The Economization of Freedom
Abolitionists versus Merchants in the Culture War that Destroyed Pennsylvania Hall
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 8895965 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Beverly C Tomek (0000-0001-8858-743X, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2017 |
| Volume | 47 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 171-198 |
| Publication date | 2017-03-21 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Canadian Review of American Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0007-7720 • E-ISSN: 1710-114X |
| Publisher | University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.3138/cras.2016.014 |
| OpenAlex | W2598317038 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 17 |
Throughout US history, white skin has held a non-pecuniary value, described by some as a “wage of whiteness” and, more recently, discussed as “white privilege.” This idea, when placed alongside the sociological concept of “cultural capital,” helps shed light on the importance of working-class whites to the material and ideological battle over slavery and its abolition. The 1838 anti-abolition attack that led to the destruction of Pennsylvania Hall in Philadelphia shows the importance of cultural capital by illustrating how southern planters and northern merchants on the one hand and abolitionists on the other worked to gain the support of working-class whites by stressing the value of the cultural capital that they possessed, no matter how poor they were materially. While the former focused on economic interests in hopes of gaining the support of working-class whites, the latter stressed the importance of cultural ideals such as free speech and freedom of the press. Anti-abolitionists placed a low value on freedom, deeming it less important than trade, but abolitionists ultimately commoditized freedom and highlighted its cultural value
Ancient history · Battle · Capital (architecture · Cultural capital · Ideology · Political science · Politics · Privilege (computing · Sociology · Value (mathematics · White (mutation · Working class · American History and Culture · Gender Studies · History · Law · Race, History, and American Society · Social and Cultural Dynamics
The Fragile Fabric of Union
Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education
American Slavery, American Freedom
The Wages of Whiteness
The Abolitionist Sisterhood
Flush Times and Fever Dreams
River of Dark Dreams
All on Fire
River of Dark Dreams
The Great Silent Army of Abolitionism
Lynching in America
The Letters of William Lloyd Garrison
Gentlemen of Property and Standing
Colonization and Its Discontents
| Citation velocity | historical |
|---|---|
| Highly cited | No |