In this dissertation I show how the conservative movement lured the white working class out of the Democratic New Deal Coalition and into the Republican Majority. I argue that this political transformation was accomplished in part by what I call the "invention" of Middle America. Using such cultural representations as mainstream print media, literature, and film, conservatives successfully exploited what came to be known as the Social Issue and constructed "Liberalism" as effeminate, impractical, and elitist.
Chapter One charts the rise of conservative populism and Middle America against the backdrop of 1960s social upheaval. I stress the importance of backlash and resentment to Richard Nixon's ascendancy to the Presidency, describe strategies employed by the conservative movement to win majority status for the GOP, and explore the conflict between this goal and the will to ideological purity.
In Chapter Two I read Rabbit Redux as John Updike's attempt to model the racial education of a conservative Middle American, Harry "Rabbit" Angstrom, in "teach-in" scenes that reflect the conflict between the social conservative and Eastern Liberal within the author's psyche. I conclude that this conflict undermines the project and, despite laudable intentions, Updike perpetuates caricatures of the Left and hastens Middle America's rejection of Liberalism.
Chapter Three illustrates how conservative rhetoric and much of popular culture had merged into a unified message of conservative populism. I argue that the first two Dirty Harry movies and the novel and film adaptation of Death Wish dramatize the Right's talking points on crime and the judiciary, and I describe how they reinforce the conservative movement's construction of Liberalism as effete and out of touch.
In Chapter Four I detail the Hardhat Riots of May 1970 to establish the context for my reading of the film Joe, which depicts the resentment-based alliance between white collar economic conservatives and blue collar social conservatives. I argue that Joe illustrates the conservative movement's ability to win over a majority of voters, without modifying an economic system that perpetuates entrenched wealth and privilege, by forging coalitions built on fear and anger.