Coming from & living in working class communities, I think this is partly true but not entirely accurate:
1) It isn't jarring to folks b/c they're on the receiving end of a lot of social dysfunction, including authoritarian work hierarchies. It's familiar.
2) Working class context also correlates w/ high rates of adverse childhood experiences (ACE) due to poverty & socioeconomic instability. You learn young that the world is harsh & you have to fight to survive.
3) Where I think this analysis goes wrong, however, is that the folks I know work hard to raise kids who respect others. They don't like braggarts & they certainly don't like people who don't work hard.
4) So yeah, I think there's a kind of fighting ethic in working class. There's a toughness. But it's not directed toward the weak. It's employed in service of others. You know the world is awful so you fight to protect others, not yourself.
5) Here, bullies get beat up. They don't get send to counseling.
6) At the same time, this instinct to protect the weak by physical means or aggressiveness can be manipulated. If you convince us that we're under attack or "our people" will be harmed, you better believe we'll come out swinging.
7) Note for ecclesiology nerds: Have you ever noticed the correlations btwn church polity & socioeconomics? Have you notices how certain kinds of pastoral leadership "work" in certain spaces & not others?
8) All that to say, working class voters probably recognize Trump's pathos & it undoubtedly appeals b/c it's familiar. But I'd suggest that it's an entirely different logos than what's been operative in working class context to this point.
9) Whether Trump's influence changes that is something for social historians. I think it's possible that it does, that it enables selfish instincts that had been previously held in check.
10) This is simply anectdotal observation & not moral judgment. Insofar as families & churches continue to struggle in working class contexts, leaders like Trump will have disproportionate cultural influence.
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