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Crossing the Empathy Wall in Divided Times
"Everyone has a deep story," says Arlie Hochschild. "Our job is to
respect and try to understand these stories." Hochschild is one of the
most distinguished sociologists of our time. Considered the founder of
the "sociology of emotion," she examines some of the most urgent
challenges our societies face: work-family balance, shifting gender
roles, alienation, globalization, and the ever-widening political
divide. Throughout these issues, she studies how we feel about things,
what we think we should feel, and why. Why do people choose what they
choose? What are the invisible forces behind our actions? What are the
emotional costs, if any? And most recently, why does it seem like people
vote against their own interests? What follows is an excerpt from her
book, "Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning on the American
Right."
