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Robert Wuthnow

Friday 19th of April 2024

Abortion [E]vidence from national surveys shows that the odds of being against abortion under all circumstances with the only exception of rape or incest rises steadily as town size decreases, taking into account other differences due to age, gender, education, and region. Compared to cities of at least 250,000, the odds of opposing abortion in the smallest towns are more than three times higher. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
Bad news The odd thing about most of the reportage interpreting rural America is that it has nothing to do with the communities in which rural Americans live. It's all about private resentments and personal attitudes. It's as if rural Americans spent their time in isolation pondering only their pocketbooks. citation Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
Morality When a moral order begins to crumble, the implications run wider and deeper. Its slide diminishes trust while bolstering protective energies. Asking “How can the problems be solved” leads to questions about who is to blame. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
Rural America Exit polls showed that 62 percent of the rural vote went to Donald Trump, compared with 50 percent of the suburban vote and only 35 percent of the urban vote. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
Rural America The moral outrage of rural America is a mixture of fear and anger. The fear is that  small-town ways of life are disappearing. The anger is that they are under siege. The outrage cannot be understood apart from the loyalties that rural Americans feel toward their communities. It stems from the fact that the social expectations, relationships, and obligations that constitute the moral communities they take for granted and in which they live are year by year being fundamentally fractured. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
Rural America Of the 19,000 incorporated places in the United States, 18,000 of them have populations less than 25,000. 14,000 are located outside of an urbanized area. This is rural America.  Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
Rural America Rural communities are places of moral obligation. Residents can live there and be so independent that they rarely speak to anyone else. But if they do live that way, they are treated as outsiders. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
Rural America Rural communities's view of Washington usually emerge in two competing narratives: on the one hand, the government ignores us and doesn't do anything to help with our problems, and, on the other hand, the government constantly intrudes in our lives without understanding us and thus makes our problems worse. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
Rural America Their sense of moral obligation cuts both ways: don't be a burden if you can help it, and pitch in generously when you can be of help. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind, on rural Americans © 2018 Kwiple.com
Rural America These relationships, obligations, and common understandings are what I have called the “moral community.” … Being part of a moral community, even when it sits lightly on people's shoulders, means that sensing your community is declining and your young people are falling behind is a reflection in small measure on you. You may not be affected personally, but you are part of a failing community. The school that closes is yours. You may be well educated yourself, but you feel that people consider you a hick simply because of where you live. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com
 
Rural America What seems right is what has seemed right for a long time. Robert Wuthnow, The Left Behind © 2018 Kwiple.com