Fear and Loathing in the Heartland: Status Insufficiency, Resentment, and the Future of American Democracy

The current technological and economic transformations spurred by globalization are having detrimental effects on White rural communities’ social status. The status-power theory of social relations predicts that status insufficiency results in negative emotions. To remedy these negative emotions White rural residents are devaluing those they hold responsible for their current despair. To understand this phenomena more thoroughly, I utilize 2012 American National Election Survey (ANES) data to model geographic place of residence, racial resentment, and egalitarian attitudes. Results indicate that there is initial evidence of heightened racial resentment in rural areas that negatively effects egalitarian attitudes. However, it is the inclusion of demographic and political self-identification variables that emerge as more significant in predicting racial resentment and egalitarian attitudes.