Culture War in America: Myth or Reality?

Introduction

This symposium issue of The Forum tackles the question posed by Fiorina, Abrams and Pope in their book, Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America (2005). As the title suggests, the book builds a case against conventional claims of a deeply divided nation. Scholars in this issue take up the question from different perspectives, some through empirical analysis (pro and con) and others through varying conceptual frameworks that critique a narrow focus on particular political issues. Other articles contrast the culture war at the national level with the local American context, or with democracies abroad.

Finally, this issue continues a dialogue started in the previous issue about whether careers of conservatives suffer in the academy. A team of scholars from the University of Pittsburgh challenges the argument, put forth by Rothman, Lichter and Nevitte, that conservative college faculty are disadvantaged. The authors of the original article reply.