The Politics of Symbolic Worth: Groups, Identities, and Status in American Politics

What leads politics to become meaningful, engaging, and contentious for members of the public? In this course, we will examine how American politics is shaped by struggles over the meanings and status of social group identities. First, we will examine theoretical perspectives suggesting political behavior can be seen as symbolic action to affirm one’s group identity and its "proper" place in the social order. Then, we will apply this framework to understanding two areas of American politics: the politics of white racial resentment, and climate change politics. This course will provide conceptual tools for understanding what’s at stake in public debates for many Americans, and how elite rhetoric cuing status and identity concerns have shaped American politics in the 20th and 21st centuries.