State of Resistance: What California's Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Mean for America's Future

by Manuel Pastor

Overview

“Concise, clear and convincing. . . a vision for the country as a whole.”
—James Fallows, The New York Times Book Review

A leading sociologist's brilliant and revelatory argument that the future of politics, work, immigration, and more may be found in California

Once upon a time, any mention of California triggered unpleasant reminders of Ronald Reagan and right-wing tax revolts, ballot propositions targeting undocumented immigrants, and racist policing that sparked two of the nation's most devastating riots. In fact, California confronted many of the challenges the rest of the country faces now—decades before the rest of us.

Today, California is leading the way on addressing climate change, low-wage work, immigrant integration, overincarceration, and more. As white residents became a minority and job loss drove economic uncertainty, California had its own Trump moment twenty-five years ago, but has become increasingly blue over each of the last seven presidential elections. How did the Golden State manage to emerge from its unsavory past to become a bellwether for the rest of the country?

Thirty years after Mike Davis's hellish depiction of California in City of Quartz, the award-winning sociologist Manuel Pastor guides us through a new and improved California, complete with lessons that the nation should heed. Inspiring and expertly researched, State of Resistance makes the case for honestly engaging racial anxiety in order to address our true economic and generational challenges, a renewed commitment to public investments, the cultivation of social movements and community organizing, and more.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781620973301
Publisher:	New Press, The
Publication date:	04/03/2018
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Manuel Pastor is the director of the Equity Research Institute at the University of Southern California where he is also a Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity and the inaugural holder of the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change. He has co-authored five books with Chris Benner, including Equity, Growth and Community: What the Nation Can Learn From America’s Metro Areas, Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter, and Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future (The New Press). Pastor is also the author of State of Resistance: What California’s Dizzying Descent and Remarkable Resurgence Mean for America’s Future (The New Press). He lives in Los Angeles.

Table of Contents

1 America Fast-Forward 1

2 From Dream to Drag 23

3 Things Fall Apart 63

4 Setting the Stage 99

5 Making Change 133

6 What Happens in California… 175

Acknowledgments 205

Notes 209

Index 259

Editorial Reviews

…[Pastor] suggests that at just the moment California seems most out of sync with national trends, it is in fact regaining its role as bellwether and pioneer. "The country needs resistance to be sure," he writes, "but it also needs a vision of what America can become." In [State of Resistance], which is concise, clear and convincing, he contends that the redemptive arc of modern California's history offers both cautionary and constructive guidance on a vision for the country as a whole. Pastor sets out his story in three acts—rise, fall, recovery—each of which offers surprising insights for readers outside the state (and many inside as well).

The New York Times Book Review - James Fallows

01/29/2018
This slim, densely packed volume covers a great deal of material, tracing the decline of California’s midcentury prosperity and the state’s eventual rebound from divisive policies and politics. Pastor, a sociologist, blames the decline on Proposition 13, the 1978 property-tax-limitation measure he then feared would “shipwreck the state”—and still feels had a disastrous effect. He gives an opinionated, liberal-minded history of how Prop 13 and other voter initiatives have affected California, emphasizing the unraveling of the social compact that had accommodated a diverse, immigrant-heavy population and a relatively low degree of inequality. The book locates the state’s political nadir, in terms of its embrace of reactionary politics, in 2003 with the election to governor of Arnold Schwarzenegger, a celebrity with no political experience peddling populist solutions. After that point, Pastor earnestly tracks the state’s renaissance. The story he relates isn’t so much a triumph of liberal political leadership and increased public spending that followed Schwarzenegger’s administration, but rather a long, methodical series of inclusionary changes in business, demographics, and representative participation. The author holds out a reasonable promise that his state’s experience could inform the next swing of the national political pendulum. Like-minded readers will find this claim heartening. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for State of Resistance:
“In his book, which is concise, clear and convincing, [Manuel Pastor] contends that the redemptive arc of modern California’s history offers both cautionary and constructive guidance on a vision for the country as a whole. Pastor sets out his story in three acts—rise, fall, and recovery—each of which offers surprising insights for readers outside the state (and many inside as well). ‘America now looks like California at its lowest point,' Pastor says. He offers a guide to a possible path back up.”
—James Fallows, The New York Times Book Review

“Provocative and deftly argued, Pastor's book reminds us that the future is unwritten and that it always has deep roots in, and connections to, the past.”
—Kirkus Reviews

“[A] slim, densely packed volume covers a great deal of material, tracing the decline of California’s midcentury prosperity and the state’s eventual rebound from divisive policies and politics.”
—Publisher Weekly

“Readers interested in U.S. social and political economy at the state and local levels will find this a deeply engaging look at the sociopolitical landscape of the Golden State, and what it means for the rest of America.”
—Booklist

“We should never underestimate what we can learn from history. Skilled storyteller and trusted movement educator Manuel Pastor gives us a unique view of recent California history and reveals a hopeful way forward for the whole country. Everyone who's concerned about our nation's current direction should read this book—for insight and inspiration.”
—Ai-jen Poo, director, National Domestic Workers Alliance

“The story of California's rise, fall, and resurgence is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how the state built a prosperous post-war economy, retreated from the American Dream in favor of race-baiting public policy in the face of changing demographics, then regained its promise with the leadership of communities of color. No one knows more about social movements than Dr. Pastor. He lets us see under the hood of so-called 'protest movements' to the sophisticated, multi-pronged strategy, developed and executed by everyday people with the most at stake.”
—Rinku Sen, founder of Race Forward

“In this fresh and insightful book, Manuel Pastor shows us that there is a way out of the political morass America finds itself in—and that California has already cleared the path. From the pain of a shattered social compact to the power of investing in the shared future of a diverse population, California's recent history has important lessons to impart. . . . State of Resistance is not a call to arms but a call to reason.”
—Heather McGhee, president, Demos

“Professor Pastor's remarkable new book serves as both a powerful history lesson and an insightful vision for the future of our country. Having worked in politics during the era of Donald Trump, I believe that State of Resistance paints a brilliant picture of how our generation can seize the opportunity to forge a more inclusive, just, and prosperous America for every family.”
—Neera Tanden, president and CEO, Center for American Progress

“During a time of rising right-wing nationalism and Trumpism, State of Resistance gives us more than history, it gives us the shape our actions should take to build a more compassionate and inclusive society where people and the planet might thrive. This book is not just a call to action, it is also a call to hope.”
—john a. powell, director, Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society, UC Berkeley

“Manuel Pastor thinks California is our future. I think he's right, if we survive to get there. But he's also got some useful guidance on how to make the trip.”
—Joel Rogers, director, Center on Wisconsin Strategy (COWS)

From the Publisher

2018-02-25
A look at the recent history of California and what it may mean for the future of the United States.Presenting both a broad overview and also a series of sharply specific deep dives, Pastor (Sociology/Univ. of Southern California; co-author: Equity, Growth, and Community: What the Nation Can Learn from America's Metro Areas, 2015, etc.) traces the story of California since the 1950s, making a compelling case that the state's revival over the last decade or so offers a road map for America in the age of Trump. It's a landscape the author knows intimately; at USC, he co-directs the University's Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration. Here, he develops a multifaceted argument: that California's growth and prosperity was a direct result of forward-looking policies, including free higher education and vast infrastructure projects; that its decline, growing out of the economic insecurities of the 1980s and 1990s, was triggered by xenophobia and protectionism; and that its restoration is the product of progressive political alliances that have made the state a model for national resistance. It's a lot to pack into roughly 200 pages (minus notes), but Pastor pulls it off. He is a knowledgeable guide who writes with fluid authority that is accessible but detailed. Furthermore, his book is no facile defense of exceptionalism but rather a nuanced examination of both the state's complicity in pioneering various destructive policies (reckless tax cutting, anti-immigrant efforts at the ballot box) and its emergence, in the aftermath, as a new political and social landscape, intersectional and built from the grass roots up. "Can the rest of the United States learn from the California story?" Pastor wonders. "The Golden State has its own peculiar history and there is no one size fits all….But no matter how the message may be received, Californians have a special responsibility to communicate what they have learned."Provocative and deftly argued, Pastor's book reminds us that the future is unwritten and that it always has deep roots in, and connections to, the past.

Kirkus Reviews