Altered States: America Since the Sixties (Reaktion Books - Contemporary Worlds)

258 Pages·2006·0.65 MB·English

by  Jeremy Black

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ALTERED STATES
CONTEMPORARY WORLDSexplores the present and recent past.
Books in the series take a distinctive theme, geo-political entity
or cultural group and explore their developments over a period
ranging usually over the last fifty years. The impact ofcurrent
events and developments are accounted for by rapid but clear
interpretation in order to unveil the cultural, political, religious
and technological forces that are reshaping today’s worlds.
series editor
Jeremy Black
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Rob Johnson
ALTERED STATES
America since the Sixties
JEREMY BLACK
REAKTION BOOKS
For Diane Atkinson, my favourite American aunt
Published by Reaktion Books Ltd
33 Great Sutton Street
London ec1v 0dx
www.reaktionbooks.co.uk
First published 2006
Copyright © Jeremy Black 2006
All rights reserved
No part ofthis publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise, without the prior permission ofthe publishers.
Printed and bound in Great Britain
by Cromwell Press, Trowbridge, Wiltshire
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Black, Jeremy
Altered states: America since the sixties. – (Contemporary worlds)
1. United States – Social conditions – 1960–1980 2. United States – Social
conditions – 1980– 3. United States – Civilization – 1945– 4. United States
– Politics and government – 20th century 5. United States – Foreign relations
– 20th century
I. Title
ISBN-13:978-1-86189-288-1
ISBN-10:1 86189 288 8
Contents
Preface 7
1 Background 10
2 Changing Country 24
3 Changing People 57
4 Social Trends 81
5 Culture Wars 106
6 Politics 147
7 Imperial State 200
8 Conclusions 226
Selected Further Reading 241
Index 250

Preface
I grew up in Plano . . . The word conjures up drive-ins, tract homes,
waves ofheat rising from the blacktop. My years there created for me
an expendable past, disposable as a plastic cup . . . On leaving home
I was able to fabricate a new and far more satisfying history, full of
striking, simplistic environmental influences; a colorful past, easily
accessible to strangers.
Donna Tartt, The Secret History(1992)
A continent pretending to be a country, the usa is not only the most
powerful state in the world, but also a culture and society that
commands attention around the globe. This impact is a crucial part of
the importance and history ofthe usa, and will be discussed in this
book, but putting the country in its context cannot distract from an
engagement with its character. This is to be found in the juxtaposition
ofunitary and divisive pressures, which reflect and sustain the essen-
tial character ofcountry, society and state. These themes are old ones,
but the resulting tensions remain both far-reaching and complex in
the American experience. Divisiveness can be seen as arising from a
pronounced variation in regional and local cultures and environments,
a variation that is sometimes expressed in antipathy.
This variation is frequently underrated or simplified. In the former
case, there is an essentialism seen in a tendency to treat America and
the Americans as the units for discussion and analysis, or to argue that,
7
although there are important differences in both categories, these are
inherent to a federal system, and anyway should not be overly stressed.
At the same time, differences that are acknowledged are frequently
simplified to a misleading degree. In the 1960s there was a tendency to
treat difference in terms ofthe South, with the implication that the rest
ofthe usa was a homogenous society. More recently, there has been a
dichotomous approach to difference within the usa, in terms ofthe
overlapping, but far from coterminous, tendencies of Democratic,
metropolitan and counter-culture versus Republican, suburban and
conformist. This approach greatly underrates the variations that exist,
their importance and their complexity. So also does an emphasis on
geographical regions such as the South, the West or the North-East.
Each is in practice very heterogeneous, and these variations are readily
apparent to those who live in particular regions.
In contrast to the emphasis on divisiveness, there are powerful
factors across the 3.5 million square miles of the country, aiding
national integration, especially the nation-state, the constitution,
consumerism, television culture and sport. These create a common
currency ofexperiences and ideas that unite Americans ofvery differ-
ent social, racial and geographical backgrounds. At the same time, they
can also serve as spheres ofcontention, most obviously with the role of
the Supreme Court as an arbitrator – and to critics a legislator by judi-
cial interpretation – not only ofdifferences over the criminal law but
also over a range of social and political practices and events. More
generally, no singular American mood at any given time has been
apparent. Instead, there have been many, many moods, depending on
class, race, place, personality and other factors both collective and indi-
vidual. Both the bonds of citizenship and feelings of individualism
have grown stronger among Americans during the last half-century.
The interplay ofdivisiveness and integration provides much ofthe
history ofrecent decades. For example, the controversy over language,
specifically the legal status of Spanish, owes much to the fear that
dethroning English will encourage disintegrative tendencies.
Conversely, affirmative action is pushed as a way to help incorporate
those whose ethnic position is seen as disadvantageous, generally
blacks.
8 altered states