Conservatism in the U.S.: The Rise of a New Counterculture

master's thesis

• Title (croatian): Konzervatizam u SAD-u: Rast nove protukulture
• Author: Kristijan Grgurić
• Mentor: Stipe Grgas (mentor)
• Committee member: Stipe Grgas (predsjednik povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Sven Cvek (član povjerenstva)
• Committee member: Jelena Šesnić (član povjerenstva)
• Granter: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of English language and literature); Zagreb
• Defense date and country: 2021-06-18, Croatia
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: HUMANISTIC SCIENCES; Philology; Anglistics

Abstract

In the past decade, liberalism has rapidly become the leading sociopolitical ideology in America, quickly spreading its ideas to different cultural faucets, making it also the leading ideology in terms of the mainstream culture in America. Conservatism, on the other hand, has been experiencing a sociopolitical dark age, where conservative thought has less presence than ever before, and has become unwelcome in the mainstream culture, making it a potential new form of counterculture in America.... More By exploring the very inception of the notion of counterculture in America, I discuss the first steps of modern social liberalism and its development from the 1960s to the present day, tracking its development from an underdog position to the leading national political and cultural ideology. Through the examination of the different aspects of the relationship between the new dominant liberalism and the waning conservatism in America, a clear power dynamic is shown, where liberalism is aggressively pushing conservative thought out of any public discourse. Focusing on the creation of conservative on-line communities in the past decade, I show how conservative thought survived the era of political correctness and conservative censorship in mainstream media. Through the engagement and activities of these communities, the presence of a new conservative movement was made present, a movement whose active engagement with politics was a large factor in the election of Donald Trump as president of the U.S. Following his election, Big Tech companies and social media platforms started intensively involving themselves into politics and clearly showing liberal bias, up to the point of publicly endorsing liberal candidates and denouncing conservative political figures. Large companies and social media platforms engaging in the active censorship of conservatives is one of the main arguments for classifying conservatism as a form of counterculture, and I cover it extensively in this paper. Conservatism in its present state might be just a shell of its former self, but it also shows willingness to fight the current liberal wave washing over the country, and as a form of counterculture in America, it retained its pride and ideals. Less

• Keywords: conservatism; liberalism; America; Donald Trump; counterculture; mainstream
• Language: english
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:609064
• Study programme: Title: English Language and Literature (double major); specializations in: Linguistics, Literature and Culture, Translation, TEFL; Course: Literature and Culture; Study programme type: university; Study level: graduate; Academic / professional title: magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti (magistar/magistra engleskog jezika i književnosti)
• Type of resource: Text
• File origin: Born digital
• Access conditions: Open access
• Created on: 2021-09-08 12:45:36