Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger And Mourning On The American Right

FEATURING ARLIE RUSSELL HOCHSCHILD – The upcoming US Presidential election has revealed a deep split within the electorate that has confounded many of us. Why would so many working class whites line up behind a billionaire to vote against their own interests? Author Thomas Frank asked that important question over a decade ago with his seminal book ‘What’s the Matter With Kansas?’

Inspired by Frank’s book, acclaimed sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild set out to address the political polarization of working and middle class Americans in her new book Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger And Mourning On The American Right; A Journey To The Heart of our Political Divide. Russell Hochschild left her self-described bubble of Berkeley to meet with and attempt to understand poor and conservative Americans in Louisiana. She now joins me to share what she found.

Arlie Russell Hochschild, Professor Emerita in the Sociology Department at the University of California in Berkeley, author of nine books, winner of the Ulysses Medal, and Guggenheim and Mellon grants. Her latest book is called Strangers In Their Own Land: Anger And Mourning On The American Right; A Journey To The Heart of our Political Divide.