Becoming Right: Education and the Formation of Conservative Movements

Abstract

Conservative movements are becoming more powerful in the United States. Yet there are few investigations of why people actually “become Right.” We show how people “become Right” through their interactions with unresponsive institutions. We first describe the assemblage of cultural assumptions, fears, and tensions that underpin the cultural and religious Right. We argue that the way the bureaucratic state has developed is ideally suited to confirm these fears and tensions. We then instantiate these arguments by focusing on a specific textbook controversy that led to the formation of Rightist sentiments in a community. Finally, we suggest a number of important theoretical and practical implications of this analysis for the politics of education and for attempts at countering the growth of ultraconservative movements in education.