OUTCLASSED

A meticulous review of the political and culture beliefs that fuel the class divide in the United States.

If you yearn to immerse yourself in the intricacies of polling data, you will love this book. The author of White Working Class and a self-proclaimed “data devotee,” Williams believes that if the educated elites of the left better understood the material bases of the values of the right-leaning lower-middle class and used that understanding to form multiracial coalitions of respect and mutual benefit, the current divisiveness roiling America would be muted. As she optimistically writes: “People who, in good faith, have a plurality of values and work together…can live peacefully together.” She accuses the left of harboring a class blindness that denigrates conservative beliefs and treats conservatives as either duped or deplorable. Yet, conservative values are embedded in the same factors that contribute to the inequality and racism that the left condemns. Here lies common ground for solidarity in the face of corporate and financial greed. In making her case, Williams covers a wide range of issues from marriage and masculinity to religion and climate change. Relentless attention to statistical data and to the many slight variations within and across political groupings overwhelms her reasoning, making the book work better as a source of information than as a coherent political argument. Moreover, she barely addresses the subtitle’s promise to craft a way to “win back” the working class, with “win back” implying that the educated left occupies the moral high ground and that working-class conservatives need to be the ones to compromise.

Williams deftly debunks liberal myths and, with generosity, finds moral value in conservative politics.