Has anyone here read this book?

[tblue37]

Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, by Arlie Russell Hochschild.

Barbara Ehrenreich praises it, and I trust Ehrenreich, but the Kindle edition is $15.39, and I am not inclined to pay that for an ebook unless I am sure I will like reading it.

This is the editorial blurb for the book on the amazon.com page:

In Strangers in Their Own Land, the renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley, California, deep into Louisiana bayou country—a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions, Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly warms to the people she meets—among them a Tea Party activist whose town has been swallowed by a sinkhole caused by a drilling accident—people whose concerns are actually ones that all Americans share: the desire for community, the embrace of family, and hopes for their children.

Strangers in Their Own Land goes beyond the commonplace liberal idea that these are people who have been duped into voting against their own interests. Instead, Hochschild finds lives ripped apart by stagnant wages, a loss of home, an elusive American dream—and political choices and views that make sense in the context of their lives. Hochschild draws on her expert knowledge of the sociology of emotion to help us understand what it feels like to live in “red” America. Along the way she finds answers to one of the crucial questions of contemporary American politics: why do the people who would seem to benefit most from “liberal” government intervention abhor the very idea?

I have to admit to having a reflexive revulsion against the attitudes of the right wing, and thus often against the people who hold them. And yet I do have beloved relatives in Pennsylvania who are dyed-in-the wool, FOX-watching Republicans. Their politics are abhorrent to me, and yet they are good people, and I love them dearly. I haven't asked them (can't bear to), but I have no doubt they will vote for Trump.

And I have a friend, also from PA, who despite being a decent, intelligent man, comes from a Republican family and plans to vote for Trump!

I am considering buying this book, but I hesitate because it is expensive for an ebook. If anyone here has read it, I'd like to get their take on it.

(Thanks in advance.)

[apcalc]

1. It sounds like a very important and thoughtful book.

I am near Philly now but grew up in a part of Western Pa, which was manufacturing, steel and coal country. Formerly an ironclad union type democratic stronghold, I see it turning red. I understand the people from the bottom of my heart, they are good people, who I love. I want to say to them, the jobs aren't coming back, you need to get out of here! Move elsewhere!
But indeed, this is what they know, they have home and family there, some with no desire or resources to move out. The land, the hills, the entire geography is in their soul and has been for generations now. The best educated are mostly long gone,

Yes, they'll probably vote for Trump. It's like their political lottery- they know it's a very small chance he can help, but some see it as their only chance.

[tblue37]

2. My family are in NE PA--Pittston, right between Scranton and Wilkes Barre.

Gma and Gpa were Sicilian immigrants at the turn of the last century.

[EV_Ares]

3. I have it on hold from the library. If you have a Kindle, you know you can download kindle editions

from the library also. Do that on a lot of books.

[tblue37]

5. Maybe I will borrow it on Kindle then. nt

[EV_Ares]

9. Yeah, I would think most libraries are the same but you can probably check with them. It is really

easy & I have found it saves a lot of money even from Amazon.

There is an app for libraries (Overdrive) where you can download the magazines the library has for access by Kindle & the way the books work somehow it is connected through Amazon but for me anyway it is a big money saver.

If you don't mind being on a waiting list for a book it is great.

[tblue37]

10. Thanks! I will look into it. nt

[BlancheSplanchnik]

13. I have a Kindle app on my iPhone. Anyone know about this library thing on that?

Agh, high tech stuff...Agghhhhh! *head explodes*

[EV_Ares]

14. It works the same way Blanche. The best way is to just go to the library you use & they will show

you how to use it. Easy, don't even have to leave your home, can go on the library website, researve kindle or hardback books, download ebooks, magazines, etc.

[proverbialwisdom]

4. Here's an interview with the author.

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/28/arlie_russell_hochschild_on_strangers_in

Arlie Russell Hochschild on "Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the America" Part 2

September 28, 2016
Web Exclusive

http://www.democracynow.org/2016/9/28/what_drives_trump_supporters_sociologist_arlie

What Drives Trump Supporters?: Sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild on Anger & Mourning of the Right
September 28, 2016

GUESTS: Arlie Russell Hochschild
Author of Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. The book has been long-listed for the 2016 National Book Award. She is a professor emerita of sociology at the University of California, Berkeley

[tblue37]

6. Thanks! nt

[Midnight Writer]

7. It addresses a mystery that troubles me deeply

I live in a very Republican conservative rural town. Been here over 60 years. The nicest people in the world. Would do anything for you, even for a stranger. Good neighbors, good friends, folk you enjoy being around. People I love.

And then you talk politics. Jesus Christ. Their faces turn red, their voices get loud, they get in your face. Out come the racial slurs, sexual slurs, totally bat s**t crazy fundamentalist religious crap that is totally irrelevant to the topic.

"They" (and I hate to think of them like that) are seeing a completely different world. We watch the same speeches, read the same news story, listen to the same newscast, and somehow process the same information into an absolutely diametrically opposed conclusion.

I hear a Trump, a Palin, a Coulter, a Limbaugh, a Ryan for 60 seconds and immediately think "This person is full of hateful crap".

They listen to the exact same thing, and think "Right on! Tell it like it is! Preach it loud and preach it proud!"

[tblue37]

8. This exactly! nt

[alarimer]

11. I've never understood voting against your own interests until recently

Until I started reading about why people believe the things they do.

An episode of the Hidden Brain podcast explained it as a family model. Some people prefer the "strong father" model, while others prefer more nurturing:

He describes the two models as "strict father" and "nurturant parent." In the former, he says, "the father knows best, the father knows right from wrong, and the job of the father is not just to support and protect the family but also, with respect to children, to teach them right from wrong so they have the right moral views.

Nurturant parents, by contrast, feel their job is to empathize with their child, to know what their child needs, and to have open two-way discussions with their child.

The real world, of course, is far more nuanced than these two models would suggest. Parents can, of course, be both strict and empathetic. Parents can disagree about the importance of rules and structure. But Lakoff argues that as we grow up, these models, based on love and the certainty that our way is the best way to raise kids, can shape the way we see the world."

http://www.npr.org/2016/09/13/493615864/when-it-comes-to-our-politics-family-matters

I've also read that conservatives tend to be people who are more fearful and less open to new things (food, experiences, etc.) than liberals are. Anecdotally, I've never met a liberal who didn't at least want to travel (even if their circumstances might have prevented it) or try new things, while I've known many conservatives who refuse to leave the US, or even their home town. Which proves nothing really, but does tend to confirm my sense of open vs. closed when it comes to politics (my own bias showing here).

It frustrates me, because I have no idea how you change minds when so much of this is so highly dependent on things people have no control over. If they prefer the "strict father" model, no Democrat could ever succeed at winning them over, because Democrats, by and large, do not favor that approach as a party. Whatever their shortcomings, individually or as a party, Democrats tend towards empathy for others. And it is this approach, (New Deal, Civil Rights Act, Social Security, etc) that works to lift other people up. Whereas, conservatives see that as a giveaway to people who don't deserve it. I mean, old people should just save up their money, right?? Or work until you die, because that's what their daddy did and his daddy before him. Never mind that they really shouldn't have to die at work.

So it seems we also have an empathy gap as part of the "strict father" model. How do we overcome that? I have no idea.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

12. Sounds like a Must Read

Hope I can remember to look for it.