Arlie Russell Hochschild | Strangers in their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right

When: Thursday, October 13,  6:30 p.m.

Where: North Gate Hall Library

You are invited to meet author Arlie Russell Hochschild ​at the corner of empathy and analysis to unveil the “deep story” motivating the Trump voter. ​Celebrate her new book,

Why would denizens of one of the poorest​, ​most polluted states in the nation, Louisiana, be overwhelmingly in favor of Donald Trump, who has promise​d​ to ​”get rid of” ​ the E​nvironmental Protection Agency ​and cut taxes on corporations and the rich? It’s not about economic self interest, it’s about what Arlie Hochschild calls emotional self interest ​ (a needed phrase that ought to take off in the media.) Specifically, ​among the tea-party people of Louisiana, it’s wounded pride ​because her subjects​ feel ​that coastal liberals ​ha​ve​ made them ​into​ strangers in their own land, watching helplessly as ​big government generously aid​s​ minorities and women ​while leaving them out.

To bridge the ​emotional ​divide, H​ochschild spent the last five years doing fieldwork in Lake Charles​, ​​Louisiana, seeing the world through Cajun eyes​, while documenting soaring rates of pollution, poor health, and low life expectancy. ​​Back in Berkeley, where she is a preeminent UC based sociologist, Hochschild distilled her findings through her deep academic knowledge. She ​now ​brings ​us ​a report rich with empathy and sorrow for ​her confidants, riddled with disagreement and frustration, and elevated by ​the​ wisest social science theory ​available combined ​​with the ​real ​feelings of people she came to know as friends. ​It is a consummate demonstration of what great sociology can accomplish, and should deepen all of our upcoming conversations about Trump voters.

What can journalists learn from this kind of work? ​Besides her beautiful writing, two things​ stand out: ​one is the importance of immersive work ​of​ far greater depth than journalists usually ​engage in​. The other is that we cannot write about ​society​ in de​tail​ without hanging our observations on some kind of theoretical structure; to interrogate our mode of analysis is as important as doing the fieldwork itself. Come meet a master of theoretical ​construction ​as well as empath​ic ​communication with her subjects.​ Understand how sociology can infuse journalism with depth and fresh vitality.