{"id":2216094,"date":"2024-04-08T23:14:02","date_gmt":"2024-04-09T03:14:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-rural-rage-book-enrages-same-academics-it-cites\/"},"modified":"2024-04-08T23:18:18","modified_gmt":"2024-04-09T03:18:18","slug":"white-rural-rage-book-enrages-same-academics-it-cites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/white-rural-rage-book-enrages-same-academics-it-cites\/","title":{"rendered":"The book &#8216;White Rural Rage&#8217; sparks controversy among the academics it references"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fwhite-rural-rage-book-enrages-same-academics-it-cites%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2216094&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The book\u2064 &#8220;White Rural Rage: The Threat To American Democracy&#8221; by Paul Waldman and Tom Schaller faces backlash from academics for misinterpretation and misuse of research.\u2064 Critics argue the book&#8217;s portrayal of rural America exacerbates divisions and lacks thorough analysis. The authors defend their work, claiming it reflects current issues and hope for societal \u2063transformation \u200din the future. The book &#8220;White Rural Rage: The Threat To American Democracy&#8221; by\u200d Paul Waldman and Tom Schaller\u200b has sparked criticism from \u2064academics for misinterpreting and misusing research. \u2063Critics\u200b believe the book&#8217;s depiction of rural America widens\u2063 divisions and\u2062 lacks in-depth analysis. In \u2062response,\u2064 the authors stand\u200b by their work, stating \u2063it addresses contemporary issues \u2063and \u200coffers hope for societal progress.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p>Academics have a bone to pick with the authors of \u201cWhite Rural Rage: The Threat To American Democracy,\u201d a best-selling book that argues rural voters \u2014 many of whom have <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usatoday.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2024\/01\/28\/rural-voters-favor-trump\/72337833007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rallied behind<\/a> former President Donald Trump \u2014 pose a danger to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Journalist Paul Waldman and professor Tom Schaller are being accused of negligence by some of the very same researchers they cited in their book, which publisher Penguin Random House <a href=\"https:\/\/www.penguinrandomhouse.com\/books\/734507\/white-rural-rage-by-tom-schaller-and-paul-waldman\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">says<\/a> is about how \u201crural Whites\u201d have become the \u201cmost likely group to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/what-if-polarization-isnt-the-big-problem\/\" title=\"What If \u2018Polarization\u2019 Isn\u2019t The Big Problem?\">abandon democratic norms<\/a> and traditions\u201d with the encouragement of GOP politicians and conservative media.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_720427\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\">\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-720427\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Penguin Random House. February, 2024.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Nicholas Jacobs, a political scientist from Colby College, said in an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.politico.com\/news\/magazine\/2024\/04\/05\/white-rural-rage-myth-00150395\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/credit-card-companies-make-big-announcements-about-pornhub-following-horrifying-claims\/\" title=\"Credit Card Companies Make Big Announcements About Pornhub Following Horrifying Claims\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/miles-anonymous-taylor-accidentally-exposes-the-fraudulence-of-the-mainstream-media\/\" title=\"Miles 'Anonymous' Taylor Accidentally Exposes the Fraudulence of the Mainstream Media\">op-ed<\/a> published<\/a> by POLITICO<\/a> Magazine on Friday that his research and the work of others are \u201cbeing misinterpreted and misunderstood.\u201d The authors made \u201ctwo persistent types of errors\u201d when examining the data on rural Americans, he explained.<\/p>\n<p>The first, Jacobs said, is they \u201croutinely fall victim to the logical fallacy of composition when they attribute group characteristics to individuals.\u201d He cited as examples attempts to suggest rural voters who support Trump are more likely to be authoritarian, claim their communities are beset by Christian nationalism, and ignore the smaller numbers who back Democrats.<\/p>\n<p>The second \u201cpersistent error,\u201d Jacobs said, is the authors \u201ccite polling data with little attention to issues of quality, which less sloppy scholars would question to make sure their conclusions were valid,\u201d including on race and immigration as well as the \u201cbirther\u201d claim regarding former President Barack Obama and whether he was born in the United States.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis shoddy analysis and faux expertise does real damage,\u201d Jacobs wrote, dismissing the central focus of the book. \u201cIt is clear that the overwhelming portrayal of rural America as angry and irrational feeds into and amplifies the divisions between rural and urban Americans, overshadowing the shared challenges and aspirations that cut across these geographic lines.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Jacobs also joined with B. Kal Munis to write in a post published on <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2024\/03\/07\/the-truth-about-rural-rage\/#:~:text=The%20overarching%20argument%20of%20White,rural%20communities%20than%20within%20them.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Reason.com<\/a>, saying they were two of the scholars whose work the authors of \u201cWhite Rural Rage\u201d got wrong, going as far as to accuse Waldman and Schaller of \u201cacademic malpractice\u201d in their book.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSchaller and Waldman favorably cite our research showing that there is a modest correlation between rural resentment and racial resentment, a commonly used attitudinal measure of negative racial stereotyping,\u201d the pair <a href=\"https:\/\/reason.com\/2024\/03\/07\/the-truth-about-rural-rage\/#:~:text=The%20overarching%20argument%20of%20White,rural%20communities%20than%20within%20them.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">said<\/a> in their op-ed from March. \u201cWhat they fail to note is the only statistically and intellectually sound conclusion that could be drawn from our data: While this slight correlation exists, rural resentment is an attitude distinct from racial prejudice.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In response to the criticism, Schaller and Waldman spoke with The New Republic editor Michael Tomasky in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=RTdo5eAW1Ws\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">recent interview<\/a> and touched on the veracity of their work. The book \u201cis right, right now,\u201d said Schaller, who then quipped about hoping that in 10 to 15 years they will have to \u201cretract a lot of it because white, rural Americans\u201d will have returned to their roots and support a \u201csecular, pluralist constitutional democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Waldman said they have \u201ctaken a lot of criticism even from people who say, \u2018This book is why rural people are resentful.\u2019 That it\u2019s the \u2026 condescension of the snooty Eastern elitists and that\u2019s the end of the story and you don\u2019t have to interrogate really where that belief comes form, but we\u2019ve also heard from a lot of people in rural American of all kinds just ordinary people \u2014 journalists, activists \u2014 \u2026 who have said, \u2018This is an accurate reflection of what\u2019s going on in my community. This is a real problem and we have to address it.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The criticism, however, keeps coming.<\/p>\n<p>Kristen Luna Trujillo, an assistant professor of political science at the University of California <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsweek.com\/white-rural-rage-cites-my-research-it-gets-everything-about-rural-america-wrong-opinion-1877917\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> for Newsweek that the authors cited but did not misrepresent her work, yet she chastises them for how they \u201cdo criticize rural Americans for their anti-intellectualism, building on tired tropes of rural people being backward, dumb, violent, and ignorant, while pushing a narrative that worsens such distrust in the first place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Another assistant professor, Tyler Austin Harper of Bates College, <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20240406214424\/https:\/\/www.theatlantic.com\/ideas\/archive\/2024\/04\/white-rural-rage-criticism\/677967\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a> for The Atlantic that he spoke with 20 scholars in the \u201ctight-knit rural-studies community\u201d and most of whom are cited in \u201cWhite Rural Rage\u201d or thanked in the acknowledgments. He said these academics \u201cleft me convinced that the book is poorly researched and intellectually dishonest.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Harper said he found a pattern after fact-checking many of the book\u2019s claims and citations that showed most of \u201cthe problems occur in sections of the book that try to prove that white rural Americans are especially likely to commit or express support for political violence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Claiming the authors are \u201cbending the facts to fit their chosen scapegoat,\u201d Harper wrote they \u201cmislead the public about the all-too-real threats to our democracy today. As serious scholarship has shown\u2014including some of the very scholarship Schaller and Waldman cite, only to contort it \u2014 the right-wing rage we need to worry about is not coming from deep-red rural areas. It is coming from cities and suburbs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Academics criticize the authors of &#8220;White Rural Rage: The Threat To American Democracy,&#8221; a bestseller claiming rural voters, especially Donald Trump supporters, endanger the US. Journalist Paul Waldman and professor Tom Schaller face backlash for their views<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1588,"featured_media":2216095,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1229030961-scaled-e1712606755217.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[541],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2216094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-daily-wire"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/dw-wp-production.imgix.net\/2024\/04\/GettyImages-1229030961-scaled-e1712606755217.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1588"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2216094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2216094\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2216095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2216094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2216094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2216094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}