Stolen Pride: Loss, Shame, and the Rise of the Right

Many Appalachians I came to know were caught in a “pride paradox.” On one hand, rural KY-5 Republicans felt fierce pride in hard work and personal responsibility. If you succeeded, you felt proud. If you failed, you felt shame. On the other hand, their beleaguered economy greatly lowered their chance of success and vulnerability to shame. This pres

Only with ambivalence.30 In 1964, 77 percent of Americans declared their trust in the federal government “to do the right thing always” or “most of the time.” But by 2023, this had shrunk to 16 percent.

According to the Prison Policy Initiative, “Kentucky’s incarceration rates stand out internationally” at 930 per 100,000 people, compared to 664 in the United States as a whole, 129 in the United Kingdom, and 104 in Canada.

So across the nation, a poignant, unnamed pride paradox has taken shape. And it is this: We have divided into two economies and two cultures, one red, one blue. Red states faced both tougher economic times and the more demanding, old-school brand of individualism in which no government help, no class or racial advantage—only one’s own hard work—cou

What makes shame especially important is that it can stir preexisting feelings of inadequacy from which we seek rescue,

David also felt invisible to politicians on the left and on the right. “All the Democrats care about is color identity, gender, and sexual identity. So I’m not a Democrat. All the Republicans care about is patriotism and taxes. A lot of them are racist or rich, don’t believe social class exists, give me bootstrap stuff. So I don’t fit there either.

one study, Democrats were asked how many Republicans earn $250,000 a year or more, and answered 38 percent. It’s actually 2 percent. Republicans were asked what proportion of Democrats believe “most police are bad people” and answered 50 percent. It’s actually 15 percent.

Indeed, Democrats seemed to him the party of looseness, permissiveness, and what they led to: shame.

by the latest estimate, 16 percent of Pike County adults hold bachelor’s degrees.