Nancy Isenberg - White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America
What this covers
Roosevelt House hosts a special evening featuring Nancy Isenberg, author of the groundbreaking bestseller White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America, in conversation with Frank Rich, Writer-at-Large for New York Magazine, and Bill Goldstein, Public Programming Curator for Roosevelt House.
Isenberg, the T. Harry Williams Professor of history at Louisiana State University, has updated the paperback of White Trash to include updated reflections on the 2016 presidential election. As Isenberg and Rich will discuss, the voters who boosted Trump all the way to the White House have been a permanent part of our American fabric, from the earliest British colonial settlement to today's hillbillies.
Isenberg's White Trash upends assumptions about America’s supposedly class-free society – where liberty and hard work were meant to ensure real social mobility. Poor whites were central to the rise of the Republican Party in the nineteenth century, she argues; Reconstruction pitted poor white trash against newly freed slaves, which factored in the rise of eugenics, a widely popular movement that targeted poor whites for sterilization. These poor were at the heart of New Deal reforms and the Great Society. Marginalized as a class, white trash have always been at or near the center of major political debates over the American identity.
Welcoming remarks by Roosevelt House Director Harold Holzer.
Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, May 9, 2017.
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Eisenberg argues that American class identity has deep historical roots in British colonial concepts of land ownership, breeding, and vagrancy that persist across four centuries, shaping contemporary politics and inequality in ways obscured by myths of mobility and meritocracy.
- White trash as a category originates not in modern times but in Elizabethan English colonial theory, where the poor were designated 'waste people' for export to the New World
- Class in America is determined not primarily by income but by inherited concepts: landlessness, assumed genetic inferiority ('breeding'), and association with movement/rootlessness, all of which persist today
- Rural and working-class white identity is shaped by dignity tied to specific types of labor and independence rather than income, making standard economic mobility arguments ineffective as political strategy
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Poor whites, particularly children, in the 1820s-1840s were associated with diseases like pellagra (caused by niacin deficiency) and were labeled 'clay eaters' and 'sand hillers' with yellowish skin tints—conditions attributed to biological inferiority or racial contamination rather than nutritional poverty, because the disease itself was not scientifically identified until the early 20th century.
“by the time the term white trash appears which is in the 1820s at that moment poor whites and white trash are now being associated with two other rather disturbing terms for the poor which were clay eaters and sand hillers sand hillers again they lived on worthless sand clay eaters is where they were seen as having as not even being white they were seen as having the skin color a yellowish tint to their skin color that was compared to parchment and part of the reason they had this disease is it's pellagra but in the 1820s 1840s no one identified this this doesn't get identified until the early 20th century”
The term 'white trash' originates from Richard Hakluyt, an Elizabethan adventurer, who pitched to Queen Elizabeth that the New World should serve as a trash bin for the poor and worthless people of England, whom he called 'waste people'.
“the idea of white trash actually was first used by richard hacklet who was an elizabethan adventurer who made made a pitch to queen elizabeth about why we needed the new world and the real reason that he felt the new world was important is that it was going to be the trash bin for the poor and the idol and the worthless people in england”
The British government in the colonial period had four expected fates for the poor: death from starvation or disease, arrest and execution, death in war, or death in the New World—and most early indentured servants sent to the colonies were children, showing that America's poor were deliberately selected for high-mortality situations.
“the british thought about the poor the british said that there were in the colonial period there were four options about what would happen to the poor first of all they would die from starvation or disease second of all they would be they would be arrested and end up dying on the gallows or be executed third of all they'd be sent off to fight wars and die there and then fourth of all they were going to be sent to the new world and it was also expected that they would die there and most of the early indentured servants who were sent to the new world were children”
Class identity has always been tied to a conception of dignity in work; when the economy shifts and jobs that were once seen as respectable disappear, people lose not just income but a source of dignity and identity, which creates political and social instability.
“it's not only about labor value how the market defines the value of your work it's also about the way we have historically identified dignity a certain kind of dignity that's associated with the work that you do and this is a a problem when the economy is constantly shifting jobs that were seen as respectable or disappearing”
In the 1950s-1970s, part of class identity involved a compulsion to hide or deny one's past and roots, with poor people seeking to assimilate and 'blend in' through geographic relocation to suburbs and changes in appearance and speech, yet paradoxically those who escaped poverty often did not support helping others in similar situations.
“part of class identity is that you want to blend in and this is particularly true if we think about the 50s that you were supposed to you know move to the suburbs you were supposed to somehow become an american by you know a new geography a new place that you lived and there was this compelling need to if in this effect ethnic identity to you know learn to to speak in a proper way learn to assimilate and the same is actually true which is strange but the same is actually true for how white trash imagined themselves that they also did not want any connection to their past”
Two central concepts inherited from British and English culture underpin American class identity: first, the importance of land ownership as the source of liberty and civic value (to the point that one could not vote without owning land in the early founding period); and second, the concept of 'breeding'—the idea that class identity is passed from generation to generation through pedigree and lineage.
“two of the concepts that are sort of central to my eye to the where white trash comes from is first of all since we have been an agrarian nation for over half our history it's important to pay attention to rural ways of thinking about class...the other important theme that i highlight we also which we also inherited from the british is the idea of breeding”
The term 'scallywag' originally referred to an inferior breed of animal (vagabond stock in cattle), and was weaponized during Reconstruction to describe poor whites who supported the Republican party as racially inferior and traitorous to their race—demonstrating how class language is embedded in racialized discourse.
“a term to describe poor whites who supported the republican party they were called scallywags now what does that term mean...and where it came from yes it referred it was a way for elite whites and people who supported the democratic party to attack poor whites and they saw them as a traitor to their race they also described them as white trash scum they referred to them because they were seen as republican operatives they associated to freely with blacks but the word scallywag actually refers to an inferior breed of animal particularly cattle it's called vagabond stock”
Marxist analysis of labor-management divisions and bourgeoisie emergence, while important, has led to a historical focus on industrial labor that neglected the agrarian foundations of American class categories, which have rural origins predating both Marxist theory and industrial capitalism.
“these british notions as i said emerged long before karl marx you know was was talking about the division between uh you know labor and management...the history profession there's been a great deal of work that has focused on labor history that has focused on the industrial site...and that's one of the one of the things that i wanted to do in this book is...to talk about recovering this rural language and this rural way of thinking about class”
The poor in colonial and early American society were associated with unproductive land ('wasteland' left fallow), which is why terms like 'redneck' (associated with people who lived in swamps) and 'hillbillies' (associated with people in hills) emerged as class markers tied to the geography of poverty.
“the poor were very much fashioned as either being seen as people who lived on land that was considered wasteland because that's where waste people came from wasteland is land that's left until then fallow and is unproductive so therefore the waste people throughout american history end up being associated with unproductive land for example the term redneck is identified as being associated with people who live in swamps at the same time hillbillies are associated with people who live in the hills”
The American Dream of mobility and opportunity is largely an illusion; the founding mythology of the country promised only horizontal mobility (spreading across the continent) rather than vertical upward mobility, and even this rarely materialized for poor whites.
“their argument was not actually about promising mobility up the class ladder what they claimed was going to change the class structure was the size of the continent and what they promised was horizontal mobility not upward mobility”
During Reconstruction, Republicans and the Freedmen's Bureau provided aid to poor white refugees as well as freed slaves in areas like Tennessee and Missouri, but Northern journalists and politicians nonetheless believed the central test of Reconstruction's success would be whether African Americans or poor whites could more successfully obtain education, jobs, and support.
“during the the civil war there was class and race were a dominant part of the divisions between the north and the south and in reconstruction for example one of the things that happened is that republicans and people in the friedman's bureau and what people often don't know the freedmen's bureau was also provided aid for white refugees so in certain areas like tennessee missouri poor whites received extensive aid from the federal government”
The rural roots of class concepts remain relevant even as people migrate to urban areas; 'trailer trash' emerged as a phenomenon on the edges of cities in the 1970s and beyond, showing that rural class concepts migrated into urban contexts.
“what i was trying to add to that picture was to talk about recovering this rural language and this rural way of thinking about class because that has continued not only because portions of our society have remained rural but it even has migrated beyond the rural environment i mean as with trailer trash i have a whole discussion of how they emerge in opposition to suburbia and where are they located they're located off on the edges of cities”
Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson promised horizontal mobility (westward expansion) rather than upward mobility on the class ladder, but even they were harsh in saying if the poor moved west and didn't succeed through hard work, their option was to 'move on or die.'
“benjamin franklin thomas jefferson you've all heard of him um their argument was not actually about promising mobility up the class ladder what they claimed was going to change the class structure was the size of the continent and what they promised was horizontal mobility not upward mobility but even franklin in a sense was kind of as harsh as kevin williamson basically he he believed that if the poor were drawn into the west that the ones who would succeed who worked hard had large families that they in a sense would uh not only succeed but that if they didn't succeed he basically said well your option was to move on or die”
Child labor was normalized and widespread in America across both North and South until 1919, and indentured servitude (including child servitude) influenced the introduction of slavery into the New World—showing these systems are intimately interconnected rather than separate phenomena.
“we forget that we had child labor into this country until 1919 and this was true across the board this was in the south and in the north about exploiting child labor and that also is why indentured servants because of breeding influenced the introduction of slavery into the new world so those two things are intimately interconnected”
Working-class and rural Americans prefer disability benefits to welfare because disability carries honor and dignity—recipients can see themselves as deserving due to serious injuries from demanding physical work—whereas welfare is seen as shameful.
“what is so interesting about working class and rural or rural americans is that they prefer to get disability than welfare because disability and these people have serious injuries because they're doing really demanding difficult and physically uh the kinds of jobs that do lead to serious physical problems but there's there's the question of of honor and reputation”
Rural Americans' identity is rooted in family and community rather than individual self-reliance; therefore the neoliberal assumption that every individual should leave and make a living elsewhere fails to account for what people actually value and how they define themselves.
“if you imagine that your identity comes as many poor rural americans it comes from your family it comes from your community you're not just going to pack your bags and move because that's kind of been the source of who you are so the idea that individualism that every individual should just go off and make a living doesn't take into account the way in which people in rural america actually live and what they value”
A 1962 New Jersey court case established that municipalities can discriminate against and destroy trailer communities because residents are classified as 'nomadic people' and therefore have no rights, showing how legal systems institutionalize rural class concepts.
“trailers according to a very important new jersey court case state case 1962 basically argued that municipalities can destroy this can discriminate against people who live in trailers and what it refer to them as again a nomadic people so they can they in a sense have no rights and they can be forced to leave a community”
William Randolph Hearst, a wealthy newspaper magnate who ran for president in 1904, openly endorsed unions as the best way to eliminate class divisions in society, showing that elite opposition to unions is ideological rather than inevitable.
“william randolph hearst ran for president he was far wealthier than trump and he in 1904 openly endorsed unions as the best way to eliminate class divisions in society”
The eugenics movement was extremely popular in 1920s America, with leading figures including Harvard professors and major politicians like Theodore Roosevelt subscribing to its ideology, and the major institute for studying eugenics was located in Long Island under Charles Davenport's direction.
“everyone subscribed to this ideology professors at harvard uh leading politicians like teddy roosevelt as you know the major uh institute for studying eugenics was in new york was in long island charles davenport was the head of that”
Solving economic inequality through job creation alone will not erase other problems including racism and the ways demagogues exploit class anxiety to divide working people, but economic dignity is nonetheless essential.
“this alone isn't going to erase other problems as we know it's not going to sort of solve the issues of racism and how they are exploited by politicians because that legacy is is going to continue to be with us but i think we do have to think about that”
Thomas Jefferson viewed enslaved female slaves as a better investment than male slaves because of their reproductive capacity—they could birth enslaved children to be exploited as laborers, connecting the concept of 'breeding' to sexual reproduction and treating women's bodies as economic units.
“thomas jefferson not only viewed female slaves as a better investment than male slaves because of their ability to breed children to breed children that would be exploited as laborers”
Being a Southern belle meant not only living in a plantation house but also having protected whiteness—maintaining light skin through avoiding outdoor work—whereas women from lower-class backgrounds like Rachel Jackson were attacked for having tanned skin, which associated them with outdoor labor and lower class.
“the same way children are a measure of class status so are the way women are treated because again to be a southern bell meant that not only were you protected and you lived in the plantation house but you also preserved the whiteness of your skin and rachel jackson was attacked because she had tanned skin which associated her with someone who worked outside and was seen as coming from a different class background”
In 1776 Virginia, 40% of the white male population were landless tenant farmers without slaves; by the 1930s, 40% of the population was still landless tenant farmers, with two-thirds being white and two-thirds concentrated in the South, demonstrating the failure of horizontal mobility.
“in 1776 in thomas jeffersons virginia uh 40 of the uh white male tenant farmers landless they didn't own slaves they didn't own land 40 of the population 1930s 40 percent of the population is still landless tennis farmers two-thirds are white and two-thirds are in the south”
The resentment of poor and working-class whites toward immigrants and racial minorities stems partly from a sense that the government is rigging the system against them by favoring other groups, despite the fact that government assistance has historically benefited all groups (exemplified by the GI Bill).
“there's so much resentment against immigrants against groups that they see who are somehow being being given handouts or privileges from the federal government that somehow is taking away from them and they see that the latter has been rigged uh and that somehow they have they can't compete because the government is somehow favoring these groups but this is part of the problem of our history we never seem to acknowledge that the government has helped all sorts of people”
The Tea Party movement's confusion about government assistance (exemplified by placards saying 'take government hands off my Medicare') reveals that political propaganda has obscured people's understanding of what government aid they themselves receive.
“you have to inject into it understand that the politics the amount of political propaganda that's out there um you know that you know in the early days the tea party movement when people had placards saying you know tell take government hands off my medicare shows there's a confusion about what's going on”
Poor rural whites were historically dismissed as idle and unproductive both because they did not own land and because they were constantly on the move; they were seen as lazy because they resisted factory work, viewing it as demeaning and an assault on male liberty and authority.
“not only were these people they were dismissed as idle and unproductive not only because they didn't own land but they were constantly on the move but also they were seeing if we look at squatters and crackers they were seen as people...the men are lazy and idle and not working and that they make women do all the work...because they thought it was beneath their dignity to do this kind of work”
Working-class white men value jobs like police officer because these positions offer stable income, health care, and respectability without requiring a college degree—representing a pathway to dignity and security.
“i read an article the other day that was referring to the fact that for many you know working class white men being a policeman is seen as a very important kind of job because it's respected it you get a stable income you get health care and this is and you don't need a college education to do this kind of job”
Sociologists in the 1970s labeled trailer communities 'hillbilly havens' because residents were buying used, secondhand, and third-hand trailers, revealing assumptions about both class and consumption patterns.
“sociologists in 1970s begin to call them hillbilly havens because they not only are they they're not even buying new trailer trash they're buying used trailers secondhand third-hand trailers”
The sociologist Joan Williams distinguishes between the 'settled working class' (stable, fearful of dropping down, wanting to distinguish themselves from the poor) and the 'hard living underclass,' showing that class tensions exist horizontally within the working class and that class insecurity drives status-seeking behavior.
“there's even one of the things i talk about there's even class tension between people who imagine themselves as white trash versus rednecks or the term that is used by the sociologist joan williams is the idea of the um where she refers to the settled working class and then the hard living underclass um and i think that's really because that there's a real tension there because the even though the settled working class are really afraid that they're going to drop down they don't have any sense of class security so there's they want to distinguish themselves”
The wealth and privilege that predicts success in contemporary America comes from parents and ancestors, not individual merit, showing that inheritance and lineage remain dominant predictors—sociologists found this in 2015 research, confirming that breeding/pedigree concepts continue to structure opportunity.
“sociologists they have found in 2015 the most important predictor of being successful in this country is linked to the wealth and privilege that you get from not only your parents but your ancestors so lineage and this idea of inheritance is still very much a part of our class definition”
The Affordable Care Act/Obamacare expanded health care access to millions of working-class Americans, including those in economically depressed regions where drug addiction is endemic; new addiction treatment clinics opened in Ohio and Pennsylvania for the first time, yet Trump supporters voted against the very program that was helping them.
“what's happening now is that obamacare whatever its flaws did give a lot of people health care and now if it's taken away which seems likely or it collapses because of the sabotage being done on what exists by the trump administration they're gonna they're definitely gonna want it so once they have it they want it you know people do like medicare they do like medicaid and some of the most blighted parts of uh the rust belt where the drug drug epidemic is out of control they benefited as under obamacare but for the first time drug clinics were opened up and you know addiction treatment was started you know in parts of ohio and pennsylvania”
There is a distinction between health care as a right (open to all regardless of employment or income status) and the current conflation of health care with disability, welfare, and work, which perpetuates the idea that some people are more deserving than others.
“why is health care in general not seen...why is it not seen as a right but why is there not a connection between the the honor of receiving a disability check as opposed to a welfare check connected to an idea that uh health care is a social welfare of open to all of us i mean whether we're working or unemployed or poor or starving or rich”
Unions have been systematically vilified through misleading political language like 'right to work,' which obscures the fact that collective bargaining power is far stronger than individual workers' ability to defend themselves against powerful corporations.
“when you talk about right to work states um and that you encourage people who are in unions because the union dues are too much to not understand that their collective bargaining power is a much stronger position than the individual being able to defend themselves when they're fighting against really powerful corporations”
The eugenics movement in the 1920s specifically targeted poor white women for sterilization; simultaneously, the movement feared poor white women engaging sexually with Black men, combining anxiety about class purity with anxiety about racial purity.
“in the eugenics movement at the same time the eugenics movement was widely popular in this country in the 1920s which targeted poor white women they were seen as the the the group that should be sterilized they were the targeted group and on top of that they were very afraid because many poor blacks and poor whites lived in the same neighborhood they socialized with each other there was also a danger on top of that that you know poor white women are going to be the the group that is going to be more likely to want to engage with sex with black men”
Parents in poor rural and industrial communities felt they owned their children's labor and sent them to work in coal mines and factories doing dangerous work; simultaneously, immigrant families (Italian and others) whose men worked as yard workers and drivers achieved a sense of self-worth through regular paychecks and the ability to support their families.
“the most disturbing thing about that is that many parents felt that they owned their children's labor so those parents had no trouble sending their children to work in coal mines to work in uh factories uh in doing really dangerous work...most of the workers all the workers who were the yard men and the drivers etc they were italian immigrants their english was not very good were not very literate but the fact that they were working hard and got a paycheck at the end of every month every week and could support their family gave them an enormous sense of self-worth”
J.D. Vance, the author of 'Hillbilly Elegy' and a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley, admits in his book that he is a huge beneficiary of government aid (Pell grants, military service, GI Bill, scholarship to Ohio State, Yale education), yet refuses to acknowledge that the government should provide the same assistance to the people he left behind in Ohio.
“here's a guy who's very very successful he's now you know venture capitalist in silicon valley with peter thiel he he concedes to his credit candidly in the book that he's a huge benef a beneficiary of government aid pell grants he was in the story he was in the marines he got a scholarship at state university in ohio he um gi bill uh went to went to yale all of this and yet cannot bring himself to say that the government should do any of this for the people he left behind in ohio”
Ted Nugent, a country/rock musician, called President Obama a 'mongrel,' revealing how Obama's biracial identity triggered the same fears about racial 'passing' and miscegenation that emerged in the eugenics movement and during Reconstruction.
“ted nugent called obama a mongrel i mean i don't know if you remember that yeah um so yes there's what's dangerous again the danger is this instability the fact that and and the fear of passing for white uh the and in the eugenics movement”
Only 32.5% of the American population aged college-age to 60 have a college degree, making overemphasis on higher education as the primary pathway to success problematic and excluding the majority from legitimate pathways to dignity.
“in america today only 32.5 percent of the population have a college degree and that's for people who are college age up to 60 years old”
Much of what Trump is doing is 'borrowing from scripts from previous presidents and previous politicians,' suggesting that contemporary politics is not novel but represents a return to or recycling of older patterns of demagoguery and class resentment.
“much of what trump is doing is borrowing from scripts from previous presidents previous politicians and the idea that politicians put on a show that they entertain the audience”
The appeal to 'complete freedom' in American discourse is an illusion, as Janis Joplin captured in the song 'Me and Bobby McGee': 'freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose.'
“the freedom just another word for nothing left to to lose but still it was chris that's right chris wrote the right true thing and he wrote it um uh and”
Social mobility increases in commercial societies rather than agrarian ones; at the time of the American Revolution, there was actually more upward mobility in Great Britain than in the New World because Britain was more commercially developed while America remained agrarian.
“when we think of social mobility that comes with a commercial society not an agrarian society and in fact at the time of the revolution there was more upward mobility in great britain than there was in the new world because we were more agrarian based”
The political and cultural debate must center on the relationship between work, civic virtue, and class identity—how work is measured, valued, and connected to dignity and belonging in society.
“we have to have a debate in this country and we're already having a debate about the relationship between how we measure what work means and civic virtue and how those two things are connected”
The presidential election revealed not a unified working class but multiple, competing tensions: urban versus rural, cosmopolitan versus provincial, and privileged elites versus the 'disinherited' (poor whites who feel rigged out of opportunity).
“the election really played off a whole series of things that were seen as opposites and as being contested and that is the idea that we have an urban and rural divide we have the language of cosmopolitan versus provincial we have the idea of privileged elites versus how many people who imagine themselves as both upscale rednecks and white trash who would see themselves as the disinherited”
Kevin Williamson's 2016 essay attacking Trump supporters exemplified a common conservative trope toward the poor: that all they need to do is 'pack your bags and move,' treating poverty as a problem of individual motivation rather than structural opportunity, and using mobility as a rhetorical escape valve that absolves society of responsibility.
“you might all be familiar with kevin williamson he wrote for the national review when he wrote a very hostile essay attacking trump supporters he not only attacked them for living in dying dying cities and towns and also used another favorite trope referred to their dis their critique as a yelping dog but then he went on to say that well if you're poor all you have to do is pack your bags and move”
James Vardaman, a racist demagogue of the 1890s-early 20th century, is a historical precursor to Trump; he believed 'democracy should be as dirty as the people are' and entertained audiences through showmanship and long hair rather than substantive policy, appealing to voters through style and authenticity rather than fact-based promises.
“like james vardaman and he's the one who i think is most like trump because basically he said that democracy should be as dirty as the people are and the people should get to say whatever they want and he was also known for his long locks”
A leading Confederate intellectual of the antebellum South had six different classes of white people, showing that southern elites understood class as stratified and complex rather than binary, and that we oversimplify contemporary class analysis by assuming only three classes.
“even in the 19th century one of the leading confederates and intellectuals of southern class system had six different classes for how he described uh white people in the south”
Race and racism are deeply intertwined with class in determining political behavior; people do not vote against their economic interests primarily because of racism alone, but race dynamics interact with class identity and historical trauma to shape political choices.
“race has a lot to do with it too one of the interesting things about um uh vance's book about hillbilly elegy but also about the um uh uh sociologist ali hawk shielded this book about louisiana about louisiana uh strangers in their own land where she spent four years basically with people around baton rouge who are lower class white uh vote against their own interests vote for bobby jindal and everything he could just you know pollute the state and literally literally poison their own water and their own environment she makes the point from the left she's a liberal um and vance makes a point from the right none of these people are racist so it has to be something else race has nothing to do with it”
The myth of small-town America as the backbone of the nation and the source of true virtue persists even as small towns today suffer serious economic difficulties and feel ignored by urban wealth and attention.
“we still subscribe to is that somehow america and its real backbone is in small towns i grew up on main street believe it or not i grew up on a small town on main street but we we mythologized that we we still believe that somehow small town america is where true virtue is is implanted and somehow this is the core of our identity but many people who live in small towns today who are suffering serious economic difficulties realize and they feel that that the country is ignoring”
The historic narrative told about America is not only neglected but actively misrepresented, and the book 'White Trash' recovers 400 years of overlooked history about class that cuts across the entire arc of American history from founding to present.
“this is a part of history we were talking before coming on that just has been it's one of several things in american history that have been neglected i mean we know certain stories or neglect have been neglected you know minority group stories until recently and so on but this cuts right across from the earliest settlements to the present day”
The term 'white trash' throughout history has had 'all the scandalous connotations that we associate with a slur,' and the concept has been 'constantly reinvented over time' and 'institutionalized,' making it active in determining contemporary social hierarchies.
“this term even that this term throughout history had all the scandalous connotations that that we associate with a slur and that's one of the things that you know we need to understand about why this this concept just constantly got reinvented over time and reinvented and actually uh more institutionalized i mean and now you know runs i mean i'm not saying runs the country but the idea i mean is actually much more active than we had thought”
Trump speaks in a way that supporters perceive as honest and authentic because he insults people directly rather than talking around issues like politicians, and this style of 'straight talk' is appealing to working-class voters who feel that normal politicians talk down to them.
“the idea that politicians put on a show that they entertain the audience not just that they make empty promises but that in trump's case that he spoke in a way that people felt was more on honest and more authentic because even if he insulted people somehow that's more honest than a politician who you know will talk around an issue and that's something that again scholars who look at class politics working plaques politics today say it's very appealing this idea of straight talk”
Arlie Russell Hochschild's 'Strangers in Their Own Land' shows that lower-class white Louisianans vote for Bobby Jindal even as he pollutes their water and environment, voting against their material interests, yet both Hochschild (liberal) and Vance (conservative) argue this has nothing to do with race—suggesting class resentment is the real driver.
“one of the interesting things about um uh vance's book about hillbilly elegy but also about the um uh uh sociologist ali hawk shielded this book about louisiana about louisiana uh strangers in their own land where she spent four years basically with people around baton rouge who are lower class white uh vote against their own interests vote for bobby jindal and everything he could just you know pollute the state and literally literally poison their own water and their own environment she makes the point from the left she's a liberal um and vance makes a point from the right none of these people are racist so it has to be something else race has nothing to do with it”
The Democratic Party's political strategy focuses only on saving/defending the middle class, but this is insufficient because 42% of people living below the poverty line are white, and the party cannot ignore the lower class without abandoning whole constituencies.
“i think part of the problem with the democratic party we can't just talk about saving the middle class we have to realize if there's a middle class there's also a lower class and today 40 what is it 42 of people living below the poverty line are white”
The book's title 'White Trash' was controversial and debated within the publishing house; alternative titles included 'The American Breed' (emphasizing the breeding concept), 'Waste People' (using Hakluyt's colonial term), and the final title was chosen by editor Wendy to be deliberately provocative in order to signal that the book is not attacking white trash but explaining its history and opening people's eyes to class issues.
“one of them was going to be the american breed that had the breeding theme another one and it's still very important sort of ended up you know that's in the franklin tom payne chapter uh initially i was also thinking about using waste people and then and then at one point it went white trash and we still weren't decided and then finally uh my editor wendy who's right over there said we're gonna go with white trash”
The book appeared with 'uncanny timing' at the start of the 2016 primary season, making it an urgent historical intervention into contemporary politics—Eisenberg's 400-year history provided a frame for understanding the 2016 election.
“one your book was published uh in the middle of the primary season which was uncanny timing of perfect academic timing no doubt plan many years”