copy editor, Paula Dragosh. The Graduate School of Cornell University funded my research trip to Colorado Springs with a travel grant, and Susan Marine and Meagan Day helped make the trip both productive and enjoyable. Alan Crippen was a gracious and help- ful host during my visit to Focus on the Family, and my thanks also go to the many people working at Focus along with several progressive activists in Colorado Springs who agreed to be interviewed and supplied me with vital information. My gratitude also goes to my colleagues in the Politics