Demographic Change and the Structure of Republican Party Politics

• In Event: 444 - Section on Political Sociology Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 01. The Present and Future of the U.S. Republican Party

Abstract

The presidential election of 2017 has served to highlight the role that race and immigration plays in right-wing politics and the Republican Party. Using an in-depth historical case study of the state of Texas, the author argues that the relationship between race, immigration and party politics is not simply rhetorical or symbolic, but a result of structural dimensions of the Republican Party itself and internal contradictions between the goals of Republican Party elite, the base of the party, and politicians caught between the two. The paper spells out this structural Party mechanism and shows how it lead to increasingly far-right political positions for the party, despite resistance from the Parties elite.

Author

• John D. Kincaid, California State Stanislaus