Diverse Nations
U.S. History in International Perspective
Editors: Peter N. Stearns and Thomas W. Zeiler
EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Donna Gabaccia, University of Minnesota
James Gump, University of San Diego
Dirk Hoerder, Arizona State University, Universitt Bremen
Peter Kolchin, University of Delaware
Robe Kroes, University of Amsterdam and University of Utrecht
NOW AVAILABLE
Revolutions in Sorrow: The American Experience of Death in Global Perspective, by Peter N. Stearns
From Alienation to Addiction: Modern American Work in Global Historical Perspective, by Peter N. Stearns
Diverse Nations: Explorations in the History of Racial and Ethnic Pluralism, by George M. Fredrickson
FORTHCOMING
Comparing American Slavery: The U.S. Peculiar Institution in International Perspective, by Enrico Dal Lago
A History of American Trade in International Perspective, 1890s to the Present, Francine McKenzie
Diverse Nations
Explorations in the History of Racial and Ethnic Pluralism
George M. Fredrickson
is copyright 2001 Russell Sage Foundation, 112 E. 64th St., New York, NY 10021. Reprinted by permission.
is copyright 2005 Palgrave Macmillan. Reprinted by permission.
are respectively copyright 2002, 2000, 2006, 2004, 2005, 2006, NYREV, Inc. Reprinted by permission of the New York Review of Books.
is copyright 2001 by Lynne Rienner Publishers, Inc. Reprinted by permission.
See the Notes section of this book for full original publication information for each chapter.
First published 2008 by Paradigm Publishers
Published 2016 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
Copyright 2008, Taylor & Francis.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Notice:
Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication data has been applied for.
Fredrickson, George M., 19342008.
Diverse nations : explorations in the history of racial and ethnic pluralism / George M. Fredrickson.
p. cm. (U.S. history in international perspective)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-59451-573-6 (hardcover : alk. paper) ISBN 978-1-59451-574-3 (pbk)
1. Pluralism (Social sciences)United States. 2. EthnicityUnited States. 3. United StatesEthnic relations. 4. United StatesRace relations. I. Title.
E184.A1F529 2008
305.800973dc22
2008022068
Designed and Typeset by Straight Creek Bookmakers.
ISBN 13 : 978-1-59451-573-6 (hbk)
ISBN 13 : 978-1-59451-574-3 (pbk)
Contents
U.S. History in International Perspective
This series offers a new approach to key topics in American history by connecting them with developments in other parts of the world and with larger global processes. Its goal is to present national patterns in mutual interaction with wider trends.
The United States has functioned in an international context throughout its history. It was shaped by people who came from other countries. It drew political and cultural inspiration from other places as well. Soon, the nation began to contribute a variety of influences to other parts of the world, from new trade patterns to the impact of successful political institutions.
It is increasingly clear, however, that the field of U.S. history has not usually captured this perspective. National developments have been treated as significant but relatively isolated events. Distinctive American characteristicssometimes systematized into a larger pattern called American exceptionalismhave been assumed but not tested through real comparison. Even the nations growing role in world affairs has sometimes taken a backseat to domestic concerns. This kind of narrowness is inaccurate and unnecessary; it feeds a parochialism that is out of keeping with the global presence of the United States. A nation cannot be understood without placement in the perspective of other nations and transnational factors.
At a time when international developments play an increasing and incontestable role in any nations affairs, the need for a new approach to national history becomes inescapable. This certainly applies to the United States. Calls for internationalizing the U.S. history survey reflect this realization. The calls are welcome, but we need to translate them into accessible treatments of key topics in U.S. historyfrom obvious diplomatic and military initiatives to less obvious themes that in fact involve global interactions as well, themes that go deeply into the nations social and cultural experience.
The project of internationalizing American history involves drawing a variety of connections. This series will compare American developments to patterns elsewhere to see what is really distinctive, and why, and what is more widely shared. Influences from other places, from technological innovations to human rights standards, factor in as well. The U.S. impact on other parts of the world, whether in the form of new work systems, consumer culture, or outright military intervention, constitutes a third kind of interconnection.
The resultand the central goal of this seriesis to see American history in a revealing new light, as part of a network of global interactions. Wider world history gains from this approach as well, as comparisons are sharpened by the active inclusion of the United States, and American influences and involvements are probed more carefully.
Overall, a global window on the domestic interiors of U.S. history complicates conventional understandings, challenges established analyses, and brings fresh insights. A nation inextricably bound up with developments in every part of the world, shaping much of contemporary world history as well, demands a global framework. This series, as it explores a variety of topics and vantage points, aims to fill this need.
Peter N. Stearns, George Mason University
Thomas W. Zeiler, University of Colorado, Boulder
T he fifteen essays in this volume were all written during the last ten years or so and published in scholarly journals, symposium books, and especially the New York Review of Books, in which seven of them first appeared. They have been very lightly revised or edited. My basic views have not changed during the past decade. In addition to correcting a small number of errors or clarifying a few imprecise statements, I have referred to relevant events or developments that occurred after the original text was written, thereby making an effort to update the discussion. Also, some bits of information came to my attention after an essay was published that I was able to use to strengthen or clarify one of my points.
The book is divided into three parts. The firstPerspectives on Ethnoracial Diversity in the United Statesattempts to take a broad view of the subject. In the initial essay, presented originally as a paper to a conference of social scientists concerned with cultural differences and conflicts, I sought to establish a typology of American ethnic relations as they developed historically. The four models I identified were ethnic hierarchy, one-way assimilation, cultural pluralism, and group separatism. I was particularly interested in distinguishing between the last two types, which are often lumped together under the rubric of multiculturalism. I have long argued that there is a soft and benign version of multiculturalism, which offers a right to be different but also unifies groups around common democratic and egalitarian values, and a hard, potentially harmful type that puts up walls that prevent communities from interacting freely in ways that may lead to mutual enrichment or cross-fertilization.