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Strangers in Their Own Land
Book

Strangers in Their Own Land

Anger and Mourning on the American Right

The New Press, 2016 Mehr


Editorial Rating

9

Qualities

  • Analytical
  • Innovative
  • Engaging

Recommendation

More and more, Americans feel like strangers to one another over what sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild calls “an increasingly hostile split” in attitudes. A professor emerita of sociology at the University of California at Berkeley, Hochschild traveled to Louisiana repeatedly over a five-year span starting in 2011 for field research on the American Right. She attempts to analyze and understand the emotional motivations of her new “Tea Party friends.” Conservatives might feel Hochschild failed to take their perspectives on board; liberals might see a paradox in her effort to develop empathy for people who can appear to lack empathy for themselves. getAbstract recommends Hoschchild’s fascinating research and conclusions to US voters of any ideology and to all non-Americans who seek greater insight into the sometimes contradictory, sometimes inexplicable behavior of the US electorate.

Take-Aways

  • In a “great paradox,” Conservative red-state voters often oppose government programs that could benefit them.
  • Generally, members of the American Right oppose federal programs such as welfare and Medicaid even while participating in them.
  • Louisiana, where the author interviewed people holding rightist views, is the second poorest state and one of the most polluted.   

About the Author

Influential sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild’s nine books include The Second Shift, The Time Bind, The Managed Heart and The Outsourced Self. Three of her books were New York Times Notable Books of the Year.


Comment on this summary or Diskussion beginnen

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    M. A. 6 years ago
    The points she claims in the text are all of beneficial contests to the tea party as she goea back and forth from party to party, realized her swings at the crowd make a blurres scenery.
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    A. M. 6 years ago
    a good analysis. Writer has even helped understand my own society in Pakistan.
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    L. F. 6 years ago
    Completely agree with the previous reviewer. The author clearly approaches her subjects with her Ivory Tower bias.

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