Persistent ethnocentric judgments provide the subsoil in which nativism later grows

Evidence

Yet we cannot afford to ignore the simpler ethnocentric judgments that persist beneath the ebb and flow of nativism. Although those judgments often exist where nativism does not, they provide the cultural subsoil in which it grows. — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 149

Categorization

• DEEPTHINKING: Core structural insight for the reader’s research question: the manufactured-enemy machinery never dies — it is batted around, contained, maintained at low level until conditions permit re-growth.
• ADDENDUM: Directly relevant to ‘Grafting & Growth’: ethnocentric judgments as dormant roots that need only graft conditions to resprout as nativist movements.
• XREF: connects to: Nativism is a distinct phenomenon, a defensive nationalism of perceived national crisis — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 971; Confidence in ordinary people’s capacity tended to counteract nativism before 1910 — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 682; Nativism persisted beyond its anti-radical phase and assumed evolving new forms — John Higham, Strangers in the Land: Patterns of…, 1399 (+5 more)

Broader Connections

• Nativism is a distinct phenomenon, a defensive nationalism of perceived national crisis #expands (0.85) — John Higham, Strangers in the Land, 971