LAS Historian Digs into the Roots of ‘Liberalism’
Kevin M. Schultz, history professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, shares insights from his latest book examining the polarizing power of the word ‘liberalism.’
Interview with Kevin M. Schultz
Name: Kevin M. Schultz
Title: Professor and Chair of the Department of History
Department: History
How did you become interested in the field of History?
Like so many of my colleagues, I had a great teacher early in my life who made history come to life. For me, it was an AP US History teacher in high school, Mr. Mader. He taught American history as a story, where one thing led to the next, which led to the next, which led to the next. He put people in the story, he put us in the story. His thesis for understanding the world became mine: to really understand someone or something, you need to know its history. A bioligist might want to know about something’s cellular make up, a sociologist will want to learn about your social groupings and your society. But an historian wants to know something’s past, how it came to be, and why. And that, to me, has always been a story with a beginning, middle, and ending.
Describe some of your ongoing research as a faculty member at UIC. Do you have any exciting initiatives on the horizon?
My research has generally been on understanding something called American liberalism, what it is, how it changes over time, why people love it, and why people love to hate it. Mostly I’m interested in how it came to be a word that signified the center of American politics, holding lots of truths that fell within the big part of the bell curve on any number of issues, including the economy, free speech, freedom of religion, abortion, and lots more. My first book was about the expansion of American liberalism to include Catholics and Jews during the middle years of the twentieth century. My second book was about attacks on the centrism of liberalism from the left and the right in the 1960s, told through the story of a friendship between leftwing novelist Norman Mailer and rightwing impressario William F. Buckley, Jr. And that led to my most recent book, Why Everyone Hates White Liberals (Including White Liberals): A History, which tells the entire hundred-year history of the uses and abuses of white liberals in American political life. So that has been my research focus. Beyond that, I love teaching, and I especially love teaching UIC students, and that led me to write a textbook of American history aimed at telling American history as a long story, but also in a digestible way that makes it easier for students and teachers.
Has anything surprised you in your research?
Yes! Of course. That’s why we do this. On this most recent book, perhaps the most surprising thing was how new the word was in American political life. The term as we currently understand it has its origins only in 1932. It’s less than a hundred years old, and FDR snapped it out of thin air to counter claims that his New Deal was socialism. The other big surprise in this book was that the word “liberal” has been so demonized over the past fifty or so years that everyone now defines it differently. There is no single definition of what a liberal is, and, in fact, if you tell me what a liberal is I’ll learn more about you than about them. If you think they are ushering in socialism and are just snowflakes promoting a woke agenda, you’re probably a conservative. If you think they are the beards of capitalism too afraid to take radical risks to overturn capitalism, then you’re probably aligned with the political left. I could go on.
You recently published the book Why Everyone Hates White Liberals (Including White Liberals): A History. Can you talk about the inspiration behind this project and what led you to pursue it?
Sure. Like many Americans I’ve been concerned watching the polarization of American politics and, even more troubling, of American life. I heard the rhetoric of the extremes being amplified. But then I also watched lots of polling data that showed there was this great center in American politics that wasn’t being well represented in our politics. A significant majority of Americans favor regulated capitalism, gun safety laws, laws protecting first-term abortion, protections on social security, Medicare, Medicaid, and more. It seemed as though there were very few people defending these very popular positions. I knew from my previous books that the centrist position used to be called liberalism, but now, in the 2000s, no one wanted to be called a liberal anymore! I wanted to know why that was and how it came about. The result was this book. Do you want a teaser about why everyone hates white liberals? It was an assassination….
What do you hope students will gain from learning about the field of History?
I hope students begin to see themselves as part of a larger whole, that massive changes in American life sometimes began when 18-, 19-, or 20-year-olds staged a rally or started a protest. Sometimes these things went nowhere. But sometimes they changed the world. I also want students to learn to be curious. Ask questions! Walk around your neighborhood and pick something out and learn its history! (That’s actually an extra credit assignment in my Modern American history class.) And don’t just be curious, but be a critical thinker. All those skills are lifelong skills, and if you look at polls of hiring managers at large companies, these are skills that are incredibly important to them. And what is the work of history beside collecting a huge amount of data, synthesizing it, using your critical thinking and historical skills, and articulating what you discover in a digestable format? Who wouldn’t want someone to help us understand the world better?
Do you have any advice to new students coming to UIC?
Aside from taking lots and lots of history classes? I would advise students to let their passion and their interests drive their curricular and professional choices. I would also advice them to take internships and utilize the resources we have to offer (which are incredible). I’m always a bit surprised each time I teach that, despite me begging students to come to drop-in hours (my line: “I literally get paid to teach you! Come see me!”), students don’t regularly get to know their professors.
Any additional details you’d like to add?
The keys to life are gratitude, empathy, curiosity, and laughter. Prove me wrong.