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We all know that the South has dramatically changed in the past several decades. The South went from a no-man's land for minorities/immigrants to now people from all over the world have moved to the Southern United States. Since moving to the South I hear people say "this place aint southern no more". As a kid I always thought of the South as from VA to TX. When I moved to North Carolina a lot of people said Virginia isn't the South but Raliegh NC is a very progressive, diverse and a young city and yet it is still perceived as southern which is not too far different Virginia (north of Richmond). Now being here in Florida, the general consensus is that "Florida anit southern unless you're in the panhandle" which I can see why many Flordians don't identify with the South because Florida was pretty early in the Sun-Belt wave so Florida has become like Southern California in that regard but just more tax/retirement friendly hence why the state still continues growing. With Florida being a 1st wave Sun-Belt state it established itself as a Multi-Cultural/tourist state by the 70s/80s when much of the South was still Black and White. People outside the South don't put Florida in the same group as Georgia or the Carolinas because it's been ingrained in people's mind that Florida isn't like the rest of the Southeast. People tend to overlook that the South has Hispanics and Asians in states not named Florida and Texas. North Carolina has the fastest growing Hispanic population in the US. It went from having a non-existent Hispanic population to now you have a generation of teenagers who were born and bread Hispanics in North Carolina. What the difference between new south and unsouthern?
The "New South" is a place where culturally Southern American people still live in sizable proportions. Despite being home to many immigrants and transplants as of the late 2010's, Southern cities such as Charlotte and Nashville, for example, still have high concentrations of residents who are Baptist by religious affiliation, British by ancestry and Republican by political party affiliation, all of which are cultural markers of Southern American culture. On the other hand, regions such as South Florida and South Texas are "un-Southern" because those areas were never initially settled by people who embody and identify with Southern American culture, despite being located in geographically southern states that seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Subsequently, the cultures of those "un-Southern" geographic regions were primarily shaped by foreign immigration and/or domestic migration from non-Southern states such as Michigan and New York.
Places like Raleigh and Nashville are attracting immigrants from all over. At best, they are nominally Southern, while functionally "generic American."
The "New South" is a place where culturally Southern American people still live in sizable proportions. Despite being home to many immigrants and transplants as of the late 2010's, Southern cities such as Charlotte and Nashville, for example, still have high concentrations of residents who are Baptist by religious affiliation, British by ancestry and Republican by political party affiliation, all of which are cultural markers of Southern American culture. On the other hand, regions such as South Florida and South Texas are "un-Southern" because those areas were never initially settled by people who embody and identify with Southern American culture, despite being located in geographically southern states that seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Subsequently, the cultures of those geographic regions were primarily shaped by foreign immigration and domestic migration from non-Southern states such as Michigan and New York.
The south became majority Republican because of transplants from the north and elsewhere. The New South were the cities in that south that became Republican quicker than other cities.
To associate GOP with 'southern culture' doesn't make any sense across the entire history of the south.
Places like Raleigh and Nashville are attracting immigrants from all over. At best, they are nominally Southern, while functionally "generic American."
Quote:
Originally Posted by ClemVegas
The south became majority Republican because of transplants from the north and elsewhere. The New South were the cities in that south that became Republican quicker than other cities.
To associate GOP with 'southern culture' doesn't make any sense across the entire history of the south.
The GOP originated with New England Yankees and their progeny in "Greater New England" (i.e., Upstate New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc.). Over the past 50 years, however, conservative GOP values have been more closely aligned with Southern American cultural values, which is the reason why the GOP is so popular and successful throughout much of the American South.
Let's return to my initial point. If you click on the Washington Post link captioned below, I encourage you to scroll down to the map titled: "Participating Religious Groups with the Largest Number of Adherents, 2010." As you may observe from that cartographic analysis, the participating religious group with the largest number of adherents in both Davidson County, TN (Nashville) and Mecklenberg County, NC (Charlotte) -- two populous, urbanized counties in the "New South" -- is Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which is clearly the prevailing religious trend in culturally Southern areas. Now, contrast that statistic with populous, urbanized counties in Florida such as Broward, Hillsborough and Orange, for example, where the largest participating religious group is Roman Catholic.
Culture is the most overused and meaningless word in my view.
It makes sense in some countries like India where native people in different regions speak different language and have unique customs. That's not applicable to the 50 states.
The south has so many transplants it doesn't make any sense to me to talk about a southern culture like the region is walled off.
Southern culture is American culture.
I grew up with people in SC who are liberal Democrats but they are as 'southern' as anybody else is. There's no religious or political litmus test for it.
Last edited by ClemVegas; 10-26-2019 at 10:46 PM..
The GOP originated with New England Yankees and their progeny in "Greater New England" (i.e., Upstate New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc.). Over the past 50 years, however, conservative GOP values have been more closely aligned with Southern American cultural values, which is the reason why the GOP is so popular and successful throughout much of the American South.
Let's return to my initial point. If you click on the Washington Post link captioned below, I encourage you to scroll down to the map titled: "Participating Religious Groups with the Largest Number of Adherents, 2010." As you may observe from that cartographic analysis, the participating religious group with the largest number of adherents in both Davidson County, TN (Nashville) and Mecklenberg County, NC (Charlotte) -- two populous, urbanized counties in the "New South" -- is Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), which is clearly the prevailing religious trend in culturally Southern areas. Now, contrast that statistic with populous, urbanized counties in Florida such as Broward, Hillsborough and Orange, for example, where the largest participating religious group is Roman Catholic.
I'm not disputing that the SBC doesn't have some influence there. With that said, Nashville's jobs base is attracting people from all over the country. Those people are generally fairly affluent. They're setting the tone for economic and governmental development in the local area. They're generally not super religious.
There will be a big difference in Nashville 2010 and Nashville 2020.
Geographically it’s the Carolina border. North Carolina is the new south, modern economy, reasonably diverse but as people say “it’s still the south”. Charlotte is rightfully right on the border
I loved in South Carolina for a bit. It’s old south. Very nice people, thicker accents not super diverse, colloquial, still hanging on to confederate monuments, which I love. Oh and good soulless food
As long as you drink sweet tea and use your manners, you can be Southern. The rest of y’all are just taking up space down here until moving back to Pittsburgh.
The "New South" is a place where culturally Southern American people still live in sizable proportions. Despite being home to many immigrants and transplants as of the late 2010s, Southern cities such as Charlotte and Nashville, for example, still have high concentrations of residents who are Baptist by religious affiliation, British by ancestry and Republican by political party affiliation, all of which are cultural markers of Southern American culture. On the other hand, regions such as South Florida and South Texas are "un-Southern" because those areas were never initially settled by people who embody and identify with Southern American culture, despite being located in geographically southern states that seceded from the Union to join the Confederacy during the American Civil War. Subsequently, the cultures of those "un-Southern" geographic regions were primarily shaped by foreign immigration and/or domestic migration from non-Southern states such as Michigan and New York.
South Florida was pretty Southern in the 50s and 60s. My psychological teacher is a white South Florida native (born in 1950) and she describes it as the South. It had Jim Crow, and the northerners who were there at the time had felt like they were in the south.
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