Alienated America

[Belsnickel]

(03-01-2019, 03:07 AM)Dill Wrote: This--

This blue-collar retreat from marriage, like the other negative social trends among the working class, is not due to some anti-family belief system or some perfidy in rural America. It's due to the collapse of the infrastructure around which people build families — that is, the collapse of communities and the hollowing out of institutions of civil society.

It's a story of alienation. Alienation is what happens when people lack community institutions to connect them with others. These institutions provide miniature safety nets, they provide meeting grounds, they provide modeling and mentoring, and they provide meaning and purpose.

Doesn't seem accurately described by this.

The plague of alienation in America is, above all, a matter of secularization — a matter of the decline of the American church.

Communities and churches can "decline" and still be very religious.

If you replaced "secularization" with "capitalism" the statement would be a lot more accurate. People move from small communities in greater numbers now because of declining economic opportunity. People's mores and even community norms are much more shaped by the market know than they were 50 or 100 years ago. Even schools address their young charges more as education consumers than citizens. The ease with which Trump's behavior is accepted and normalized among formerly socially conservative groups is one indicator of this as well. There are so few core values to be offended any more. The ones that remain--like strong pro-life views coupled with a desire for lower taxes--don't seem especially community building the way concern for the poor is.

I am in a position to monitor rather closely two rural communities, one in Montana and one in Texas, and I see churches shrinking for sure, and I see some of that alienation, especially in Texas, but I don't see less religiosity. A lot of it has moved to facebook. One of my nieces is hardcore Christian conservative, and lived for years with her boyfriend--unmarried. Not possible 40 years ago. But that living together never blipped on her radar screen as "sin," despite almost daily posts and wise christian thoughts about Jesus on social media. Decline in marriage, sure. Decline in commitment.

If Carney thinks churches and other community institutions are in decline, does his book ask what might be causing that? How would he explain the overwhelming evangelical support for Trump? Are those folks alienated too?

You raise some very valid points. I, for one, haven't read the book. When Ana Marie Cox and the sub host (I forget her name, I just know Josh Barro wasn't on) were talking they did discuss the value of secular groups as well and he seemed to be in agreement with the idea. They discussed the disillusionment with the religious institutions they had previously had faith in (in the wake of sexual abuse scandals specifically), but they didn't get into some of this and it would've been good to hear. It's a very valid criticism, especially when thinking about the large evangelical support Trump receives.

However, my only counter to that would be that the evangelical idea of the American Dream is likely also seen as under attack, which draws them to him. It's a little different than those truly alienated, but it could be evidence that the lack of church, or community more broadly, is not an underlying cause in the loss of the American Dream. Meanwhile, inter-generational socioeconomic mobility in this country is lower than other WEIRD nations, and since the American Dream is predicated on that whole idea it begs the question that maybe this is where the problem truly lies. The main idea, the loss of the American Dream being the cause of support for Trump, may hold true, but what causes that loss may be different than the author thinks.