(AGENPARL) – mer 16 novembre 2022 Having trouble viewing this press release? [Read it online](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6gTQXqoFtB58fI1KeAEfz1wA-2Ff0TrjYTRx3Oekr9z0JDdU4n-2Bpcl5YApUd7DYFsAYDf6Nes7nZO2acPWUMLQ8hRfsBxKk1q-2FOI8ng9LzqjhDAoEsL60Ohdrbicp92MEjcw-3D-3DFvaa_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nsh849bq5-2FnCl2dAd3eHOMy-2F-2FwDx-2FMY6L-2FR7BD7hkq6shGnynrsk66U7HtIe1jYz0eUFaD56A5QbG13rQAc4KP20EHBSTWc4baIjSDpTBRViH2VYJEQpCgOOgb7l3k2kG4OQKkr6N5erqCM9imH67jJh5PXsSc80MRuRPrfIT-2BvIHNrVRtcIUSEN-2FCJXpAWmUg-3D-3D).
https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6gTQXqoFtB58fI1KeAEfz1wA-2Ff0TrjYTRx3Oekr9z0JDdU4n-2Bpcl5YApUd7DYFsAYDf6Nes7nZO2acPWUMLQ8hRfsBxKk1q-2FOI8ng9LzqjhDAoEsL60Ohdrbicp92MEjcw-3D-3DkdLY_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3niHMZ3SaK6GnyFSU-2FgPKHKAeEz9QzqSEkQJ5rw5080cPYKHJuSqwstiawbA-2F2ROKcD7rBOyIlN9ttZx-2BMVjTvGap3boJnY5xTET4ulhadS8r65npi43WGQBrv-2F5b7pvDsh0XoMqxN0G9qv2g0eJ6upp9cbzQGjNUBjynqYhG-2FNrL6A7mpam0sBAY7fa6f5ueAA-3D-3D
For immediate release
[Loss, fear and rage: Are white men rebelling against democracy?](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6gTQXqoFtB58fI1KeAEfz1wA-2Ff0TrjYTRx3Oekr9z0JDdU4n-2Bpcl5YApUd7DYFsAYDf6Nes7nZO2acPWUMLQ8hRfsBxKk1q-2FOI8ng9LzqjhDAoEsL60Ohdrbicp92MEjcw-3D-3Dcy9D_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nrXHz77bpvO6wH7zogb8wHg-2Bh5mLllbziKgs0CW82ptVbqT6eFJ4FGsdgCXWVWsDEKGHa7-2B54hnBEKXMqXM3HjrUF7KmoaQPR0HU2LQhfKl-2FVKop1Ru3pIThZje1X13YYZHSWlJzLVoncskxcvZJyG-2BpodYebkNSaYRMLxw6-2B6BRrkbF6N7a-2Byge1G95W5VBfA-3D-3D)
By Edward Lempinen | Media Relations
November 15, 2022
https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6gTQXqoFtB58fI1KeAEfz1wA-2Ff0TrjYTRx3Oekr9z0JDdU4n-2Bpcl5YApUd7DYFsAYDf6Nes7nZO2acPWUMLQ8hRfsBxKk1q-2FOI8ng9LzqjhDAoEsL60Ohdrbicp92MEjcw-3D-3DQLJu_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3npNqsmEA1Vjxn3yjsuksYanuJGDWoK6mW9Mp-2Bs3Dloa0ORFIyJ5O3etawmyvyC0FytVnVuq5qzZuDBSGp5YGowbbffOBUO55DAb2KXPgvbMdwaYpALpH9HDmpFbovZoc9lqqClN-2BPwGrn6Dvd22T7-2B-2BmESceZoQ6tc7Jec6Gub3x7gxbZVinVmnn-2BWAhgf9GUw-3D-3D
During the midterm election campaign, U.S. Senate candidate Blake Masters of Arizona embodied a modern political archetype: A white man with deep grievances and conspiracy theories — and weapons as a thinly veiled threat against democracy. (Photo from Masters for Senate campaign video)
Berkeley — In the aftermath of David DePape’s attempt to kidnap U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and his hammer assault on her husband, Paul, analysts pored over the suspect’s online postings, looking for motivation among a toxic stew of grievance. Some connected him to the spirit of the January 6 right-wing mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol. Many seemed to see him as just another inexplicable flashpoint in the explosive politics of our time.
The attack arguably fits a broader pattern, though, one that extends from Donald Trump’s use of the “birther” conspiracy to delegitimize Barack Obama, the nation’s first Black president, to the torchlight parade of young neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va., and from the Supreme Court decisions this year that expanded gun rights and rescinded abortion rights to the venomous narratives spun by some hard-right candidates in this fall’s election campaigns.
Each of these chapters feels like a violation of democratic processes and the democratic spirit, often rising from some compound of racism, sexism, homophobia and antisemitism. But in a series of interviews, Berkeley scholars traced a thread that seems to weave among our conflicts:
After decades of economic, political and cultural change, a makeshift force of white men is rebelling against democracy.
“The way certain developments in the economy, in politics and in the social world have gone in the last 40 years has led to working-class white men … feeling like their authority has been undermined,” said sociologist Raka Ray, dean of social sciences at UC Berkeley. “When you get strong feelings of anger and despair in a group or a population, that can turn very quickly into giving encouragement to the politics of resentment or the politics of revenge.”
To be sure, the anti-democratic movement features some prominent women. Millions of American men, meanwhile, have adapted to the transformational social changes and often embraced them, and now oppose today’s threats against democracy.
But the Berkeley scholars, across a range of disciplines, suggest that for millions of men — most of them white, many of them working-class — these decades have seemed like a time of unravelling. Industries are dying, and their wages are stagnant. Their political power and cultural status are diminished. Core ideas about manhood and masculinity are in flux.
Though white men as a whole remain dominant across society, the scholars said their widespread feelings of loss and insecurity are linked to deep psychological reactions — a sort of bitter nostalgia, a sense they are being cheated and left behind, a growing conviction that they must take justice into their own hands.
Political scientist David C. Wilson, dean of the Goldman School of Public Policy at Berkeley, said this deep-seated resentment has been activated by fears that the merit system in America is being overturned, and that the dominant system of privilege will be replaced by undeserving minority voices seeking special considerations based purely on race. Such fears are amplified by the appeals of public figures who are anti-change and supported by dark-money donors and right-wing media — with powerful effect.
“There’s not just one thing — it’s a host of things that signal to these men that change is coming,” Wilson said. “And people are concerned about it to the point that they’re willing to give up some of the longstanding principles and practices of democracy.”
Structural change poses an unprecedented threat to men’s power and identity
In the memory of many men over 40 years old, there is a time not long past when it was possible to have a solid job in manufacturing or mining — a good job with union pay and benefits, enough to take care of a family.
“There’s a long period — the period from the end of World War II up until 1973 — where you see white men earning breadwinner wages, rising wages,” said sociologist Leslie Salzinger, chair of Gender and Women’s Studies at Berkeley. “There was a higher share of profits going to labor as opposed to capital. There were more workers in unions.
“But…you just see all of that falling off over time.”
In his new book [“Slouching Toward Utopia,”](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6nmVjQ-2Fsi9QcNqPuIcyPjV3OA3jJ7CoJvWJEZf4tz93Fr2d1pvpPaK4m7L9TCmu9nponwz0QgYTXmFKxKPT3X8HEtg6bD8gcFO5fVKSSABJB-2FqZzNrF6olSwA-2B5mxBVADw-3D-3D-MAG_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nvl995rdwB3HjnDf9752cTfHparlrUpIo2GwV3gDpUFBZ9RXT9sZJM61gGQyd7dpUJIQ7IkokRXY4ht-2F6nXaYAA1H2ZPJ3cYtwFeDwh9NrfJkE-2BBUdS865Y8liOqy1B2Rr9Ooza3sZJPlO0U-2BgmwrV3hnjRsZ-2FdxNl0ONk8s3-2BHQhFt-2BdgfsMC-2BU3b-2F9laTyMg-3D-3D) Berkeley economist J. Bradford DeLong argues that the cycle of change and rebirth has played out continually in the American economy for some 150 years. Starting in 1870, he writes, the pace of technological change quadrupled, followed by accelerating social change.
“In every generation, entire occupations, industries, livelihoods and communities are simply swept away,” DeLong said in an interview. “The market judges that they’re no longer profitable, and we need to shut them down. So there are enormous stresses on the society, in every single generation.”
Since the middle of the 20th century, that stress has fallen most heavily on working-class men in the old industrial and mining regions of the country — the steel and auto plants of today’s Rust Belt, the mining regions of Appalachia, the timber economy of the Pacific Northwest.
In 1950, DeLong said, 30% of U.S. workers were in manufacturing jobs, but they account for just 9% today. [In 1970](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6iJwkCzRReIlKq4tyqbSlbMG4BcTiyUkzU1HJQXqytT24BaJqtYgJTYPHdZ7YhcQWlVQQK5oSapx5LHRd7b4hvS-2BzXCbVvxPAkhTRxKuiyUP1zpi5k-2BklTfwm-2F1dd14s2cNUOMlkK9Bo1EEhaXgpWRN9-2B8JxRWzEQEvhmAtCim8fu9Alh6Iv9-2F8tw61uCkBKVI8XhAyJr9TiswkDCmgvx8a9QdBSa0Uzfmerxnf2-2BjksQ-2FDyF2HRdGd-2BLSmm3-2FPMkQ-3D-3DvliY_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3ntIhqxnRTGJnSHjbZfSd3QKdbWwq5exTRvUVWpMVXP7-2BGje8wkE52SWcv9YcpepoeLvvArhvLXini4R-2BZEptIk9O7jL8rdXXeZBSWXQ3fnHKZwkhkMfE-2BhQ6l4oSZgJjfRkHIx2oVoS3Z4PWKACaS3H9ddLJRnOiTegxf2fuOANNEGhnZpxDF3mijTuKYSVhEQ-3D-3D), 25.5 million workers were in manufacturing, compared to 8.4 million today. Jobs in mining and farming also have registered steep declines.
No surprise, then, that the wealth of white working-class men and families has fallen, too.
In 1970, [median income](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6v9snlKC1DRlkKCtgHB71fBErJw314HAoISd83GerJhgEZzdHwID7egNJ7RfCYrixN2N4s0AJh4HImWZGoJsvtrPYRz7WbkZZqnAD8Xabg0lc0d1f7y1KCrk9ocY1gjw2A-3D-3Dz4Cw_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nnIb2f9f1u42XJp-2Fpe-2BzSdbc3KFoCGe5Bol3AxyBunT0HjwRU2Dtw0zZNyC1iE-2Fvwa76-2FCK3xDbErWmjKaSR2-2BGvxtfRCcsZmTIsR9lTCpWYyD31Jf9k-2B4Smj-2Fm5PY0U7-2BTzh2C8r0IfH-2FgoCnONdV1-2BgsEhDzKYPuLabYd3TxNTIf-2FLnCNXdo4XXM-2FAO9zKNg-3D-3D) for white men was vastly higher than for any other group. Since then, however, their income has been roughly flat, while income for women and workers of color have slowly but steadily increased. In 1980, [white working-class families earned](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6l9eWk0wCk33Aeoq7z8QjkDsSBwsHcnYPh1nCmBdRzQ1BwJNbYHnQvahwvf480nDUa3Gt9z2pWFWe5Xa-2BsktXHr9nhznAlINhGou0B5nK61Qu2KT_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nuu2uHZ-2BhVgnmZ3E-2FxHAS-2FVKaXYAvbaiSfliaqrLJeDmU3zGL7ZJdiY17aKAH-2BWccNVNL1ogjTGn-2B0nt2qSfJIwQAMw97Ip1PkgZFnw25Qn3fUEKoL5kM50-2BwhwGRoNti0GhRqLl82C3Kq65KyAYQRvlrbFRa5ByvDVN9BTpbDM8opiH6E0OwburWM-2BmR38Dkw-3D-3D) 45% of total U.S. income, but by 2019 that fell to 27%, with a similar plunge in their share of total U.S. wealth.
Men’s struggles can be measured in a number of other metrics. Women now outnumber men [enrolled](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6tLu9kav2fCjsZY4i-2F7vt8-2BtlMRE9vo9wn6uIJAOseXf2E9M3kzUlwUCRiIWQRNoqA-3D-3DovxQ_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3ng3NY1FERLYJe6z-2FnIVRC3V3xuko23ohO5mt7ElG-2FzrZlUjWvyABrscP6S4k7M-2FpYwSL2nIsa39ExDDCgPMehfwur-2Bk3h43RTLVSNTe7GsdejTs3r7lPBf6TG5AxCMtj3JRdHdSq6q-2FjAz59LeieAKNTwkBQK888oXUcl0-2FI-2BI89FLF24LcShpTE9SNHlo-2Bc-2FQ-3D-3D) in U.S. colleges and universities, and among [degree-holders](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6rLTVORmikV-2FivrGVrPI0elp42Xh6XnO5he5MKM9z9DuGklDlI4B7QmQ2oKjxaFgJVopMJMV1fY0Ge21GPGy5iPeJmK0Fic68rZ1M0E8IMwCthmASoUEmUfWKc4CzS3UnQ-3D-3DN1IU_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nmlsNhSYiAhj22oGuZGd4Cf2NIzidBZE2Jyg6-2Bn123ImSViklwTo6zWyZPlvMifFHWAiLGQyiUKRzl8YLQhnNxVqOo0phb1kHw0BN0kpHeUyGB8LHpLnIFAxSfDVEzrypIvcutjagr2qOF2jutbX44IRJz-2BZUn77ZWXU7g4kMCV2Ho1-2BFLJlrQEx49r8orzctw-3D-3D) in the workforce. That means many men have diminished career and income prospects, which makes them less attractive as marriage partners. They’re [less sexually active](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6nM-2Fq9tObiFw1LXSLRlHs-2F-2BqDpJrD3-2B2Pls5WKEz7X0-2B0BT0h49UiSKCY2BkEtPogpDL2hyc6D6pttetYbjyqr4-3DRJQU_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nhMoBrRGQi4q5dQVpp-2BLFS38HFq-2FTsKwKCcyjPr39xCAWTNRghkQSvK8ot9nsvhAA-2Fz6P2NFPALaH-2B-2FBdcCp1VYwWthSSMo4-2BZ63qZzdSYHqPsHxArGJ0AgGSy8PkVOOd7sH7spyQRa-2BcQ8LS3VyEK6zaikwhybEwGzjvc7ttJ5J68d8QY4wayNq3WFdfIMdcA-3D-3D). Their [suicide rates](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6gcH0NqFIsi0itF0x7LqVK3YUamfJiet1Y83x798UcVdC0tGE-2Fz5Zzplyj2cUiKR2daYtENnjHXOJHkWIPGDHsE-3DD7DH_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nl1t4LcZ6UaeawIczA-2BuEWMrVbGaAadltUAXnGdTcw2Nwp7RUzKlb5G51WN1TpxQAQzEHW4h0AxlLUPM-2Bw-2FAgS-2F3XTubCPkdCpFm-2FiN6nW9Kl8gVwa8pYwlfNXD5zfKouQhJKyddnRau9KkLfADyFxVOUhzP-2F7We7urMUFZU5WB4sef-2FbMDjlwWIPzyGKa1a6w-3D-3D) are [spiking](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6mwWH8hePOLx3uJNKA9rmFpKdRSS6ACkJjkzeiOizFqntN6bBqY7396VqZhjXmUn-2BZ17kLaGBM6lpbQDvuczK86Q5-2BEm9dqmgCK206CA2ljqhJfeqnNH-2BP9qQsLtPURLWQ-3D-3DDso5_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3nn2CqLxTpSPyqrU-2FHj0eceKGLbtymezAKzQdxaT97EOi5CO7c8cWZCyCihrudjSpFuq43ZUb3AN4fcurmDmT4ptNYfmB0MF7UFUz-2FEG75oSc49CWCZfC47MLWZdbflvtUab2nRcZDlxLKPKe1SU8d9-2Fyz64qvEAp7knMAwZ44svUlpnHH6Z2cVVv-2Fh0CtenTcA-3D-3D).
Over the past 150 years, rapid, transformative change has produced repeated traumatic shocks, and the stresses predictably lead to “a severe rebellion, a severe political movement,” DeLong said.
“People say, ‘The system really is not working for us. We need to overthrow the system and replace it with something else,’” he explained. “And so whatever system was put in place a generation ago, whatever lines were drawn in political economy, whatever income distribution … you’re going to face a strong revolt against it in this generation.”
Five psychological forces driving the white male rebellion
What leads some men to viciously demonize a prominent woman politician like Hillary Rodham Clinton? What leads people to believe the conspiracy theory that Barack Obama is a Muslim, born in Kenya and therefore not a legitimate president?
Berkeley scholars say today’s anti-democratic impulse is profoundly complex. Economic dislocation is one driver. Racism, sexism and homophobia are a deeply rooted cultural legacy, and for centuries white men have used political force and actual violence to deny power to people of color, women and LGBTQIA+ communities.
And yet other deep forces are at work. In interviews, the scholars described five social and psychological dynamics that are driving some white men to revolt against democracy:
1. Organizing against perceived threats
Timothy Tangherlini is a folklorist in the Department of Scandinavian Studies at Berkeley, and his work has explored how “cultural ideology” is transmitted. One of the primal forces that hold communities together, Tangherlini said, is a process of defining enemies and organizing against threats.
“People are creatures of habit, so we like things to be the way they have been in the past,” he explained. “Then someone comes along and says, ‘Not only are things not going to be the way they were in the past, but the things that you value highly are not going to be valued highly anymore,’ or ‘You’re doing something that should not be valued highly.’
“People do not take well to that type of direct challenge to their norms, their beliefs, their values.”
2. Masculinity and self-worth in the “domain of loss”
Working-class men have had little power to protect themselves and their families from the changes of the past half-century, or from the Great Recession or the COVID-19 pandemic. That, Ray said, has left many questioning their own worth.
“Within a capitalist system, men were given the job of being breadwinners,” she explained. “So, when a man’s job is lost or income is lost, men feel diminished not just as workers, but as men, because they have failed to be providers. If we only think of lost income, we fail to correctly understand the source of their pain.”
In Western history, it’s not the lowest class that usually rebels — it’s the dominant class that loses power, said Berkeley political scientist Cecilia Hyunjung Mo.
As the authority of white men has declined, they understandably “start feeling discontent,” Mo explained. “They feel that they are in the domain of losses rather than the domain of gains, and generally, people are more emotionally affected by losses than by gains.”
Actual and perceived losses are particularly intolerable for men. “Think of how boys and men have been socialized,” she said. “You learn, as a man, that you’re supposed to be dominant, aggressive. You’re supposed to be competitive. You’re supposed to win.”
The discontent is even more pronounced when economic disruption harms some and favors others, said Ulrike Malmendier, co-director of Berkeley’s [Initiative for Behavioral Economics & Finance](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6no-2BD66tLxfv0TcfMD6XACcFR-2FLtiS3BRU-2FdXo0usVRr6w67_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3ngwvS5QBhr6ErzYdjAoeusvpk94F865FLPTA4vNQsVliXdRp9wMXP4uOdQgSq2vBcURjCHd5tquQU0gUJxHSFVjmkaah4ANg-2BzyF2CC7f1bLEoA9xWSgiknAnItUqhwT2GeVYV8sLobFkLq8fOdB77jEW-2FlppfayNG0SxUT8HRy6Vaf8XDgdCq9Nf8kRdNqdZw-3D-3D).
“You almost feel singled out,” Malmendier said. “You feel that disaster was specifically designed for you. Maybe it will generate an us-versus-them feeling — in behavioral economics, we have a lot of evidence on that. That could exacerbate depression and polarization.”
3. Blaming those who break the “rules”
People in communities suffering such loss of status struggle to see themselves as primarily responsible — and resentment motivates unbreakable chains of blame, denial and avoidance, said Wilson, the Goldman School dean. “If you ask most people in this state of loss, ‘Is this your fault?’, they tend to say, ‘Hell no, it’s not my fault!’ They are motivated to attribute gains to themselves, but losses to others.”
For example, technological and economic change may explain the decline of Rust Belt towns or old farming communities. But Wilson, co-author of [“Racial Resentment in the Political Mind,”](https://link.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com/ls/click?upn=uDPfAnrJXoDw8-2BCe3b2e6u09HpyKoOaW6-2Bp1vIiI3TuGq4mbEMA9n3-2FFGuF3xas-2Fv2lDzNWgqv2m3R32jm1jT0UQiXtG-2BJcIWEA2OgyHpcU-3DXYvb_mLoYh0p4AWg4foFr5HgrZ1QioQ33bLwdnQ-2BsYGKFX9mv8wVBOgi5GpVq-2FNhlrfTl-2BTI61oGMQNfTGLPKQc-2F-2BKWIb2uEidh5Cy9Snrxt2Kvdg46NMTv1EBYVNMuj4LXg-2FFEzKCjG2y1gu6i4zGr4Il9g0iAwh3I4v5RWA9GKQ-2FeAYtT7b2wVFhTjUPfpDe-2BTfMJB-2B-2BU-2FqRj7j-2FW2GCyO3ngMJcWanfq1Nf8klJegvar7e5zYi4rraqu4dd-2FWKHulom68mA7c9i3Pn6HIbNQJaIWQx3nLEqSdDINPPEoUOXWm8g8WHZ7mO3-2B-2FRIZKxAeUSy4Ea4IivKqf2EwvEOkoLQA0H0BX0PtU5p28WJ38GiWH385A9EKu3JFY2H5btSkGak-2BvQWQvJK9yMwstgA3ZIKQ-3D-3D) said, residents there may be inclined to turn their ire on people of color or immigrants, or on “elites” perceived to promote and benefit from the political and policy change.
Some white people get upset when employment or school enrollment programs help improve the economic and social conditions of Black or Latinx people, even though those groups have suffered generations of discrimination and even when they work hard for what they achieve. They’re angry that undocumented immigrants get jobs, even when the jobs are difficult and low-paid. They’re outraged when a trans woman seeks to compete on a woman’s swim team, even when such examples are vanishingly rare.