num_pages: 242
description: In Strangers in Their Own Land the renowned sociologist Arlie Russell Hochschild embarks on a thought-provoking journey from her liberal hometown of Berkeley California deep into Louisiana bayou country  a stronghold of the conservative right. As she gets to know people who strongly oppose many of the ideas she famously champions Russell Hochschild nevertheless finds common ground and quickly warms to the people she meets  among them a Tea Party activist whose town has been swallowed by a sinkhole caused by a drilling accident  people whose concerns are actually ones that all Americans share: the desire for community the embrace of family and hopes for their children. Strangers in Their Own Land goes beyond the commonplace liberal idea that these are people who have been duped into voting against their own interests. Instead Russell Hochschild finds lives ripped apart by stagnant wages a loss of home an elusive American dream  and political choices and views that make sense in the context of their lives. Russell Hochschild draws on her expert knowledge of the sociology of emotion to help us understand what it feels like to live in red America. Along the way she finds answers to one of the crucial questions of contemporary American politics: why do the people who would seem to benefit most from liberal government intervention abhor the very idea?
language: English
title: Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American Right
publisher: The New Press