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A review by fredcthulhu
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right by Arlie Russell Hochschild
3.0
Hochschild is a liberal Sociology professor from UC Berkley who decides to cross the "empathy wall" and figure out what makes the political right click. As a conservative I wanted to see and understand someone from the "other side" could learn about the political right.
Hochschild fails this on a few levels. One she only talks to Tea Party conservatives from Louisiana. This is a very small sampling of the conservative right. Hochschild often confuses Crony Capitalism with Free Market Capitalism. Hochschild sees government as good and regulations being a good thing. She fails to understand that when most conservatives want to gut the EPA they don't want to completely get away with all regulations (even though there are some conservatives that do). Most conservatives are more worried about abusive oversight of these agencies by unelected bureaucrats that are rarely held accountable.
Hochschild does succeed on some fronts. She is an excellent storyteller who honestly wants to know why and where this divide comes from. You can see she truly comes to care for the people she gets to know from Louisiana. Overall I still think this is a good read despite its flaws.
Hochschild fails this on a few levels. One she only talks to Tea Party conservatives from Louisiana. This is a very small sampling of the conservative right. Hochschild often confuses Crony Capitalism with Free Market Capitalism. Hochschild sees government as good and regulations being a good thing. She fails to understand that when most conservatives want to gut the EPA they don't want to completely get away with all regulations (even though there are some conservatives that do). Most conservatives are more worried about abusive oversight of these agencies by unelected bureaucrats that are rarely held accountable.
Hochschild does succeed on some fronts. She is an excellent storyteller who honestly wants to know why and where this divide comes from. You can see she truly comes to care for the people she gets to know from Louisiana. Overall I still think this is a good read despite its flaws.