You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
551 reviews for:
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
Arlie Russell Hochschild
4.09 AVERAGE
551 reviews for:
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
Arlie Russell Hochschild
4.09 AVERAGE
The best book I've read so far that explains the "other side" with empathy.
hopeful
informative
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Arlie Russell Hochschild explores the current cultural milieu of southern Louisiana as an outsider and anthropologist. The book revolves around author's consistent effort to learn the "deep story" of people who urban and coastal dwellers overlook. For example, why do they support big business despite environmental degradation? Why do they disparage the federal government? Why do they refuse to move despite the erosion of their communities? How can they embrace Donald Trump despite their commitment to clean living and christian values? Most readers will have a lot to learn, and considering these questions will help readers scale what Hochschild calls the "empathy wall". She ultimately argues that surmounting this obstacle will reduce the polarized climate currently stymieing progress.
The text is highly readable and well structured. It would have been valuable to include the voices of local bureaucrats who navigate the region's economic and cultural contours, as well as educators who are prepping youth for an uncertain future. The afterward of the paperback edition assesses the 2016 election and how the sentiments in the main text enabled the outcome. Highly recommended.
The text is highly readable and well structured. It would have been valuable to include the voices of local bureaucrats who navigate the region's economic and cultural contours, as well as educators who are prepping youth for an uncertain future. The afterward of the paperback edition assesses the 2016 election and how the sentiments in the main text enabled the outcome. Highly recommended.
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
hopeful
informative
reflective
medium-paced
Hochschild takes a very deep leap into various questions regarding one's political leanings relative to the environment they live in with this book. She spent years traveling in the Deep South, specifically Louisiana, talking mainly with individuals who lean to the right of the political spectrum, many who identified with Tea Party ideologies. Combined with this, she explored issues involving the environment of this region--the oil and industrial sectors have wreaked havoc on the environment for decades. With these two things in mind, Hochschild tries to find an answer to the question: how can victims of man-made environmental disasters still be against federal and state intervention and regulation to help prevent such disasters from happening in the first place? Hochschild does an amazing job presenting the discussions she has had, supplementing them with political and sociological findings to see how these experiences and beliefs can coexist within people. She does an excellent job exploring historical perspectives as well and discussing more far-reaching topics related to political views and their roots. I really enjoyed this book.
This is one of those books where I'd like to have a two-part, split review.
I'd give Hochschild 5 stars for the listening side and 3 stars for the analytical side.
Since I can't, it's 4 stars, and let's discuss what she misses, or takes a pass on.
First, although she hints at the cognitive dissonance of the people she interviewed, she never spells it out. In fact, she never even uses the phrase. The closest she comes to that is using Gen. Russell Honore as a kind of a foil on environmental issues.
And, no, this is not a political science book. Nonetheless, sociology, like other social/soft sciences, can indeed engage in analysis and interpretation.
Second is the hypocrisy issue. Not so much toward the government when it's big biz doing the polluting, and the feds at least are trying to address it, even when Jindal's totally cutting state-level enforcement in Louisiana.
But, the hypocrisy of the highly religious voting to re-elect David Vitter to the Senate, when his sexual promiscuity was splashed all over non-Faux type news and surely got at least a few mentions there.
I mean, Hochschild just whiffs here. Unlike environmental issues, she doesn't even try to raise this issue in a roundabout way. And, Vitter's just a sample; just as she knows the pollution issue and red states, she knows the higher divorce rates, and related sexuality issues, along with high out-of-marriage birth rates for southern whites as well as blacks.
For those living in coastal enclaves, and wanting a sympathetic insight, perhaps the book is worth more.
But, for we liberals, let alone outright lefties, in these red states? The book tells me as much about Hochschild, in a sense, as it does her subjects. That's the only reason I didn't 3-star it overall. Basically, she seems of the mindset that liberals should do these listening tours whether conservatives do or not and that will somehow change their minds. I don't know exactly how the political breakthrough hurdles need to be cleared, but just a listening tour isn't one.
Beyond that, to tout this beyond sociology and as having a light for political science is wrong. That's mainly because there's an asymmetry at work.
Basically, no conservative sociologist would do what she did. We know, because Charles Murray wrote The Bell Curve instead.
I'd give Hochschild 5 stars for the listening side and 3 stars for the analytical side.
Since I can't, it's 4 stars, and let's discuss what she misses, or takes a pass on.
First, although she hints at the cognitive dissonance of the people she interviewed, she never spells it out. In fact, she never even uses the phrase. The closest she comes to that is using Gen. Russell Honore as a kind of a foil on environmental issues.
And, no, this is not a political science book. Nonetheless, sociology, like other social/soft sciences, can indeed engage in analysis and interpretation.
Second is the hypocrisy issue. Not so much toward the government when it's big biz doing the polluting, and the feds at least are trying to address it, even when Jindal's totally cutting state-level enforcement in Louisiana.
But, the hypocrisy of the highly religious voting to re-elect David Vitter to the Senate, when his sexual promiscuity was splashed all over non-Faux type news and surely got at least a few mentions there.
I mean, Hochschild just whiffs here. Unlike environmental issues, she doesn't even try to raise this issue in a roundabout way. And, Vitter's just a sample; just as she knows the pollution issue and red states, she knows the higher divorce rates, and related sexuality issues, along with high out-of-marriage birth rates for southern whites as well as blacks.
For those living in coastal enclaves, and wanting a sympathetic insight, perhaps the book is worth more.
But, for we liberals, let alone outright lefties, in these red states? The book tells me as much about Hochschild, in a sense, as it does her subjects. That's the only reason I didn't 3-star it overall. Basically, she seems of the mindset that liberals should do these listening tours whether conservatives do or not and that will somehow change their minds. I don't know exactly how the political breakthrough hurdles need to be cleared, but just a listening tour isn't one.
Beyond that, to tout this beyond sociology and as having a light for political science is wrong. That's mainly because there's an asymmetry at work.
Basically, no conservative sociologist would do what she did. We know, because Charles Murray wrote The Bell Curve instead.
It was a great book, but I have to admit that it left me rather frustrated.
Definitely worth a read for American liberals like me who feel like they just can't understand how conservatives think or what's going on in this current election cycle. Hochschild does typical ethnographic research and provides fascinating stories about the relationship between people and their environment in Louisiana.
I was surprised that Hochschild ended up not being particularly sympathetic to her subjects in the presentation. Although she provides deep personality and character to them, she provides facts and context that contradicts much of what they say. This attitude is quite gratifying as a liberal reader, but I felt like I really wanted something more from her to really extend an olive branch to these people.
I was surprised that Hochschild ended up not being particularly sympathetic to her subjects in the presentation. Although she provides deep personality and character to them, she provides facts and context that contradicts much of what they say. This attitude is quite gratifying as a liberal reader, but I felt like I really wanted something more from her to really extend an olive branch to these people.
I have one million thoughts about this book, but generally loved it. It's an attempt to compassionately understand the people that choose to be tea party conservatives even though it is emphatically against their own interest, and I think she just about gets there. Deep into this book, I sometimes found myself listening to the news through the ears of the persons featured in this book, and felt their questions and reactions arising in me, which was a very curious experience. Like any good sociologist, the author seeks first to deeply understand before trying to change a person or tell them how to live. I feel like this is exactly the thing that is missing from our political landscape and wish basically everyone in the world would read it. It's hard to judge people once you understand them. I think this book could create a lot of understanding on both sides.
I have one million thoughts about this book, but generally loved it. It's an attempt to compassionately understand the people that choose to be tea party conservatives even though it is emphatically against their own interest, and I think she just about gets there. Deep into this book, I sometimes found myself listening to the news through the ears of the persons featured in this book, and felt their questions and reactions arising in me, which was a very curious experience. Like any good sociologist, the author seeks first to deeply understand before trying to change a person or tell them how to live. I feel like this is exactly the thing that is missing from our political landscape and wish basically everyone in the world would read it. It's hard to judge people once you understand them. I think this book could create a lot of understanding on both sides.