Title: The silent majority : suburban politics in the Sunbelt South /
Authors: Lassiter, Matthew D., 1970-
Publisher: Princeton University Press,
Year: 2006
Subjects: Suburbs Southern States.; Suburbs Sunbelt States.; Metropolitan areas Southern States.; Metropolitan areas Sunbelt States.; Southern States Politics and government; Sunbelt States Politics and government.
Abstract: "In The Silent Majority, Matthew Lassiter provides the first regionwide account of the suburbanization of the South from the perpsective of corporate leaders, political activists, and especially of ordinary families who lived in booming Sunbelt metropolises such as Atlanta, Charlotte, and Richmond. This book examines crucial battles over racial integration, court-ordered busing, and housing segregation to explain how the South moved from the era of Jim Crow fully into the mainstream of national currents." "The Silent Majority traces the emergence of a "color-blind" ideology in the white middle-class suburbs that defended residential segregation and neighborhood schools as the natural outcomes of market forces and individual meritocracy rather than the unconstitutional products of discriminatory public policies. Lassiter rejects the framework of southern distinctiveness and the conventional wisdom that Republican growth in the region resulted primarily from a top-down, race-driven "Southern Strategy."" "The Silent Majority is critical reading for those interested in urban and suburban studies, political and social history, the civil rights movement, public policy, and the intersection of race and class in modern America."--Jacket.
Contents: pt. 1. The triumph of moderation. The divided South ; HOPE in the new South ; The open-schools movement ; The strange career of Atlanta Exceptionalism. -- pt. 2. The revolt of the center. The "Charlotte way" ; Suburban populism ; Neighborhood populism ; Neighborhood politics ; Class fairness and racial stability. -- pt. 3. Suburban strategies. The suburbanization of southern politics ; The failure of the Southern strategy ; Metropolitan divergence ; Regional convergence.