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headsup's avatar

I guess the author is directing his criticism at journalists specifically because there are many who have tried to explain "the other side".

These are a few books, a number by scholars who "lived the life" of the lower class (aka poor). Are their explanations too theoretical?

Poverty, by America, New York: Crown, 2023 by Matthew Desmond

Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents Kindle Edition by Isabel Wilkerson

Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis Hardcover by J. D. Vance (Author)

Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America Kindle Edition by Barbara Ehrenreich

Strangers in Their Own Land by Arlie Russell Hochschild

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Ralph J Hodosh's avatar

Everyone has preconceived notions that lead to confirmational biases. It's just that the elites in the media and elsewhere have the time and resources to hone their preconceived notions through the fine art of theorizing. If the data collected in elite circles do not match a theory, the data are rejected and the theory remains intact until a problem becomes unavoidable. However, problems by definition impact theorizers after they impact just about everyone else.

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