{"id":1274,"date":"2017-02-09T08:00:30","date_gmt":"2017-02-09T14:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/?p=1274"},"modified":"2017-02-08T17:16:08","modified_gmt":"2017-02-08T23:16:08","slug":"white-working-class-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/trot\/2017\/02\/09\/white-working-class-voters\/","title":{"rendered":"White Working Class Voters"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by William Garrett, Flickr CC<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Trump’s rise to the presidency still has many people\u00a0wondering why large numbers of whites with low to moderate incomes voted for a candidate who supports policies that are likely to have a negative impact on them. In other words, how is a millionaire real estate developer from New York City seen as an average Joe and a champion of white workers? Two prominent sociological explanations\u00a0involve the racist attitudes of whites\u2019 and feelings of anger and abandoment in economically struggling rural communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

Racially coded, and racially explicit, language is particularly powerful for tapping into white Americans\u2019 feelings of displacement, loss, and resentment. Sociological research suggests that racialized attacks on \u201cundeserving\u201d immigrants and people of color who benefit from government \u201chandouts\u201d provide a target for anger and a rationale for why white working class communities are struggling economically (while ignoring the privileges that go along with whiteness). Thus, the emotional appeals of racist and xenophobic campaign rhetoric can contribute to lower income people voting against their economic self-interest.<\/span><\/h5>\n