Dissertation Information for Daniel Jon Johnson NAME: - Daniel Jon Johnson
DEGREE:
- Ph.D.
DISCIPLINE:
- History
SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (1996)
ADVISORS: - None COMMITTEE MEMBERS: - Karen Orren - Norris Hundley Jr.
MPACT Status: Fully Complete
Title: A serpent in the garden: Institutions, ideology, and class in Los Angeles politics, 1901-1911
Abstract: Since the 1960s the model of "urban liberalism" has been the key model used to interpret the political imperatives of urban working-class voters in the Progressive era. Originally developed to explain the strength of "machine" politics in the highly industrialized cities of the northeastern United States, this paradigm emphasizes that workers were primarily attracted to ethnic or racial appeals and pragmatic promises of patronage and social welfare services, rather than invocations of class interest. Although this interpretative scheme does have some relevance to Los Angeles, it fails to explain how class did become a critical factor in the city's politics.
In contrast to northeastern cities, Los Angeles's working-class was dominated by skilled, native-born or old-stock immigrant citizens. Less fragmented internally along lines of gender, race, ethnicity and skill, this particular working-class also had less need of the personal services offered by the ward "bosses." These factors made it more difficult for "machine" politicians to capture their support. Indeed, encouraged by labor unions and the working-class press, many blue-collar citizens came to perceive that these politicians were not serving their interests, but those of the corporate elite. This perception facilitated their support for reform candidates and structural reforms designed to make the urban government more efficient.
Over time, however, working-class voters became equally skeptical of middle-class reformers. The transformation of city government into a businesslike "corporation" ensured rapid economic growth, but its cost was often borne by working people, both at the workplace and in their homes. Their resentment of this exploitation, coupled with cultural clashes over moral reform issues, fueled their resistance to the middle-class reform agenda, and culminated, in 1911, with their whole-hearted support for the Socialist party. Increasingly wary of middle-class "reform" and increasingly class conscious, many workers ultimately came to believe that both the "bosses" and the "reformers" were principally concerned with the interests of corporations and the city's socio-economic elites, and that both represented class government.
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MPACT Scores for Daniel Jon Johnson A = 0
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calculated 2009-01-12 11:33:27
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