Publications
Books on the Enduring Impact of Race on American Politics
Fighting for Democracy
Black Veterans and the Struggle Against White Supremacy in the Postwar South
Fighting for Democracy shows how the experiences of African American soldiers during World War II and the Korean War influenced many of them to challenge white supremacy in the South when they returned home. Focusing on the motivations of individual black veterans, this groundbreaking book explores the relationship between military service and political activism. Christopher Parker draws on unique sources of evidence, including interviews and survey data, to illustrate how and why black servicemen who fought for their country in wartime returned to America prepared to fight for their own equality.
“Rare it is that a book alters the way we see history. But that is certainly the case here. The canonical account of the civil rights struggle holds that it was nurtured in the black church, with an assist from select black colleges and NAACP chapters. Through careful, painstaking scholarship, Parker shows that returning black World War II veterans played a vital role as well. In doing so, he restores the veterans to their rightful place in the history of the struggle. Consider the canonical account revised.”
—Doug McAdam, Stanford University
“This original and important book is the most well-researched and significant scholarly study of the Tea Party movement and its members yet to appear. Unfolding a profile of Tea Party activists threatened by liberal changes and ill-formulated images of big government and state regulatory power, Parker and Barreto tease out core beliefs and views, ranging from commonplace conservatism to racist antagonism. Their book is an outstanding contribution to understanding American politics.”
—Desmond King, University of Oxford
Change They Can’t Believe In:
The Tea Party and Reactionary Politics in America
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 Can’t Believe In offers an alternative argument—that 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 what actually pushes Tea Party supporters is not simple ideology or racism, but fear that the country is being stolen from “real Americans”—a belief triggered by Obama’s election.
Published Academic Articles
- Brian C. Rathbun, Christopher Sebastian Parker and Howard Lavine, and Caleb Pomeroy. Separate but Unequal: Ethnocentrism and Racialization Explain the “Democratic” Peace in Public Opinion American Political Science Review (2024) 1–16
- Christopher Sebastian Parker and Howard Lavine. Status threat: The core of reactionary politics Advances in Political Psychology, DOI: 10.1111/pops.12983
- Christopher Sebastian Parker. “Status Threat: Moving the Right Further to the Right?” American Academy of Arts & Sciences, 2021, vol. 150: 56-75
- Christopher Sebastian Parker and Rachel Marie Blum. “Trump-ing Foreign Affairs: Status Threat and Foreign Policy Preferences on the Right.” Perspectives on Politics, 2019, vol. 17, no. 3.
- Christopher Sebastian Parker and Christopher C. Towler. “Race and Authoritarianism in American Politics.” Annual Review of Political Science, 2019, vol. 22:503–19.
- Christopher Sebastian Parker and Christopher C. Towler, “Between Anger and Engagement: Donald Trump and Black America.” The Journal of Race, Ethnicity, and Politics, vol. 3, Special Issue 1 (Race, Religion, Gender and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election), March 2018, pp. 219-253.
- Christopher Parker. “The Radical Right in the United States of America.” The Oxford Handbook of the Radical Right, edited by Jens Rydgren, Oxford Handbooks, 2018.
- Christopher Sebastian Parker. “Race and Politics in the Age of Obama.” Annual Review of Sociology, 2016, vol. 42:217–30.
- Christopher S. Parker, Matt Baretto, Betsy L Cooper, Benjamin Gonzalez, and Christopher Towler. “The Tea Party in the Age of Obama: Mainstream Conservatism or Out-Group Anxiety?” Political Power and Social Theory, 22 (2011): 105-137. See PDF
- Christopher S. Parker. “Symbolic versus Blind Patriotism: Distinction without Difference?” Political Research Quarterly, vol. 63, March 2010, pp. 97-114.
- Christopher S. Parker, Mark Q. Sawyer, and Christopher Towler. “A Black Man in the White House? The Role of Racism and Patriotism in the 2008 Presidential Election.” Du Bois Review, Vol. 6, Spring 2009, pp. 193-217.
- Christopher S. Parker. “When Politics Becomes Protest: Black Veterans and Political Activism in the Postwar South.” Journal of Politics, 71, Winter 2009, pp. 113-131.
- Christopher S. Parker, “New Weapons for Old Problems: Conventional Proliferation and Military Effectiveness in Developing States”, International Security Vol. 23, No. 4, Spring 1999 pp. 119-147
Book Chapters
Christopher Sebastian Parker and Matt A. Barreto. “The Great White Hope: Threat and Racial Resilience in the Age of Trump.” Democratic Resilience. Can the United States Withstand Rising Polarization?, Edited by Lieberman, Robert C., Mettler, Suzanne and Roberts, Kenneth M.
Christopher S. Parker. “The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).” The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Social and Political Movements, edited by David A. Snow, Donatella Della Porta, Bert Klandermans, and Doug McAdam, Blackwell Press, 2012.
Christopher S. Parker. “War and African American Citizenship, 1865-1965: The Role of Military Service.” The Handbook of African American Citizenship, edited by Henry Louis Gates, jr., Claude Steele, Lawrence D. Bobo, Michael C. Dawson, Gerald Jaynes, Lisa Crooms-Robinson, and Linda Darling, Oxford University Press, 2012.
Christopher S. Parker. “A Subjective Assessment of Veterans Health Care: From the Veteran’s Point of View.” The Politics of Veterans’ Policy: Federal Policy in the Modern United States, edited by Stephen Ortiz, University of Florida Press, 2012.