1964 Award About the Anti-Intellectualism in American Life

Exceptionally high intelligence and schooling.

“…Most people thought the parents were bragging and suspected that Jonathan's prodigious abilities had been artificially created by pushy parents. This kind of reaction reflects people's deep-seated ambivalence about intellectual giftedness, arising perhaps from an anti-intellectual strain in American culture (de Tocqueville, 1945) as well as from America's democratic antielitist tradition, which leads to fear of hierarchies as a threat to the egalitarian American dream (Hofstadter, 1963). Although the belief .that all people should be treated the same way is one way of interpreting the democratic ideal, another interpretation is that each person should be helped to fulfill his or her individual potential.…”

Figuras do intelectual: gênese e devir

“…Do mesmo modo, Hofstadter opõe o espírito prático ao espírito crítico e novamente se aproxima de Coser ao afirmar que o intelectual desempenha um papel lúcido e lúdico, pelo prazer de pensar que o afasta de problemas demasiadamente mundanos e simples. Para Hofstadter, o intelectual ora encarna o espírito da seriedade, ora o da derrisão, que assume a forma do humor e da ironia (Hofstadter, 1963).…”

Populism in American Politics

“…Populism needs an enemy, and in many instances that enemy is engaged in a conspiracy to harm the people, to take from them what is rightfully theirs and destroy their way of life. Hofstadter (1962) and Oliver and Wood (2014) argue that American populism tends to adopt a Manichean worldview, a claim that has much to support it. American populism often sees the world in black and white; it does not admit shades of gray.…”

“…This faith in the wisdom of the common people sometimes creates a strong antiintellectual strain in American populism (Hofstadter 1962;Shogun 2007). Intellectuals are seen as too removed from the world of the average people.…”

“…It is not a stretch to claim that the perception of conflict between the people and the elites is the one element common to all American populist movements. One can easily discern this element in the most radical Anti-Federalist opposition to the ratification of the Constitution (Cornell 1999;Siemers 2003;Formisano 2008;Faber 2014), in the push to elect Andrew Jackson president in 1828 (Hofstadter 1962;Berlet and Lyons 2000;Harris 2010), in the agrarian Populist revolt of the late 19th century (Hofstadter 1955;McMath 1992;Kazin 1995), in the rise of Father Coughlin and Huey Long in the 1930s (Brinkley 1982;Kazin 1995) and George Wallace in the 1960s (Carter 1995;Kazin 1995), and in the Tea Party movement of today (Skocpol and Williamson 2013).…”