Change They Can't Believe In The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America [Paperback]

Are Tea Party supporters merely a group of conservative citizens concerned about government spending? Or are they racists who refuse to accept Barack Obama as their president because he's not white?Change They Cant Believe Inoffers an alternative argumentthat the Tea Party is driven by the reemergence of a reactionary movement in American politics that is fueled by a fear that America has changed for the worse. Providing a range of original evidence and rich portraits of party sympathizers as well as activists, Christopher Parker and Matt Barreto show that the perception that America is in danger directly informs how Tea Party supporters think and act.

In a new afterword, Parker and Barreto reflect on the Tea Partys recent initiatives, including the 2013 government shutdown, and evaluate their prospects for the 2016 election.

"Winner of the 2014 Best Book Award, Race, Ethnicity, and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association"Christopher S. Parkeris associate professor of political science at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the author ofFighting for Democracy(Princeton).Matt A. Barretois associate professor of political science at the University of Washington, Seattle, and director of the Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Sexuality. He is the author ofEthnic Cues. A scathing analysis of the Tea Party movement, linking it in spirit to the Ku Klux Klan and the John Birch Society. Taking today's conservative populists to be dangerous and their ideas self-incriminating, the authors speculate that Tea Party supporters may perceive of social change as subversion. Based on research and interviews, they suggest racism, desire for social dominance . . . drives the Tea Party. Change They Can't Believe Inoffers valuable empirical data on the Tea Party, and its focus on supporters' antagonism toward Obama is critical to understanding the movement.