The Politics of Resentment: Rural Consciousness in Wisconsin and the Rise of Scott Walker by Katherine J
This book examines the rise of Scott Walker, the former Wisconsin governor, and the role of rural consciousness in his political success. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with rural Wisconsinites, Katherine J. Cramer provides an in-depth look at the politics of resentment that has
The politics of resentment, sometimes called grievance politics, describes strategies that convert perceived injustices into collective claims that can reorder party systems when globalization, demographic change, or state restructuring unsettle expectations, then channels them toward a concrete outgroup or elite. Researchers distinguish multiple channels through which actors translate anger into policy agendas, allowing analysts to compare movements across regions and election cycles. It is not confined to any one ideology or geography. It can be fused with populism, nationalism, cultural conservatism, or left protest. Scholars now treat it as an identifiable mode of political communication and organization with distinct psychological, sociological, and territorial drivers.