Application of Social Science in American History
The point of all of this is to say that there is some basic understanding of human behavior and interaction that, given the appropriate scholarship, we might use for historical analysis. To come full circle let's return to our examples about the American Revolution and the African American civil rights movement and use what we have discussed in social science as a litmus test for determining obedience and defiance.
It might be argued that the American independence movement worked because of obedience within the colonial social hierarchy. The gentrified nature of the colonies meant that the masses of lower class workers naturally deferred to the educated elite. Therefore, we might argue that many of the common soldiers put themselves into armed service, not out of devotion to the American ideal, but as a matter of allegiance to their more forthright socio-political masters. Historian Howard Zinn in A People's History of the United States argues that the founding fathers offered "the adventure and rewards of military service to get poor people to fight for a cause they may not clearly see as their own" (77). After all, when the war was won and the dust settled, what group benefited most from the victory? Was it the case that American freedom led to widespread American prosperity? These are the types of questions our students might ask themselves.
We might also use the theory of groupthink to explain the movement toward independence and repudiation of English law. Keep in mind the reality of the situation. The colonies were completely separate entities and had had very little success at union. Many of the colonies preferred to think of themselves as individual nations and, especially in the South, feelings of loyalty to the crown ran deep. There was no Colonial Army or Navy to speak of making the prospect of defeating the mighty British forces grim. There was no legal method for raising money nor was there a colonial currency. There was no suffrage vote on the issue of independence and no polling data that indicated how colonists might react if the British landed on this continent intent on squashing a rebellion (especially if we consider the barbarous penalty inflicted on anyone convicted of treason). So, it is completely plausible for us to say that irrational and unreasonable lines of logic led to a precarious decision; moreover, most historians agree that the cause would have been totally lost absent French intervention in 1778.
So what of civil rights legislation? Perhaps students could argue that there was an element of groupthink involved. The black south faced insurmountable odds. Voting rights were prevented by racist violence and political intimidation leaving the southern black minority helpless. The civil rights movement, without white advocacy and true grit, was a lost cause. In fact, since the time of the Civil War the courts had regularly upheld the right of segregationist state policies. We might recall that despite overwhelming evidence of vigilante justice in the 1920's, the Congress refused to acknowledge an Anti-Lynching bill sponsored by the last remaining African American congressman George White. So we might say that the logic of a campaign against white majority rule was illogical, unlikely, but necessary.
But there might also be an element of social control theory exemplified by the actions of people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King. In the face of great pressure to succumb to majority will these individuals rose above social constraints and, abstaining from the conventional accommodationist tack, became the magnetic force behind a humanitarian movement that transformed modern America. This grand defiance was the backbone of a pattern of recognition, on the part of the federal government, of civil rights for Americans of multiple races, backgrounds, and abilities. The question is how we should deal with all of this wonderful information. What follows is a set of strategies that I think would help teachers and students in bringing all of this together.
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