Why do political movements sometimes deliver economic policies that appear to conflict with the material interests of many of their supporters? How can cultural resentment become a durable source of institutional power?
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Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world.
In What’s the Matter with Kansas? How Conservatives Won the Heart of America, Thomas Frank investigates the political transformation of Kansas and the rise of the Great Backlash—a conservative movement that mobilized voters through cultural and religious grievances while supporting a strongly pro-business economic agenda.
This Deep Dive explores the institutional machinery behind that transformation. From the decline of Kansas's agrarian Populist traditions to the 1991 Summer of Mercy and the changing priorities of the Republican Party, we examine how political identity, organizational incentives, and economic policy interact.
Frank also directs criticism toward Democrats for abandoning traditional class-based economic appeals, raising a broader question about the political choices available to working-class communities.
At the center of this investigation is a structural tension: the grievances that mobilize voters do not always correspond to the interests that dominate policymaking after an election.
By examining economic concentration, labor insecurity, religious mobilization, and political agenda-setting, the episode offers a framework for understanding how cultural and economic power can reinforce one another.
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