Book Review: Strangers in Their Own Land

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

Have you ever wondered why, in some states in our country, many people seem to vote against their own best interests?

In 2010, Arlie Hochschild, professor emerita of sociology at UC Berkeley, questioned just that and spent five years embedded in rural Louisiana, as she wrote the New York Times bestseller, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right. Louisiana is one such state, ranking at or near the bottom in the following categories: crime/corrections, 50th; economy, 50th; education, 46th; and healthcare, 45th (U.S. News, May 8, 2023). Hochschild wanted to understand how life feels to people living there, the emotions that underlie their politics. This book is perhaps more relevant in today’s climate than when it was published in 2016.

Over five years, Hochschild spent time with white conservatives, some identified with the Tea Party, sitting around their kitchen tables drinking coffee, eating cookies, trying to understand. Her keyhole issue into the paradox is that the people of Louisiana, very devoted to the land, are hostile to federal intervention against the pollution and industrial practices that are destroying their land, water, and way of life.  Most believe in smaller government and oppose government hand-outs, though about 50 percent of Louisiana’s annual state budget comes from federal funds. Virtually everyone she interviewed had personally benefited from a major government service or had close family who had.

Many of the people said that they knew that big oil and chemical companies were polluting the bayou, causing the fish and surrounding land to be contaminated, but they also provided jobs that paid around $80,000, which was 2-3 times the amount a person could make in the agricultural, fishing, and tourist economy. The feeling is that they don’t need big government; they need good jobs.

This book explores the great divide in American politics on a very personal level. Many of these people have found their homes destroyed, wages stagnant, and the American Dream elusive. Hochschild talks about taking down “the empathy wall,” which she defines as an obstacle to deep understanding of another person, and creating real understanding on both sides. When Hochschild completed the book, she asked all the people with whom she had spoken to review their parts in it to assure she was not misrepresenting them in any way, adding to its credibility.

Arlie Russell Hochschild’s Strangers in Their Own Land is a penetrating sociological exploration of the cultural and political divides that have come to define contemporary America. Our rural community can learn a lot about tearing down “the empathy wall” from this book, and how liberals can engage rather than dismiss conservative grievances. It is available at the Tuolumne County library.