Political Psychology, Southern Identities, Trump, & the January 6th Insurrection with Dr. Chris Cooper

In light of the insurrectionist riot on January 6th in Washington DC, which among many other things, brought images of the confederate flag carried by the insurrectionists at the U.S. Capitol, we were excited to have Dr. Chris Cooper from Western Carolina University as a guest on Psychodrama. Chris is the Robert Lee Madison Distinguished Professor and Department Head of Political Science and Public Affairs at WCU. He is also the co-author of the book, “The Resilience of Southern Identity: Why the South Still Matters in the Minds of its People” and is co-editor of The New Politics of North Carolina. His political psychology research into Southern identities and politics provided a unique perspective to the events of the last 4 years and we had a very stimulating conversation with him. We also sprinkled some levity into the conversation about eating one of Iceland’s gastronomical delicacies: hákarl.  We hope you enjoy this episode and find as interesting, if not disquieting, as we did. 

Readings mentioned in the episode:

Articles

What Trump Shares With the Lost Cause of the Confederacy- Karen L. Cox, NYTimes opinion.

Political Sectarianism in America-Finke et al., (2020)- Science

Books:

The Resilience of Southern Identity: Why the South Still Matters in the Minds of Its People Chris Cooper and Gibbs Knot

The Long Southern Strategy: How Chasing White Voters in the South Changed American Politics- Angie Maxwell and Todd Shields

The Rise of the Latino Vote-Benjamin Francis-Fallon

Deep Roots: How Slavery Still Shapes Southern Politics- Avidit Acharya; Matthew Blackwell & Maya Sen.

Learning from Loss: The Democrats, 2016–2020- Seth Masket