How Falling Behind the Joneses Fueled the Rise of Trump
The median new house in the U.S. is now 50 percent larger than it was in 1980, even though the median income has grown only slightly in real terms. Houses are growing faster than incomes because of a process I call “expenditure cascades.”
.. A family at the median income level would reasonably aspire to send its children to schools of at least average quality. But to do that, it would have to buy or rent a house near the median of its city’s housing price distribution. And that’s become significantly harder to do.
.. “the inflation-adjusted cost of the average wedding in the U.S. was $31,000 in 2015, up from about $10,000 in 1980.”
.. Growing income inequality in the U.S. has meant that as those at the top are able bid up the price of valued goods like housing and access to good schools, those in lower groups have struggled to maintain their positions.
.. A September 2014 Demos study found that median white family wealth is $134,000. Among whites in the working class, however — the bottom 32.1 percent — the average net worth is $0.
.. For some of these men, there is a less talked-about sense of status displacement that stems from the surge of women, including wives, girlfriends and daughters, into the work force. This has served to focus attention on the erosion of the traditional male self-image as provider and protector.
.. Trump’s supporters — more than any other candidate’s — believe that society would benefit if “women adhere to traditional gender roles.”
.. For working class whites, Vandello wrote, the loss of their privileged status and loss of manufacturing jobs go to the
core of what it means to be a man in our culture — being the protector and provider.
.. the practice among liberal interest groups of
highlighting group differences, cultures, etc. has contributed to Trump’s appeal, especially given that white men are often blamed for being oppressive or the source of many of the issues being protested.
.. Of course respect for women and racial minorities isnot political correctness — it is just decency. But well-known excesses in the policing of speech have handed Trump a gift: he can rationalize despicable attitudes as honest reactions to political correctness. In this way he multiplies the effectiveness of his taboo-shattering campaign. Supporters don’t perceive him as merely publicizing their ugly private beliefs; they perceive him as speaking truth to power.