angry white male

"Angry white males" or "angry white men" is a term used in the English-speaking world to describe white men who hold right-wing views and oppose progressive or liberal beliefs and policies. The term is most commonly used in American and Australian politics.{{Cite web |last=Blake |first=John |date=2021-11-20 |title=There's nothing more frightening in America today than an angry White man |url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/20/us/angry-white-men-trials-blake-cec/index.html |access-date=2022-08-08 |website=CNN |language=en}} In the United States, the term came into increasing use following white male backlash to the civil rights movement and second-wave feminism of the mid-20th century which gained more rights for white women and people of color in American society.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/08/29/why-are-so-many-white-men-so-angry/ |title=Why are so many white men so angry? |date=2017-08-29 |author1=Steven M. Gillon |newspaper=The Washington Post |place=Washington, D.C. |issn=0190-8286 |oclc=1330888409}}

Theory

One of the major American political movements of 1992 was women's rights. A reactionary backlash described by The Atlantic as the "Revolt of the Angry White Male" arose against the women's movement.{{cite news |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1996/07/gap-politics/305579/ |title= Gap Politics |author= Steven Stark |date=July 1996 |work= The Atlantic }} The revolt of the angry white male quickly brought up questions and concerns that have long since haunted American politics. Although, the primary concern regarding these questions has occurred since women's suffrage, at least since the 1920s around women's rights to vote, they became prevalent again in the 1990s. While the question was initially related to whether women would vote differently from men if given suffrage, otherwise known as the right to vote, the gender pay gap gave new salience to women's rights issues. While the issue of women's rights was a prevalent in the 1990s the movement of "Angry White Males" has grown substantially since. {{cite book |last= Noble|first= Carolyn |editor-first1= Carolyn |editor-first2= Goetz |editor-last1= Noble |editor-last2= Ottmann |date= 2020 |title= The Challenge of Right-wing Nationalist Populism for Social Work |url= https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780429056536/challenge-right-wing-nationalist-populism-social-work-carolyn-noble-goetz-ottmann?refId=ba183979-3c2c-4138-b3ba-f5647eeea075&context=ubx|location= London |publisher= Taylor & Francis|page= 55|doi= 10.4324/9780429056536 |isbn= 9780429056536}}

More recently, Professor Bob Pease's view of the theory surrounding Angry White Male voters has stated that they see themselves as a voting bloc with their gender under attack which underscores why Angry White Male voters are more likely to feel politically disenfranchised and to therefore vote for right wing populist parties as a result.{{cite book |last= Noble|first= Carolyn |editor-first1= Carolyn |editor-first2= Goetz |editor-last1= Noble |editor-last2= Ottmann |date= 2020 |title= The Challenge of Right-wing Nationalist Populism for Social Work |url= https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780429056536/challenge-right-wing-nationalist-populism-social-work-carolyn-noble-goetz-ottmann?refId=ba183979-3c2c-4138-b3ba-f5647eeea075&context=ubx|location= London |publisher= Taylor & Francis|page= 55|doi= 10.4324/9780429056536 |isbn= 9780429056536}}

In Pease's view, the resultant right wing populist political movement of Angry White Males is often summarized as having experiential periods of loss both psychologically and sociologically surrounding their sense of perceived losses of the traditions of men and their perceived "emasculation". Pease suggests that the populist polemics of Angry White Males' claim to make men great again by opposing equal rights and restoring hegemony to its masculinist right.

United States

The term commonly refers to a political voting bloc which emerged in the early 1990s as a reaction to perceived injustices faced by white men in the face of affirmative action quotas in the workplace, much like how the Reagan Democrat bloc emerged a decade earlier.{{cite news |url=https://www.salon.com/2016/03/28/the_truth_about_donald_trumps_angry_white_men_inside_the_media_narrative_that_the_media_doesnt_understand/ |title=The truth about Donald Trump's angry white men: Inside the media narrative that the media doesn't understand |author=Heather Digby Parton |date=2016-03-28 |work=Salon }} Angry white men are characterized as having animosity toward young people, people of color, women or other minorities, and liberalism in general.{{cite book|title=Angry White Men: American Masculinity and the End of an Era|first=Michael S.|last=Kimmel|date=November 5, 2013|publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=978-1-568-58696-0}} Donald Trump's male supporters have been described by some political commentators as angry white men.{{Cite news|first=Francis|last=Wilkinson|url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-donald-trump-angry-white-males-20160823-story.html|title=The beginning of the end of angry white males|newspaper=Chicago Tribune|publisher=Tribune Publishing|location=Chicago, Illinois|date=August 23, 2016|access-date=October 23, 2016}}{{Cite news|first=Chidanand|last=Rajghatta|url=http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/world-news/donald-trumps-vote-bank-angry-white-males-with-no-college-degrees/articleshow/53428529.cms|title=Donald Trump's vote bank: Angry white males with no college degrees|newspaper=The Economic Times|publisher=The Times Group|location=Mumbai, India|date=July 28, 2016|access-date=October 23, 2016}}{{Cite web|first=Kyle|last=Mantyla|url=http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/how-angry-white-male-wayne-allyn-root-knows-that-trump-has-deep-support-among-black-voters/|title=How 'Angry White Male' Wayne Allyn Root Knows That Trump Has Deep Support Among Black Voters |website=Right Wing Watch|date=August 26, 2016|access-date=October 23, 2016}}{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.gq.com/story/why-angry-white-men-love-calling-people-cucks|title=Why Angry White Men Love Calling People 'Cucks'|last=Schwartz|first=Dana|date=August 1, 2016|magazine=GQ|publisher=Advance Publications|location=New York City|access-date=October 23, 2016}}

Speaking in 2008, then-senator and future president-elect Barack Obama spoke of the small town residents left behind by successive administrations, saying that he felt it was "not surprising when they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy toward people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations".{{cite news |last1=Ross |first1=Janell |title=Obama revives his 'cling to guns or religion' analysis — for Donald Trump supporters |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/21/obama-dusts-off-his-cling-to-guns-or-religion-idea-for-donald-trump/ |access-date=14 October 2024 |newspaper=Washington Post |date=25 November 2021}} In 2015, he referenced male blue-collar workers having what he saw as a "justified, but just misdirected" sense of fear, frustration and anger, and believed that Donald Trump's 2016 candidacy for presidency was taking advantage of that sentiment.

Australia

The concept also appeared during Australia's 1998 federal elections.{{Cite journal|last=Sawer|first=Marian|date=1999|title=EMILY'S LIST and angry white men: Gender wars in the nineties|journal=Journal of Australian Studies|publisher=Australia Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology|location=Perth, Australia|volume=23|issue=62|pages=1–9|doi=10.1080/14443059909387494}} New political parties appeared in that election due to the preexisting fathers' rights movement in Australia. These included the Abolish Family Support/Family Court Party and the Family Law Reform Party. Similar to the usage of the term in the United States, the Australian men categorized as angry white men opposed what they perceived as the feminist agenda. These political parties were created as a reaction to the historic number of women elected to the House of Representatives. Members of these groups claimed that "feminists have entrenched themselves in positions of power and influence in government and are using their power to victimise men".

Senator Eric Abetz from the centre-right Liberal Party, arguing against Section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, said in 2016 that it was "passing strange" that the Australian Human Rights Commission does not seem to care about what he perceives as "racist terminology" such as angry white man, but does care if another color is used to describe someone. "One cannot help but think that the term 'white' can only refer to skin colour and therefore [you] are making reference to a skin colour [and] one assumes it must have been on the basis of race that the comment was made", he commented.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/aug/15/eric-abetz-says-the-phrase-angry-white-man-is-racial-vilification|title=Eric Abetz says the phrase 'angry white man' is racial vilification|first1=Gareth|last1=Hutchens|first2=Paul|last2=Karp|date=15 August 2016|access-date=9 October 2017|newspaper=The Guardian|location=London, England}}

In popular culture

File:Carroll O'Connor Jean Stapleton Archie and Edith Bunker 1974.JPG in the 1970s US television sitcom All in the Family, with Jean Stapleton as his wife Edith]]

The term is applied to those believed to be opposed to the civil rights movement and second-wave feminism.{{cite news|first=Hanna|last=Rosin|date=November 24, 2013|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/24/books/review/angry-white-men-by-michael-kimmel.html|title=Even Madder Men: 'Angry White Men,' by Michael Kimmel" (review)|newspaper=The New York Times|location=New York City}}

The films Joe,{{cite magazine|first=George|last=Packer|author-link=George Packer|url=http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/comment/2012/02/poor-white-and-republican.html|title=Poor, White, and Republican|magazine=The New Yorker|publisher=Condé Nast|date=February 14, 2012}} Raging Bull, Falling Down, Cobb, God Bless America, Taxi Driver, Joker, and Clint Eastwood's performances in Dirty Harry{{cite news|first=Stephen|last=Hunter|date=February 19, 1995|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1995-02-19-1995050212-story.html|title='Cobb' is latest foray by Hollywood into soul of a bitter white male Major-League Anger|newspaper=The Baltimore Sun|publisher=Tribune Publishing|location=Baltimore, Maryland}} and Gran Torino have been described as an exploration of the angry white man.{{cite news|first=Jonathan|last=Romney|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/gran-torino-clint-eastwood-117-mins-15-1628608.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220507/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/gran-torino-clint-eastwood-117-mins-15-1628608.html |archive-date=May 7, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Gran Torino, Clint Eastwood: The screen legend plays an angry old man at war with the city of Detroit|newspaper=The Independent on Sunday|publisher=Independent Print, Ltd.|location=London, England|date=February 22, 2009}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news|first=Ryan|last=Senaga|url=http://honoluluweekly.com/film/current-film/2009/01/angry-white-man/|title=Angry white man: Clint Eastwood channels ghosts from past films in Gran Torino|newspaper=Honolulu Weekly|date=January 14, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140202130206/http://honoluluweekly.com/film/current-film/2009/01/angry-white-man/ |archive-date=February 2, 2014 }}{{Cite magazine|url=http://www.cambridgeday.com/2016/11/18/angry-white-men-on-film-seven-times-cinema-got-to-the-trump-vote-before-us/|title=Angry white men on film: Seven times cinema got to the Trump vote before us|magazine=Cambridge Day|date=November 18, 2016|access-date=March 22, 2017}} In particular, the protagonist of Falling Down (a divorced, laid-off defense worker who descends via chance and choice into a spiral of increasing rage and violence) was widely reported upon as a representative of the stereotype.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_Zc0e8caLkEC |pages=61–5 |title=Critical race narratives |first1=Carl Scott |last1=Gutiérrez-Jones |publisher=NYU Press|location=New York City|year=2001 |isbn=978-0-8147-3145-1}}

The character Archie Bunker from the TV sitcoms All in the Family and Archie Bunker's Place "turned the angry white male into a cultural icon", according to CBS News.{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/farewell-archie/|title=Farewell Archie|website=CBS News|publisher=CBS Corporation|location=New York City|date=June 21, 2001}} Walter White in the television series Breaking Bad has also been described as an "angry white male".{{cite web|first=Emily|last=Vanderwerff|url=https://www.salon.com/2013/09/22/breaking_bads_racial_politics_walter_white_angry_white_man/|title="Breaking Bad's" racial politics: Walter White, angry white man|website=Salon.com|publisher=Salon Media Group|location=New York City|date=September 22, 2013}}