Is Conservatism The New Ghetto Culture?

A response to Richard Hanania's oppositional culture thesis

Political scientist Richard Hanania believes conservatism is now an oppositional culture. He doesn’t mean this as a compliment. Rather, Hanania sees conservatism as more like urban black culture Hanania and a sign the political movement descends into a low-status abyss.

Unlike some other right-wingers, I actually appreciate Hanania’s contrarian opinions. It’s nice to have someone offer original and fresh insight on a variety of topics. Too often the Right contents itself with shouting the same warmed-over, crowd-pleasing takes. Hanania offers something else. I don’t agree with Hanania on everything, but I find him worth reading. 

That said, his opinion on conservatism as an oppositional culture is asinine.

Hanania begins by talking about how blacks defied the rules and norms of mainstream American society, particularly through “unique” names that set themselves apart from whites.  He connects that practice to “the explosion in crime and illegitimacy concentrated” in black communities. Hanania highlights this to counter liberal talking points that “systemic racism” is responsible for black dysfunction. The author says it’s black ghetto culture that’s the problem.

So how is conservatism similar to ghetto culture? According to Hanania, it’s due to “Stop the Steal.” Yes, that’s seriously his argument. Gang culture, drug abuse, fractured families, and calling your kid Uniqua is equivalent to questioning the 2020 election results.

Here’s the meat of the argument:

Oppositional culture only manifests itself in communities that are considered low status. I know many right-wingers probably think blacks have more status than whites in American society, but that’s not how most people perceive things. For this reason, blacks think about American politics in racial terms. Whites don’t think much about blacks, but consider their status in terms of relationships to other whites. Similarly, liberalism is the higher-status ideology, so it experiences internal competition, with MeToo cancellations and woke purges within the non-profit sector. Internal competition within conservatism is relatively muted, which is why the official ideology can fluctuate so wildly depending on who represents the movement at a particular time.

Starting in the 1960s, elite institutions started to encourage black communities to take a hostile attitude towards mainstream American society. The lower classes sunk into higher levels of illegitimacy, crime, and despair. Yet the ideas that motivated these changes took hold throughout the community. Middle and upper-class blacks, even when embarrassed by the inner-city ghetto, ignored its problems except when they were used as a way to pressure and guilt white society into supporting left-wing policies. For the more intellectually active among them, encouraged and shaped by elite culture as represented in academia, the media, and NGOs, hostility towards white society was the guiding heuristic for thinking about social and political issues.

Modern conservatives find themselves in a similar position with regards to Stop the Steal and other right-wings scams. As part of the low status tribe, they are driven by resentment towards those above them. This has become the emotional core of much political activism. Within an oppositional culture, we see low IQ members of the community engaging in inexcusable behavior, and high IQ members ignoring such conduct when they’re not enabling it. The ultimate results of this dynamic can be observed in the inner cities of Chicago, Detroit, and Baltimore. And also on cable news, talk radio, and at the meetings of the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors.

There are a lot of false assumptions here. For one, blacks are not low status. White suburban kids now talk in Ebonics, everyone listens to rap, blacks are overwhelmingly represented in commercials, black athletes are adored by mainstream society, and we built a national religion around George Floyd. Meanwhile, our education system teaches kids to hate whiteness and whites only appear in commercials to be mocked by women and minorities. If blacks are low status, who is high status? Of course, the middle class doesn’t want their kids imitating the worst aspects of ghetto culture, such as shooting someone over a scuffed shoe. But believing blacks are low status overlooks how much of American culture is now just black culture. 

An important misunderstanding on Hanania’s part is what constitutes the American mainstream. He still thinks it’s the same middle-class culture that blacks revolted against in the 60s and 70s. That’s just not the case anymore. Black culture influences the norms and values of modern America much more than Hanania acknowledges. An oppositional culture today would be a rejection of black culture rather than analogous to it.

Another false assumption is Hanania’s view of liberals. According to Hanania, liberals only follow facts and real news. They’re totally high-status and never degrade themselves like the rubes associated with Stop the Steal. They accept elections and wear khakis and Oxfords. They uphold the mainstream American culture of the 50s and 60s. The only lamentable fact about them is that they refuse to listen to politically incorrect ideas about race.

One can only believe this about liberals if you’re completely unaware of the deranged Resistance movement. Much of the Left reflects the “low status” behavior Hanania decries on the Right. Liberal media, especially in its online form, was defined by hysteria, lies, and scams throughout the Trump era. These traits are still seen into the Biden era. Occupy Democrats and Palmer Report regularly peddle fake news. The Lincoln Project rakes in millions in donations on false promises and deceptive ads. It was a common liberal belief that Russia literally hacked the 2016 election and that Russians controlled the White House. Michael Avenatti, just sentenced to 14 years for fraud, was a liberal icon for much of the Trump admin. The two most recent Republican presidents were both seen as illegitimate by a large number of liberals. 

This is not done to excuse the misdeeds of the conservative movement. Con Inc. is notorious for scams and grifting, but the problem is not unique to conservatism. The same behavior and bad traits are found on both sides. The image that liberals are all respectable, dignified citizens who only read the New York Times and want you to pull your pants up is a false impression. Just read the comments to an Occupy Democrats post to stand corrected.

Hanania fails to demonstrate how conservatism’s oppositional culture functions as a ghetto in the real world. Duplicitous ads on conservative sites and prominent Republicans hawking gold schemes doesn’t amount to much. It’s not reputable, but it’s also just not that important. If conservatives were being led to have more pregnancies out of wedlock and commit more crime due to stolen election narratives, that would be one thing. But they’re not doing that. They’re still acting like normal, respectable citizens. Just a small number of them are suckered by Newt Gingrich ads.

There is a point about conservatism becoming “low status.” Republicans are losing college-educated voters to a much greater extent now. Voting Democrat is seen as the respectable thing to do. This is a major problem for Republicans. The disappointing elections of 2018, 2020, and 2022 are largely a result of losing this demographic. How to gain them back is an important question. However, it’s unlikely they are not voting Republican because they saw bizarre ads on Breitbart. 

Conservative claims about stolen elections may hurt them at the ballot box, but there is no evidence this is making conservatives a lumpenproletariat. 

On another point, an oppositional culture, in our age, has some merit. Anyone with right-wing views would find mainstream American culture alienating today. It’s no longer the white picket fences and nuclear family of the past. Just go to your nearest airport or mall to experience the glories of the American mainstream. That doesn’t mean we should create an anti-social subculture of victimhood. It just requires one to live and think differently from the Marvel-loving herd. 

It will be a difficult challenge for conservatism or nationalism to maintain its core principles while achieving high status in our society. The institutions that determine status are fundamentally opposed to what we believe in. In order to gain status, one would have to forsake controversial opinions on race, gender and a wide variety of topics. One would just become a liberal who supports low taxes. 

I’ve long argued that conservatives should not proletarianize themselves just because someone on the internet told them the right path is forsaking college and moving to the middle of nowhere. We need people who think like us to aspire to elite positions in our society. But we should be honest that having our beliefs may cost you some respectability. 

It’s easy, and very politically correct, to sneer at Trump supporters as America’s real deplorables. It’s not groundbreaking to mock them as low-status rubes. Late night comedy shows display this contempt all the time. Hanania only differentiated his take by comparing the deplorables to blacks. Unfortunately for Hanania, liberals think it’s low status to dare criticize blacks, making him a deplorable himself.