Limit search to available items
Book Cover
E-book
Author Jaster, Daniel, author.

Title Bygone utopias and farm protest in the rural Midwest : returning home / Daniel Jaster
Published Cham, Switzerland : Palgrave Macmillan, [2021]
©2021

Copies

Description 1 online resource (vii, 222 pages)
Contents Introduction -- Social change, agency, and resistance : the cultural double movement and the rural Midwest, 1830-1929 -- Farmers' protest : from local clubs to third-party politics, 1830-1900 -- Post-populist politics : lobbying, third parties, and the victories and defeats of the new repertoire, 1900-1932 -- Returning home : Midwestern farmers' protests and refiguring the past, 1931-1934 -- Collective actions in the gloaming of the past : modern Midwestern farm protests and social change from the post-WWII era until now -- Social change and bygone utopias : refiguring what has been lost
Summary This book explores those who long for "bygone utopias"--Times before rapid, culturally destructive social change stripped individuals of their perceived agency. The case of the wave of foreclosure protests that swept through the rural American Midwest during the 1930s illustrates these themes. These actions embodied a utopian understanding of agrarian society that had largely disappeared by the late 19th century: hundreds to thousands of people fixed public auctions of foreclosed farms, returning owners property and giving them a second chance to save their farm. Comparisons to later movements, including the National Farmers Organization and the protests surrounding the 1980s Farm Crisis highlight the importance of culturally catastrophic social change occurring at a breakneck pace in fomenting these types of bygone utopian actions. These activists and movements should cause scholars to re-think what it means to be conservative and how we view conservatism, helping us better understand why were seeing a contemporary resurgence in nationalist and reactionary movements across the globe. Daniel Jaster is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Eureka College, USA, and affiliated with the Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work and a member at the Peace, War, and Social Conflict Laboratory at Texas Tech University. His research centers on social change: how people experience it, how they create it, and how they resist it. More specifically, he focuses on social theory, political sociology, and comparative-historical sociology, with emphases on utopias, sociological pragmatism, and social movement tactics/strategies. His work has appeared in journals such as Political Power and Social Theory, Mobilization, Social Movement Studies, Time and Society, and the Journal of Classical Sociology
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Notes Print version record
Subject Agriculture -- Social aspects -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century
Sociology, Rural -- Middle West -- History -- 20th century
Agriculture -- Social aspects
Rural conditions
Sociology, Rural
SUBJECT Middle West -- Rural conditions
Subject Middle West
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9783030710132
3030710130