ABSTRACT

In the late twen ti eth century, the right became a polit ical force in the United States. Conservative move ments influ enced public policy, elec tions, and public discourse on issues such as same-sex marriage, abor tion, sex educa tion, taxes, immig ra tion, and gun owner ship. Extremists with racist, xeno phobic, and/or anti-Semitic agendas prolif er ated as well. Their violent poten tial became clear in 1995 when Timothy McVeigh, a trav eler in the shadowy networks of organ ized racism, bombed the federal build ing in Oklahoma City. The resur gence of the right in the United States has stim u lated consid er able atten tion in

soci ology. We focus on move ments, not polit ical parties or intel lec tual currents, which are reviewed else where (Klandermans & Mayer 2006a, Nash 1998, Rydgren 2007). We open with termin o lo gical and concep tual issues. Then we review recent work on conser vat ive and right-wing move ments. A final section discusses the meth od o lo gical and ethical issues of study ing the right. We conclude by suggest ing possible avenues for future research.