Ethnic Groups, Ethnic Conflicts, and Recent Quantitative Research in American Political History

Abstract

During the past decade, historians have contributed significantly to our understanding of the roles played by ethnic groups and conflicts in American politics. Their ongoing research stands as one major achievement of The 'New' Political History, a quantitative and behavioral exploration of politics over a long span of the nation's history.1 In studying past popular political behavior, historians have drawn on the methodological and substantive advances of political scientists and political so? ciologists in the study of contemporary political behavior in the United States. Thus they have sought to comprehend mass political behavior in various his? torical settings not simply by intensively studying newspapers, manuscript collections, and other sources reflecting the views of articulate individuals and elites that may or may not have been representative of broader, inarticulate seg? ments of the electorate, but by systematically analyzing election returns in the light of data regarding the cultural and socio-economic characteristics of voting districts. Further, they have ventured into their study of the past armed with the