LOB Book Club - The Big Sort: Introduction
I'm kicking off our second book discussion of the summer season today and I hope all of you will consider chipping in on the discussion, whether you have a chance to read the book or not.I've been reading accounts of Bill Bishop's book "The Big Sort" for quite some time now and I thought it might appeal to a lot of us who have migrated quite a bit in our lives. The book has resonated with lots of people because it corresponds with what they've experienced themselves. He opens with an anecdote about his family moving to the Travis Heights area of Austin, TX, long known as a liberal bubble in the heart of the Lone Star state, so let's start there. Does Bishop's account jibe with your experience in Austin, Bivalve?
posted by The Blue Devil @ 10:39 AM
11 Comments:
Wow. Just 15 pages in and so many questions and ideas are now floating around my brain...
Bishop's observations about Travis Heights are right on. Pretty much any neighborhood made up of pre-1960s bungalows near the center of the city will attract Democrats. They are owned by the people who refuse to live in a large-scale development, which is all that is being built in Austin nowadays. South Austin (where Travis Heights is) is historically more affordable than North Austin and attracts artists, musicians, and immigrants. These are the folks who came up with the slogan "Keep Austin Weird". The only Republicans who live downtown are in the Governor's Mansion.
However, Bill and I had a different experience. We lived in 78759, in a small neighborhood north of the center of town. It was a mix of small-home Democrats and Republicans who couldn't quite afford the big, new McMansion they coveted. Religiously, it was also fairly diverse as we found out when the Baptist megachurch in town tried to overdevelop the park that our houses all backed up to. As you get out of town into the 'burbs, it becomes more conservative, Republican, and (to my surprise) creationist. It's not completely homegenous, obviously, but I stuck my foot in my mouth a few times at parties when I ventured outside of my circle of close friends.
However, I'm not sure that I agree with Bishop's assertion that living with like-minded people is something new. Growing up in a Massachusetts mill town, there were definite neighborhoods, segretated by ancestry. The Italians lived in North Leominster, the Irish in the West and the French in "French Hill" south of Mechanic Street. I was ridiculed at school because I attended the Irish Catholic church (since I lived on the West side) when it was obvious I should be at the French church on the other side of town. Everyone historically had worked at the same mills, but chose to live among their own kind. I observed the same thing in Boston - Bob, I'd like to hear your opinions on this. Perhaps we're just now seeing this same behavior on a larger scale because people are free to move where they like and feel less bound by familial and ancestral ties? People may be looking to political affiliation or religion to find like-minded people to live among.
I'm looking forward to reading more.
Very interesting. I had a feeling that this book might spur on some good discussion....
Of course, you're absolutely right that there is a long history of "sorting" in our country, a history that probably starts with Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson getting on the wrong side of John Winthrop and getting themselves chucked out of the Massachusetts Bay Colony and forming Rhode Island next door. I'm hoping that Press will address some of the following in his historical chapters (Jim Crow segregation, the Chinese Exclusion Acts, Sundown ordinances, anti-immigrant politics, the Know Nothings, Japanese internment, the parochial school movement, 1960s "White Flight," etc.).
And, yes, Boston - like most old Northeastern cities shows this "sorting" in stark relief. Anyone who has spent any time in the city can do the following word association (North End=Italian, Southie=Irish, Somerville=Portuguese/Brazilian, Watertown=Armenian, Brookline=Jewish and so on).
So Press's argument can't be that "sorting" is new but rather that the type of sorting that he's talking about is more specific and more potentially harmful. Here, he may be on to something. I certainly have had the experience of straying outside of cultural comfort zone (especially in Jacksonville, FL). And as someone who researches on academic freedom and teaching controversy, I have a vested interest in promoting civic discourse.
I do recognize some of the "sorting" phenomenon that Press is talking about in myself. When I moved up here to western NY last year (and again when Karen moved up here recently) I had an almost unconscious list of cultural needs in mind. Here are some of them:
*Good bookstores
*Farmers market
*Art theaters
*Microbrewery
*Free concerts available
*Swimming pool with flexible hours
*Art galleries
*NPR station with strong signal
*Independent coffee shop
What about you? What's your list of cultural needs?
Since we're in the middle of considering a move, my list of cultural needs have become very conscious, indeed.
* top-notch public school system
* a good locally-owned grocery store
* an organic CSA
* a fitness center with a pool and child care
* a challenging adult chorus
* a lively restaurant scene
* clean beaches (free access is a bonus)
* an art theatre
* proximity to a large city and good public transportation to get there
* well-maintained public parks with playgrounds and nature trails
* proximity to a good university and the ethnic and academic diversity that goes along with it
Leaving the Ocean State? Do tell! Where are you considering moving?
Either southeastern Mass. or just further north in RI. Not too exciting, sorry to disappoint! ;-) Bill's job is in Taunton and his commute is harsher than we both would like.
No, no. I can completely understand. That's quite a haul. I reminds me of the years that I trekked down Rte. 301 from Jacksonville to Gainesville 70 miles away for my doctoral classes. It was all worth it in the end, but I'm really glad that I can walk to work these days.
So, the next question is whether the lists that we made involve implicit political choices, as Bill Bishop (I'm not quite sure why I was calling him "Bill Press" - early onset dementia?) argues in his introduction. As he puts it on page 14, "Feminist synchronized swimmers belong to one part and live over there, and calf ropers belong to another party and live over there." I'm not so sure.
For one thing, Bishop has collapsed the entire political spectrum into Democratic Party (liberal/left) and Republican (conservative/right) as if there are no displaced centrists in the middle of the spectrum and no disgruntled radicals on either end of the spectrum. And he also subscribes to the irritating recent media habit of identifying Dems with the color "blue" (traditionally a conservative color) and GOP with "red" (traditionally a color of the left). I'm going to have to swallow those complaints as I continue reading.
I believe he has drunk the Austin Koolaid. Folks living in his part of town are rabidly liberal and Democrat, it is true. Many of them take a kind of twisted pride in being South Austinites - their alternativeness is a huge badge of honor and a major part of their identities. It's as if all those northernites (as well as the southernites who live in large developments way below town) have made bad choices about where to live (and how to vote) and therefore aren't real Austinites. This might explain their ganging up on poor Mason - his dissenting opinion rocked their perception of the neighborhood and therefore threatened themselves.
But not all neighborhoods are as rabidly liberal as Travis Heights, I agree. I'm going to have to keep Bishop's point of view in mind and take some of his assertions with a grain of salt until he can come up with some good arguments to back them up.
I also agree that the whole blue/red thing is highly irritating.
As for whether our cultural desires dictate where we live, I think they would but my neighbor's political inclinations would not. The main thing on my list that would skew my choice of town would certainly be the school system. The other items add to my decision tree, but don't override the schools. I would pick a neighborhood that I can afford, has neighbor's homes in good repair, is comprised of families with kids, and is on a safe, paved road that my kids can ride their bikes on. Cultural desires really have less to do with it. I could give a rat's ass how my neighbors vote. If I want to feel a part of a bigger movement, I'll go to church. I never discuss politics with my neighbors. That said, if a slew of a Republican candidate's yard signs showed up in my neighborhood, I might be disconcerted, depending on the candidate. But as long as my neighbors left me alone with my inclinations, I could live with it.
I was going to give you another day and then point out the Press/Bishop thing via email. Glad you caught it... *grin*
How much can I read ahead??
I believe he has drunk the Austin Koolaid. Folks living in his part of town are rabidly liberal and Democrat, it is true. Many of them take a kind of twisted pride in being South Austinites - their alternativeness is a huge badge of honor and a major part of their identities. It's as if all those northernites (as well as the southernites who live in large developments way below town) have made bad choices about where to live (and how to vote) and therefore aren't real Austinites. This might explain their ganging up on poor Mason - his dissenting opinion rocked their perception of the neighborhood and therefore threatened themselves.
But not all neighborhoods are as rabidly liberal as Travis Heights, I agree. I'm going to have to keep Bishop's point of view in mind and take some of his assertions with a grain of salt until he can come up with some good arguments to back them up.
I also agree that the whole blue/red thing is highly irritating.
As for whether our cultural desires dictate where we live, I think they would but my neighbor's political inclinations would not. The main thing on my list that would skew my choice of town would certainly be the school system. The other items add to my decision tree, but don't override the schools. I would pick a neighborhood that I can afford, has neighbor's homes in good repair, is comprised of families with kids, and is on a safe, paved road that my kids can ride their bikes on. Cultural desires really have less to do with it. I could give a rat's ass how my neighbors vote. If I want to feel a part of a bigger movement, I'll go to church. I never discuss politics with my neighbors. That said, if a slew of a Republican candidate's yard signs showed up in my neighborhood, I might be disconcerted, depending on the candidate. But as long as my neighbors left me alone with my inclinations, I could live with it.
I was going to give you another day and then point out the Press/Bishop thing via email. Glad you caught it... *grin*
How much can I read ahead??
Thanks for your patience with my dementia!
I've certainly had to suffer my fair share of sanctimonious lifestyle lefties over the years, especially during my time in Boston. Indeed, I can well remember a time in the 80s when "political correctness" was a gentle jibe at the kind of behavior you're describing in Travis Heights, before it became a sledgehammer wielded by the right.
I'm happy to find myself among a lot of down-to-earth mainly liberal sorts here in Fredonia. That said, my research partner here is an evangelical Christian who is somehow able to compartmentalize her religious views so that they don't interfere with her teaching and scholarship. I don't know how she does it but we agree to disagree on those matters.
I thought we might discuss Chapter 1 over the weekend. How about if I post a thread on Saturday morning?
Looking forward to it!
Great!
One more question about Bishop's introduction before we get on to his ideas about political polarization in Chapter 1:
We seem to agree that the treatment that Bishop's neighbor Mason received on the listserve was less than ideal. So, how should a community deal with the views of outliers such as Mason? I've spent a lot of time thinking about this issue in relation to students, but I'd love to hear your experiences with the communities (choral, church, school) that are a big part of your life.
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