The Politics of Resentment : : Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker

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Call Number: 977.504 Cr
On Shelf At: Downtown Library

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Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	977.504 Cr	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	977.504 Cr	4-week checkout	On Shelf

Making sense of politics through resentment -- A method of listening -- The contours of rural consciousness -- The context of rural consciousness -- Attitudes toward public institutions and public employees -- Support for small government -- Reactions to the ruckus -- We teach these things to each other -- Appendix A: county map of Wisconsin -- Appendix B: descriptions of groups observed and municipalities in which they met -- Appendix C: Questions used during observation/
"Since the election of Scott Walker, Wisconsin has been seen as ground zero for debates about the appropriate role of government in the wake of the Great Recession. In a time of rising inequality, Walker not only survived a bitterly contested recall that brought thousands of protesters to Capitol Square, he was subsequently reelected. How could this happen? How is it that the very people who stand to benefit from strong government services not only vote against the candidates who support those services but are vehemently against the very idea of big government?"--Amazon.com.
"Since the election of Scott Walker, Wisconsin has been seen as ground zero for debates about the appropriate role of government in the wake of the Great Recession. In a time of rising inequality, Walker not only survived a bitterly contested recall that brought thousands of protesters to Capitol Square, he was subsequently reelected. How could this happen? How is it that the very people who stand to benefit from strong government services not only vote against the candidates who support those services but are vehemently against the very idea of big government? With The Politics of Resentment, Katherine J. Cramer uncovers an oft-overlooked piece of the puzzle: rural political consciousness and the resentment of the "liberal elite." Rural voters are distrustful that politicians will respect the distinct values of their communities and allocate a fair share of resources. What can look like disagreements about basic political principles are therefore actually rooted in something even more fundamental: who we are as people and how closely a candidate's social identity matches our own. Using Scott Walker and Wisconsin's prominent and protracted debate about the appropriate role of government, Cramer illuminates the contours of rural consciousness, showing how place-based identities profoundly influence how people understand politics, regardless of whether urban politicians and their supporters really do shortchange or look down on those living in the country. The Politics of Resentment shows that rural resentment--no less than partisanship, race, or class--plays a major role in dividing America against itself." -- Publisher's description.

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Compelling submitted by Impy on July 9, 2017, 9:41am Much has been written lately, especially since the 2016 election, about the divisions in American politics, but this study actually began in 2008 or so, well before that all began. Cramer, a sociologist at UW-Madison, travels across the state and talks to people in rural Wisconsin about all sorts of things, trying to get a handle on what people believe and why. What she has found is that the most important factor in the rise of politicians such as Scott Walker, the current, hard-right Wisconsin governor, is not necessarily how rural Americans are being treated by their more urban counterparts, but their perceptions of how they and other rural Americans are being treated. Her conclusion: emotions are crucial when it comes to voting.

Want to understand Trump? Read this submitted by mowjac on August 1, 2019, 12:20pm Reading this after the 2016 election felt like reading a prescient work--Walker's rise in Wisconsin was imitated on the national level by Trump. Cramer's work was written before the election, so no parallels are drawn. Language in this work is more aimed at professional circles, using field specific words and with few extrapolations for non-researchers. The raw transcripts included, however, will resonate with citizens and hopefully provide insight into a particular voting group.