What's The Matter With Kansas?

In 2004, historian Thomas Frank proposed a theory about the rightward drift of the white working class. Was he a prescient king whose work presaged the rise of Trump — or a bumbling fool with a broken thesis? Unfortunately it turns out he is a secret third thing that takes one hour and six minutes to explain.

Special thanks to Julia Valdés for her help with this episode!

Where to find us:
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4 (fivefourpod.com)
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase (maintenancephase.com)
Sources:
• The Thesis That Drove American Politics Crazy: The Emerging Democratic Majority (capitalresearch.org/article/the-thesis-that-dr…)
• What’s the Matter with What’s the Matter with Kansas? (vanneman.umd.edu/socy789b/Bartels06.pdf)
• Class is Dismissed (tcfrank.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/TCFRANK…)
• The White Working Class and the Democratic Party (brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/04_de…)
• It’s time to bust the myth: Most Trump voters were not working class. (washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/06…)
• How the diploma divide came to dominate American politics (washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/10/01/underst…)
• The 'Diploma Divide': Does It Exist for Racial and Ethnic Minorities? (ippsr.msu.edu/public-policy/michigan-wonk-blog…)
• Blind Retrospection: Why Shark Attacks Are Bad For Democracy (vanderbilt.edu/csdi/research/CSDI_WP_05-2013.pdf)
• Nationally poor, locally rich: Income and local context in the 2016 presidential election (scholars.northwestern.edu/en/publications/nati…)
• Democracy for Realists: Why Elections Do Not Produce Responsive Government (press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691169…)
• Identity Crisis: The 2016 Presidential Campaign and the Battle for the Meaning of America (press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691196…)
• Political Landscapes of Donald Trump (routledge.com/Political-Landscapes-of-Donald-T…)
• The White Working Class and the 2016 Election (noamlupu.com/Carnes_Lupu_WWC.pdf)
• Partisanship by family income, home ownership, union membership and veteran status (pewresearch.org/politics/2024/04/09/partisansh…)
• The Elites Had It Coming (nytimes.com/2024/11/09/opinion/democrats-trump…)
• What Explains Educational Realignment Among White Americans? (williammarble.co/docs/EducPolarization.pdf)
Thanks to Mindseye (mindseye-music.bandcamp.com/track/the-place-be…) for our theme song!
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