Culture, conflict and community: Struggles over art, *education and history in American cities

Throughout the 1990s, debates about the so called "culture wars" have been both lively and pervasive in America. This dissertation examines one important piece of these debates---conflicts over artistic and cultural expression. In particular, the project reaches beyond the high-profile national cases in order to survey a sample of 526 conflict events in forty-eight cities across America from 1995 through 1998. The analysis describes the nature of cultural conflict at the local level---What types of cultural works were most offensive? Who did they offend? What was the nature of the grievances expressed against such works? What remedies were sought? What actions were taken? And, what determined whether a grievance would escalate into a full blown controversy? In addition to providing a birds-eye view of cultural conflict across America, this dissertation draws heavily on James Coleman's 1957 essay, Community Conflict, in an attempt to identify the conditions that make some communities more contentious than others when it comes to fights over art and culture. Multivariate analysis shows that demographic changes, such as rapid shifts in the percent of foreign-born residents, were related to higher levels of conflict in a city. Additionally, the political culture of a community was related to conflicts over art and culture. For example, cities with more active and engaged citizens (measured by voter turnout) had higher rates of conflict. Finally, analyses show that the "public opinion climate" was related to the amount, intensity and character of conflict in a city. Cities with a more conservative climate of opinion, measured by the density of evangelical and fundamentalist churches, experienced a greater number of controversies over cultural expression. There is also modest support for the notion that conflicts will be more intense in cities where residents are more polarized into conservative and liberal camps. By comparing many cities side-by-side, this research provides purchase on why controversies over art and culture erupt at the local level; why conflict often occurs over seemingly neutral works; and why there is a great deal of variation in the number of conflicts between one community and the next.