Abstract
In recent years, there have been growing calls to address various divisions and inequalities in the United States that have only continued to widen. Social class divisions have been at the forefront of these calls, particularly as Americans come to believe that these divisions are natural, inevitable, and deserved. In Dividing Paradise: Rural Inequality and the Diminishing American Dream, Sherman offers an incisive and theoretical ethnographic exploration of how these divisions flourish and are sustained in the rural community of Paradise Valley, Washington. Sherman focuses on the varied and unequal access to both material and symbolic resources between “old-timers” and “newcomers” in a community that has successfully grown and strengthened its economy through amenity development. In examining how these divisions are legitimized, Sherman documents what she refers to as “class blindness,” which she explains is “the failure to acknowledge these differences and the unequal access to power and opportunities that they create” (p. 12). With careful attention to the ways in which social, cultural, human, and moral capital structure the experience of daily social life, Paradise Valley provides a compelling case study through which we can better understand how we come to “accept, normalize, and justify privilege and disadvantage on the basis of social class” (p. 13). As a result, this book is a valuable resource for anyone interested in social and economic inequality, rural sociology, and community development.
In telling the story of Paradise Valley, Sherman delves into the complexities and nuances of the division between old-timers and newcomers. The book focuses on the perspectives and experiences of both groups and highlights their similarities and differences. The old-timers, as Sherman describes, are primarily working-class, many of whom moved to the town during an earlier period of economic growth, and generally have limited access to real and symbolic resources. The newcomers are those who have lived in the town for a shorter period, are primarily wealthy urbanites, and have access to considerable amounts of social and symbolic capital. Moving between both sides of the division, Sherman then turns toward addressing “the ways in which their worlds interact with and influence each other” (p. 16). Sherman is careful to avoid making judgments about either group as she documents the continued forms of inequality present in the community. The book is not intended to accuse or condemn either group. Instead, as Sherman concludes, the purpose of the book is to develop a “call to both sides to recognize the toxic impacts of deepening inequality and the damage it does to our communities and our nation” (p. 196).
The book is divided into seven chapters and includes an epilogue and two methodological appendices. Each chapter explores a different aspect of the divisions between the old-timers and newcomers in Paradise Valley. For example, Sherman moves from the perceptions of old-timers on changes to the community in chapter two to the reasons newcomers have for migrating to the town and the challenges that they face in chapter three. To develop her analysis of the persistence of inequality in Paradise Valley, Sherman uses an extended case method to draw on a combination of ethnographic participation and open-ended interviews. In addition to completing 10 months of ethnographic fieldwork in Paradise Valley between September 2014 and July 2015, Sherman also conducted 84 in-depth interviews with residents of the community. The ethnographic component of the research involved active engagement in daily life in Paradise Valley to build relationships with both groups. These activities ranged from volunteering for social events and shopping at local stores to line dancing and rock-climbing with community members, among others. Although just under half of the interviews were conducted with old-timers, Sherman develops a diverse sample of participants across the class spectrum. Sherman’s work provides a model for any reader who might be interested in developing a qualitative research project focused on rural communities.
In the first chapter (“Rural Deindustrialization, Decline, and Rebirth”), Sherman begins with a brief overview of the history of Paradise Valley, the research methods used, and the general structure of the book. In developing the foundation for the following chapters, the first chapter also situates what is happening in Paradise Valley in a broader landscape of rural decline, amenity-based growth, and widening forms of social inequality across the country. The second chapter (“Changing Times in Paradise”) provides an in-depth exploration of Paradise Valley, how its economy has developed over time, and the current state of the community. This chapter charts more clearly the similarities and divisions between old-timers and newcomers, acknowledging that there are residents of the community who will find themselves somewhere in the middle of these groups. With a focus on old-timers’ perceptions of how the community has changed over time, Sherman provides thoughtful, clear examples of the ways in which cultural norms between these two groups clash and structure how they make sense of each other.
Chapter three (“Living the Dream: Newcomers Making It Work in Paradise”) shifts to focus on the newcomers to the community. Sherman documents their motivations for moving to Paradise Valley along with accompanying challenges. For example, Sherman notes that newcomers often made economic and career sacrifices to relocate to the isolated rural town and found they needed to make changes to their lifestyles and social lives in adjusting to the challenges that come with living in such a community. However, as Sherman details, for the majority of newcomers, these challenges “were mitigated by their personal and social advantages in the community, which allowed them to flourish there” (p. 81). This chapter also introduces and expands on the concept of class blindness to explain how newcomers typically do not acknowledge their advantages in terms of access to social and symbolic forms of capital and, instead, emphasize a lack of work ethic and moral value as the reason behind old-timers’ struggles.
Chapter four (“Trouble in Paradise: Old-Timers’ Struggles to Survive”) turns toward the lives of old-timers, their rationales for staying in Paradise Valley, and the struggles and challenges that they encounter. Sherman notes that old-timers often have substantial attachments to the valley but experience hardships in terms of work, housing, and family. Reluctant to ask for help, old-timers emphasize that receiving support from formal services such as food banks or local charities is highly stigmatized. In turn, as Sherman argues, “In addition to these economic, labor market, housing, and childcare challenges, old-timers faced an increasing marginalization from Paradise Valley’s social world” (p. 119).
Having established both sides of the divisions in Paradise Valley, chapter five (“‘Certain Circles’: The Deepening Divide”) aims to bring them together to address the role of symbolic capital in justifying the social divide. This chapter focuses extensively on access to and the impact of social, cultural, human, and moral capital on the reproduction of inequality. Sherman draws on local schools as a thoughtful example of the ways in which the social divide between old-timers and newcomers is reinforced to develop her analysis of the different trajectories and experiences of both groups. In doing so, Sherman’s work is committed to “making visible what is often invisible to those on the ground who have many ways to ignore, justify, and reify social class differences” (p. 18).
Chapter six (“Paradise Lost: Making Sense of Community Change and the Elusive American Dream”) returns to the concept of class blindness and diminished access to the American Dream. Sherman argues that the experiences and forms of inequality emerging in Paradise Valley are not unique to this rural town. Rather, the valley may offer a window into the ways in which Americans “become increasingly divided in their daily lives, interactions, politics, and worldviews” (p. 159). The chapter examines both the frustrations and angers experienced by old-timers and the altruistic intentions and desires of newcomers as they come to shape the contours of daily social life in the valley. Without the ability to focus on larger structural causes of the social divides, neither group’s perspective allows them to develop a constructive pathway toward improvement and better community relations and understanding.
Chapter seven (“Crossing the Divide and Reclaiming the Dream”) documents that the persistent forms of inequality present in Paradise Valley mirror those that are developing across the country. The valley, despite being an isolated rural town, functions as a microcosm for broader issues of social division and marginalization. Although rural places and people have tended to be overlooked in sociological research, Sherman’s exploration of the production of social inequality illustrates the importance of attending to these areas. In this concluding chapter, Sherman outlines that there is still hope for Paradise Valley and for the United States more generally to reduce disconnection, division, and class blindness. In the epilogue (“The Rural Dream in the Pandemic’s Wake”), Sherman revisits Paradise Valley following the coronavirus pandemic to reflect on its impact on existing forms of social inequality and new challenges it may have created. The real estate market is used to highlight the need for continued attention to towns like Paradise Valley to address how the pandemic may have exacerbated inequalities.
Throughout its careful analysis of social and economic inequality and how residents of this community come to understand their places, Dividing Paradise focuses almost exclusively on social class divisions. Sherman acknowledges this limitation, suggesting that this attention is “not meant to minimize the impacts of other types of divisions” (p. 204) or to suggest that it is the only important form of inequality. Although the book does not offer any large-scale suggestions for solutions or ways to improve these divisions, Sherman argues that the future success of our communities “must be addressed at the macro scale, along with action at the community level” (p. 205). Additional scholarship on axes of division and hierarchies of value and belonging in rural communities that may supplement Sherman’s work include Romero’s (2020) exploration of progressive prosecution and minority communities of color in rural settings; Dwyer, Ball, and Barker’s (2015) study on the ways in which LGBTQ+ people in rural spaces are simultaneously marginalized by and support rural policing; and Stiman’s (2020) analysis of how residents of an amenity-based rural community discursively frame second homeowners as a vital aspect of the town’s economy.
Dividing Paradise could be implemented in both undergraduate and graduate sociology courses. This book would be particularly useful in undergraduate courses on rural places and people, families, social and economic inequality, community development, gender, and qualitative research methods. I plan to use the book as a key text for my “Rural Life, Crime, and Justice” course in spring 2024. For other courses, instructors could assign combinations of various chapters throughout the semester. For example, in a class on families or gender, chapter three (“Living the Dream”) would offer an exploration of how newcomers needed to adapt to familial and gender roles in Paradise Valley. For a class on research methods, chapter two (“Changing Times in Paradise”) and the two methodological appendices provide a comprehensive overview of how to develop and conduct an ethnographic project in an isolated community in which access can be difficult to guarantee. Chapter five (“‘Certain Circles’”) would also prove beneficial for a class focused on inequalities or controversial social issues for its focus on symbolic capital.
Although the book is a relatively fast read and the selected interview excerpts are deeply engaging, for courses that may not be able to assign the book or its chapters, Sherman’s (2023) article in Social Problems drawing from the same research may be useful. For courses on qualitative research methods or academic writing, it might be especially interesting to compare and contrast the book and the article, taking careful note of what does and does not get included in either version. Additionally, a graduate research methods class might be well positioned to develop a discussion of the promises and pitfalls of data transparency in qualitative research. For example, Sherman anonymizes the town and residents and also omits citations of public sources and information used in her research as an additional measure to ensure anonymity. Although pseudonyms and anonymization have typically been standard in qualitative research, there are growing concerns about decisions to mask rural research sites. As Seelig (2021) suggests, refusing transparency around rurality runs the risk of being unable to draw on specific characteristics of rural areas and, consequently, performing an act of methodological erasure that further minimizes the importance of rural places.
Additionally, TRAILS offers several activities that would pair well with sections of Dividing Paradise. King (2016), for example, provides guidelines for a class activity on the conceptual tool of place character and its significance in the process of economic development. This activity could easily be adapted to address Sherman’s focus on the complications that accompany amenity-based tourism and economic growth through exploring the place character of rural communities. Sherman’s research may help to complicate King’s class activity through the attention to the lives and experiences of those who live in rural communities and how they make sense of the similarities and differences between them. Redlin’s (2010) exercise in data recreation and analysis may also be a beneficial additional because it would provide students with the opportunity to develop and explore research questions of their own about rural places and people. The selected survey questions in the activity could be collaboratively updated and refined as a class after reading sections of Dividing Paradise. Instructors may also find it useful to pair the book with Tigges and Quark’s (2010) assignment on gender and work in rural America as an exercise in practicing a sociological imagination and addressing how seemingly interpersonal problems are reflective of broader social issues. For those just getting started with teaching about rural sociology, Sherman’s book would be a thoughtful supplement to Sparkman’s (2020) syllabus for an introductory class on rural society, culture, and inequalities. Finally, for faculty at rural institutions or those at institutions that serve rural students, pairing this book with Stough-Hunter and Lekies’s (2023) discussion on first-generation rural students may be particularly beneficial for better understanding, advising, and mentoring students from rural places.
Given its wide range in audience, Dividing Paradise will engage readers who may relate to the experiences associated with rurality and inequality described in this book. Additionally, because Sherman draws on contemporary sociological theorists to address the role of symbolic capital, along with the management of social and symbolic boundaries, this book will also appeal to academic researchers. In addition to the aforementioned contributions, one of the key contributions is the argument that Paradise Valley functions as a microcosm and provides an insightful look into the processes and structures involved in the production and maintenance of localized social inequality. As Sherman states, “the dynamics I describe in Paradise Valley are not isolated to this isolated place; rather, they present a small-scale version of the class divide, class blindness, loss, and anger that are currently afflicting the nation” (p. 194). Sherman’s book concludes with a hopeful call to continue to build meaningful community connections to develop better understandings of one another. It is only through sustained, collaborative effort that we can begin to craft more effective and better-informed policies to address inequality. Ultimately, this book will be of considerable interest and benefit to any audience who wants to learn more about social class divisions and the production of inequality in the United States.