Selected Articles by Jerome Himmelstein


"Conservatism," Encyclopedia of Politics and Religion, pp. 181-187 (Congressional Quarterly, 1998)

"Corporate Philanthropy and Business Power," in Corporate Philanthropy at the Cross Roads, edited by Dwight Burlingame and Dennis R. Young (Indiana, 1997).

"If They Did So Well, Why Do They Feel So Bad?: The Right After the Reagan Years," in Eric J. Schmertz, et al. (ed.), Ronald Reagan's America (Greenwood, 1997).

"Two Faces of Business Power," Business and the Contemporary World, 4(4):88-94 (1992).

"Social Issues and Socioeconomic Status," Public Opinion Quarterly, 52 (1988): 492-512 (with James A. McRae, Jr.).

"The Social Basis of Antifeminism: Religious Networks and Culture," Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 25 (1986): 1-15.

"Social Conservatism, New Republicans, and the 1980 Elections," Public Opinion Quarterly, 48 (1984): 592-605 (with James A. McRae, Jr.).

"The New Right: An Overview," in Robert Wuthnow and Robert Liebman (eds.), The New Christian Right, (Hawthorne, New York: Aldine, 1983).

"From Killer Weed to Drop-out Drug: The Changing Ideology of Marihuana," Contemporary Crises 7 (1983):13-38.

"States and Revolutions: The Implications and Limits of Skocpol's Structural Model," American Journal of Sociology 86(5):1145-1154 (on Theda Skocpol, States and Social Revolutions--written with Michael Kimmel).

"The Pleasure Principle is not Enough," The Psychoanalytic Review 66(1):103-114.

***CO-WINNER, 1999 AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING BOOK, ASSOCIATION FOR RESEARCH ON NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS AND VOLUNTARY ACTION****

American corporations give away several billion dollars a year to a range of philanthropic causes with the hope of improving their public images among employees, consumers, and the general public. They certainly don't try to be political or controversial. Nonetheless corporate philanthropy has come under fire in recent yeras, especially from the Right, because of grants to Planned Parenthood and other "liberal" groups. Looking Good and Doing Good examines why corporate philanthropy became politicized and how corporations respond to controversy about their donations. More important, I use political controversy as a lense through which to examine closesly what the conflicts
tell us about corporate philanthropy and the place of the corporation in contemporary American politics. I argue that corporate philanthropy reflects a distinct political strategy for managing corporate relationships with government and other major institutions. My research draws on in-depth interviews with managers at 55 of the largest corporate giving programs in the U.S.

***Elegantly conceived, gracefully written,... Looking Good and Doing Good is essential reading for anyone seriously interested in the public role of business in our turbulent times." Peter Dobkin Hall, Program on Non-Profit Organizations, Yale University.

The election of Ronald Reagan as president in 1980 represented the triumph of not just one man, but an ideology and a movement. To The Right studies the rise of the Right as a combination of social movement, electoral transformation, and elite realignment. I trace the development of conservative ideology and the conservative movement from the 1950s into the 1980s, arguing in part that the New Right of the 1970s and 1980s was a continuation of, not a break with, the Old Right of the 1950s and 1960s. I then argue that the success of the Right in the 1980s was a result of three distinct, but mutually reinforcing political developments: the politicization of evangelical Christians, the mobilization of corporate conservatism, and the revitalization of the Republican Party.

"Jerome Himmelstein has written a profound and insightful analysis of the ascendancy of the Republican Party and of the forces at work in the recent transformation of American politics." Thomas B. Edsall, political writer

"A masterful assessment of the convergent forces behind the most recent triumph of American conservatism." Michael Useem, University of Pennsylvania

"This book will be the starting point for all future studies of the New Right.... The research is comprehensive and meticulous, the writing graceful, and the analysis provocative." James L. Guth, Furman University

Enormous changes took place in marihuana laws and public conceptions of marihuana in the United States between 1900 and the mid 1970s. The Strange Career of Marihuana examines these changes. I take a new look at how marihuana use became illegal in the 1930s, evaluating both the role of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics and of popular identification of users as Mexicans and other minorities. I also look at how the increase in use by middle-class youth in the 1960s led to dramatic changes in public understandings of marihuana and to partial reform of marihuana laws. My analysis of the 1960s argues in part that as marihuana use shifted to the middle class, the drug abruptly shifted from a "killer weed" believed to drive its users to violence to a "drop-out drug" said to sap its users ambition and drive. I base my analysis on a systematic sample of articles on marihuana in popular periodicals as well as a variety of other primary and secondary sources.

"...a myth-demolishing book,...deserves to be read by anyone thinking about politics, ideology, and drug control." Erich Goode, SUNY/Stony Brook

To purchase Looking Good and Doing Good:: Corporate Philanthropy and Corporate Power

To purchase To the Right : The Transformation of American Conservatism

To purchase The Strange Career of Marihuana: Politics and Ideology of Drug Control in America