Described by many as an emotional state rooted in having been treated unfairly, resentment has surged over the past decade. Resentment politics troubled the passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act (ACA, 2010) in the United States. While some people gained access to health insurance through the ACA, others experienced continued exclusion from affordable coverage. Drawing on ethnographic interviews with poor whites from Florida, Rhode Island, and Texas, we show how uninsured individuals talked about and experienced resentment through contradictory tropes of “us versus them,” deservingness, and personal responsibility. We argue that policies based in resentment, occurring on both national and state levels, structured these individuals’ experiences and amplified their resentment sentiments. Through this case study we argue that resentment is more than an emotion: it is also a force that structures policies and their implementation. Resentment policies in turn create the social, political, and economic circumstances that generate resentment feelings.

中文翻译：

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怨恨的结构：医疗改革背后的情感和存在感

在过去十年中，怨恨情绪激增，被许多人形容为植根于受到不公平对待的情绪状态。怨恨政治困扰着美国的《平价医疗法案》（ACA，2010）的通过和实施。虽然有些人通过ACA获得了医疗保险，但其他人却继续被排除在负担得起的保险范围之外。通过对来自佛罗里达，罗德岛和得克萨斯州的贫困白人进行的人种学访谈，我们展示了没有保险的人如何通过“我们与他们”，应得的和个人责任的矛盾对立来谈论和经历怨恨。我们认为，基于怨恨的政策在国家和州两级都可以构成这些人的经历，并扩大了他们的怨恨情绪。通过本案例研究，我们认为怨恨不只是一种情感：它还是构成政策及其实施的力量。怨恨政策反过来造成了产生怨恨情绪的社会，政治和经济环境。