Strangers in Their Own Land

Strangers in Their Own Land

by

Arlie Russell Hochschild

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The desire to sustain the feelings of empowerment and belonging that result from collective effervescence. When Donald Trump speaks to Louisianans’ deep story, their identification with him leads them to finally feel like “part of a powerful, like-minded majority, released from politically correct rules of feeling,” and Hochschild argues that they vote for him—against their own economic self-interest—in order to sustain the emotional high of this recognition.

Emotional Self-Interest Quotes in Strangers in Their Own Land

The Strangers in Their Own Land quotes below are all either spoken by Emotional Self-Interest or refer to Emotional Self-Interest. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Trust, Empathy, and Political Progress Theme Icon
).
Chapter 14 Quotes

For the Tea Party around the country, the shifting moral qualifications for the American Dream had turned them into strangers in their own land, afraid, resentful, displaced, and dismissed by the very people who were, they felt, cutting in line. The undeclared class war transpiring on a different stage, with different actors, and evoking a different notion of fairness was leading those engaged in it to blame the “supplier” of the impostors—the federal government.

Related Characters: Arlie Russell Hochschild (speaker)
Page Number: 218
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 15 Quotes

While economic self-interest is never entirely absent, what I discovered was the profound importance of emotional self-interest—a giddy release from the feeling of being a stranger in one’s own land.

Related Characters: Arlie Russell Hochschild (speaker), Donald Trump
Page Number: 228
Explanation and Analysis:
Chapter 16 Quotes

Louisianans are sacrificial lambs to the entire American industrial system. Left or right, we all happily use plastic combs, toothbrushes, cell phones, and cars, but we don't all pay for it with high pollution. As research for this book shows, red states pay for it more—partly through their own votes for easier regulation and partly through their exposure to a social terrain of politics, industry, television channels, and a pulpit that invites them to do so. In one way, people in blue states have their cake and cat it too, while many in red states have neither. Paradoxically, politicians on the right appeal to this sense of victimhood, even when policies such as those of former governor Jindal exacerbate the problem.

Related Characters: Arlie Russell Hochschild (speaker), Bobby Jindal
Page Number: 232
Explanation and Analysis:
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Emotional Self-Interest Term Timeline in Strangers in Their Own Land

The timeline below shows where the term Emotional Self-Interest appears in Strangers in Their Own Land. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 15 – Strangers No Longer: The Power of Promise
Trust, Empathy, and Political Progress Theme Icon
Capitalism, Media, and Class Conflict Theme Icon
Personal Identity and Emotional Self-Interest Theme Icon
...“high” that conservatives wanted to hold onto. Sticking with Trump became a matter of “ emotional self-interest ,” a factor that many analyses tend to ignore in favor of economic self-interest. Hochschild... (full context)