The Overlooked Americans

March 20, 2023
In this astute survey, Currid-Halkett (The Sum of Small Things), a professor of urban planning and public policy at the University of Southern California, challenges the “myth” of an America split apart by geography. Drawing on statistical data and interviews with people from across the country, she debunks the prevailing view of small-town America as poorer, less educated, and more illiberal than the nation’s metropolitan areas. This skewed perspective, she claims, is based partly on ignorance, but mostly on media outlets that traffic in fear, anger, and anxiety and politicians who find value in sowing discord. While distinctions do exist (rural Americans talk more about religion, have a greater sense of community, and are less invested in meritocracy; urbanites are more outspoken about progressive issues like abortion rights and gay marriages and more accepting of the government), on objective measures such as income and voting behavior and subjective measures such as happiness and empathy, Currid-Halkett’s research reveals more similarities than differences. Though she highlights numerous issues facing America, including vaccine skepticism, climate denialism, and educational inequality, Currid-Halkett is a strong believer in “our shared sense of humanity our belief in each other.” Idealistic yet well-grounded, this is a refreshing antidote to doom and gloom prognostications of where America is headed.

April 1, 2023
A lively dismantling of preconceptions about the rural U.S. Currid-Halkett, a professor of public policy and author of The Sum of Small Things and The Warhol Economy, makes a convincing case that the sharp divide we have come to imagine exists between urban and rural America is more a result of lazy or prejudiced journalism than reality. Using an intriguing combination of statistical analysis and extensive telephone interviews with a range of residents, she argues that "the depiction of rural America as a cultural backwater, rife with pathologies and problems," doesn't reflect the lived experience of the 20% of Americans who live in areas defined as rural. In fact, residents of these areas have lives as "varied and diverse" as those in cities. In particular, the author found very little evidence of anger directed by residents of rural areas toward city dwellers. Examining "the ongoing narrative of the poor, angry Trump voter" and taking a deep dive into the data, she found "not that Trump voters are angry, poor, and left behind, but rather that they are in regions with high home ownership and low unemployment" and that "most people voted for him not because they felt left out of the economic system or desired a deeper reckoning, but rather because they wanted to." (Many readers may wonder why they wanted to.) The author suggests that when urban Americans think about rural America, they tend to think about Appalachia and, in particular, West Virginia, areas that have been ravaged by opioid abuse but whose experiences do not reflect small-town life as a whole. Currid-Halkett, who grew up in rural Pennsylvania and now lives in Los Angeles, found the process of getting to know her interviewees, often over a long period of time, a positive experience. "To sit on the phone for an hour or so with each of these people," she writes, "was one of the most heartening experiences of my life." A hopeful and provocative analysis bound to raise discussion.

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