Review: Strangers in their own land

Title: Strangers in their own land

Author: Arlie Russell Hochschild

Date Completed: 3 January 2017

One of my favorite papers I had to write in college involved writing about the early Virginian colonists based solely on what they wrote about Native Americans. What did describing them as savages, uncivilized, naked, unchristian, etc. say about the English and their identity? Hochschild, the author of Strangers in Their Own Land, was able to similarly take a look at those on the Right (and briefly those on the Left) and use what they say as a window to view what lies underneath. She was able to capture the way a worldview feels, not just merely provide commentary on policy issues and point fingers.

The author spent 5 years talking with 50+ people that lived in the oil/petrochemical heart of Louisiana and selected a handful to get to know on a deeper personal level--visit their churches, places of birth, attending events, listening to dinner table debates, etc. Plus she attended campaign rallies of area politicians and talked with local experts from librarians to scientists to mayors.

For this book she decided to use the environment as her "keyhole" issue--how could those whose homes and neighborhoods had been swallowed up by an industry-created sinkhole, whose majority of their family has survived or died of cancer and other pollution-related diseases, whose waterways are void of animal and plant life still support the elimination of the EPA, the decrease of government regulation, and want the petro-chemical industry to expand? She wanted to learn to empathize with those across the widening political divide.

Throughout the book the author was careful to note when she slipped back over on to her side of the empathy wall and was honest when she had difficulty unraveling what she viewed as paradoxes. What I found most enlightening in this book were her archetypal stories or "deep story" as she referred to them. The type of story where the feelings tell the story in symbolic language. A way to view the world through another's lens--an analogy.

[I'll be paraphrasing and quoting extensively as I'd like to be able to refer to this later]

The Right's Deep Story (paraphrased heavily)

You are waiting patiently in a long line leading up a hill. You are in the middle of the line an just over the hill is the American Dream--progress, better off than forebears, etc. While you wish the people behind you in line well, you are focused ahead. But the line is barely moving--has it stopped? Suddenly you see people cutting in line ahead of you and it feels like you are being moved back. Women, immigrants, people of color, refugees, public sector workers. It's not fair! Who's helping these line cutters? Why are they telling you that the line cutters deserve special treatment? You have endured so much and shown moral character. You feel betrayed. You hear catcalls--"redneck," "white trash," "ignorant Southern Bible-thumper." You are a stranger in your own land. You do not recognize yourself in how others see you. It is a struggle to feel seen and honored. You feel stuck between a strong desire to be recognized for who you really are and all you've really done, and dread at joining the parade of "poor me's." [pg.135-144]

The Left's Deep Story

"People stand around a large public square inside of which are creative science museums for kids, public art and theater programs, libraries, schools, state-of-the-art infrastructure available to all. They are fiercely proud of it and some of them built it. Outsiders can join...incorporation and acceptance of differences feel like American values represented in the Statue of Liberty. But...an alarming event occurs; marauders invade the public square, recklessly dismantle it, and selfishly steal away bricks and concrete chunks from the public buildings at its center...those guarding the public square watch helplessly as those who've dismantled it construct private McMansions with the same bricks and pieces of concrete, privatizing the public realm. That's the gist of the liberal deep story, and the right can't understand the deep pride liberals time in their creatively designed, hard-won public sphere as a powerful integrative force in American life...many on the left feel like strangers in their own land too." [pg. 235-236]

"Given our different deep stories, left and right are focused on different conflicts and the respective ideas of unfairness linked to them." [pg. 236]

I won't go into as much depth here as there are other books that cover the historical connections better, but I did appreciate the chapter showing how the past 150-ish years of American history have shaped the political landscape we have today. The glimpse into the 1860s and 1960s "deep stories" would be equally enlightening to non-students of history.

So basically, wherever you are on the political spectrum, you could probably find some useful insights to help bridge the gap between the ever increasing divide.