Abstract
We might call today's episode a tale of the Brahmin Left and the Tea Party Right-since we are interested not just in the movement of educated upper middle class people towards traditional left parties like the Democrats, but also in the movement of working class and less educated citizens towards the Right and the Republican party. We could imagine no better companion for that aspect of the series than renowned sociologist Arlie Hochschild, distinguished emerita professor of Sociology at UC Berkeley. We love many of her books but it is her 2016 account of alienation, anomie and anger in Louisiana, Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right, that drew RTB to her for this conversation. She outlined the "deep story" of anomie and discontent among rural Louisiana residents she met while writing that book, and explored with us the political shifts that have made it much less likely for white poor voters to identify with a working-class movement or a progressive agenda. Links to other countries are explored, but the issue of causality- and the cure, if cure there be- remains an open question.