Political & Economic Sociology / Race & Ethnicity Studies / Sociology of Culture

Joe the Plumber and Good Ol' American Reductionism

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U67Eg-3jP5k] by PThrelfall Joe the Plumber, the Johnny-come-late hero of the failing McCain-Palin presidential campaign, was a call to Americans to identify themselves, and hence the candidates, using a perspective that assumes that we are what we do.  Moreover, the subliminal message was that we are who we associate with.  In this sense, the campaign was attempting to build their social capital with a particular segment of middle American voters.  Theories of social capital include arduous debates on issues of...