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beckethm 's review for:
Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
by Arlie Russell Hochschild
Arlie Hochschild set herself a worthy goal, to climb over what she calls an "empathy wall" in an effort to understand the growing number of Americans who embrace far-right politics. However, while she produced an engaging sociological study, I don't believe she achieved the empathy she claimed to be striving for.
If anything makes me feel sympathetic toward the people profiled in this book, it's the tone of condescension and paternalism that pervades the whole work. Hochschild repeatedly refers to interviewees as her "Tea Party friends," a label that sounds about as sincere as a millionaire homeowner introducing the housekeeper as "my dear friend Guadeloupe." Let's be clear: friends are people you want to spend time with for no other reason than enjoyment of their company. They are people who can call on you in time of need and vice versa. Interview subjects are not friends.
I say Hochschild failed to achieve the empathy she was aiming for because all throughout this book it is clear she believes her subjects are wrong to think as they do and vote as they do. Even though I happen to share her political views, I found this attitude disturbingly similar to that of early-20th century sociologists studying primitive cultures. She fails to get out of the way and let her subjects speak for themselves.
In this respect, Hochschild's decision to base her study in Louisiana is troubling. On the one hand, the state provides a stark example of the paradoxes of Tea Party politics. It ranks near the bottom of all states on measures of income, health and education. As Hochschild shows quite vividly, it is one of the most polluted regions of the country. Yet white voters (and let's be clear about this, too: Hochschild only profiles white voters) consistently elect politicians who oppose social welfare and environmental regulations that might improve their lives. Former governor Bobby Jindal diverted billions of state dollars from schools and health care to oil and chemical companies that create very few long-term jobs. Yet despite these real problems, one can't help feeling that it was chosen as the site for this study at least in part because it fits an elite, Northern stereotype of the backward Southerner. Surely Hochschild could have found similar communities in the Midwest. North Dakota? Wisconsin?
And ultimately, I don't think her conclusions are terribly insightful. She discovers, after years of research, that the white, working-class people who vote for conservative candidates are frustrated by stagnant or falling incomes, that they feel threatened by America's growing racial and religious diversity, and that they believe their values are under attack by the immoral left. They respond favorably to politicians who make them feel good about themselves. I could have told you all that without reading this book, simply from listening to relatives and neighbors.
So maybe that's the real lesson. If you are a liberal befuddled by recent trends in American politics, don't read another book, get out and talk to people. Make friends. Listen to them. Then maybe we can start to work together.
If anything makes me feel sympathetic toward the people profiled in this book, it's the tone of condescension and paternalism that pervades the whole work. Hochschild repeatedly refers to interviewees as her "Tea Party friends," a label that sounds about as sincere as a millionaire homeowner introducing the housekeeper as "my dear friend Guadeloupe." Let's be clear: friends are people you want to spend time with for no other reason than enjoyment of their company. They are people who can call on you in time of need and vice versa. Interview subjects are not friends.
I say Hochschild failed to achieve the empathy she was aiming for because all throughout this book it is clear she believes her subjects are wrong to think as they do and vote as they do. Even though I happen to share her political views, I found this attitude disturbingly similar to that of early-20th century sociologists studying primitive cultures. She fails to get out of the way and let her subjects speak for themselves.
In this respect, Hochschild's decision to base her study in Louisiana is troubling. On the one hand, the state provides a stark example of the paradoxes of Tea Party politics. It ranks near the bottom of all states on measures of income, health and education. As Hochschild shows quite vividly, it is one of the most polluted regions of the country. Yet white voters (and let's be clear about this, too: Hochschild only profiles white voters) consistently elect politicians who oppose social welfare and environmental regulations that might improve their lives. Former governor Bobby Jindal diverted billions of state dollars from schools and health care to oil and chemical companies that create very few long-term jobs. Yet despite these real problems, one can't help feeling that it was chosen as the site for this study at least in part because it fits an elite, Northern stereotype of the backward Southerner. Surely Hochschild could have found similar communities in the Midwest. North Dakota? Wisconsin?
And ultimately, I don't think her conclusions are terribly insightful. She discovers, after years of research, that the white, working-class people who vote for conservative candidates are frustrated by stagnant or falling incomes, that they feel threatened by America's growing racial and religious diversity, and that they believe their values are under attack by the immoral left. They respond favorably to politicians who make them feel good about themselves. I could have told you all that without reading this book, simply from listening to relatives and neighbors.
So maybe that's the real lesson. If you are a liberal befuddled by recent trends in American politics, don't read another book, get out and talk to people. Make friends. Listen to them. Then maybe we can start to work together.