In Shifting Terrain, host Rachel Rybaczuk explains her show this way: “We explore race and class in politics, beyond the simplistic stereotypes in the news, and between election cycles. Voters, political strategists, organizers, and politicians discuss how race and class are shaping voting patterns, campaigns, the news, and election outcomes. And, ultimately, how we navigate America’s multiracial, cross-class democracy. We highlight voices across the country to interrupt misconceptions fueling political polarization in American politics.”
In the season two trailer for Shifting Terrain, host Rachel Rybaczuk begins by asking, “How do you define the working class in the United States?”
“We explore the forces both capturing and dividing the working class.”
In season two, the show tackles Christian Nationalism, the manosphere, and the question of whether immigrants are taking your job.
The podcast, which began in the fall of 2024, has just released season two on October 28th. It’s timely to publish on Election Day, especially since some in the working class voted for an administration that has cut taxes on the rich, made health insurance more expensive, cut workplace safety and environmental protections, and raised the price of groceries via tariffs.
Rachel Rybaczuk is a working-class sociologist | researcher of race, class, gender, sexuality + farmers/farming | qualitative + visual research methods.
Rachel is a public sociologist, award-winning educator, consultant, strategist, and organizer whose work is informed by growing up working-poor in a city with an immigrant, single-parent household. She has taught at private and public colleges and universities, directed national political campaigns, and been a leader in the nonprofit sector. Her mixed-methods research spans disciplines and topics, including class culture, the commodification of identity, and the power of branding in communication strategy. Rachel’s social science rigor informs consulting in the private and public sectors.
Shifting Terrain is a show that breaks through the stereotypes of divided America and serves up smart news for everyone that goes beyond politics.
This podcast is for anyone who is burned out by overly technical conversations and wants something easier to absorb. Each episode will dive into class, race, culture, and politics from a working-class perspective (read: everyday people).
Two of my favorite episodes of season one include Coastal Elites & Country Bumpkins: Bridging the Rural-Urban Political Divide. Damaging stereotypes about rural and urban voters abound in politics. What’s really going on in the charged landscape known as the rural-urban divide?
Are rural voters actually voting against their interests when they elect a Republican? And are urban voters so immersed in the culture war that they’re out of touch with the everyday concerns of working people? Is there any commonality across this geographical chasm? In the episode, Sarah Jaynes of the Rural Democracy Initiative and Bonnie Dobson from Down Home North Carolina share insights and anecdotes from long-term organizing with working-class voters. Despite how it might feel out here, there is a way to bridge the rural-urban divide for a more unified working-class electorate.
Polls Are %&!* and Working Class Voters Will Decide Elections — Political strategists Jordan Berg Powers and Mike Lux discuss how major political campaigns have abandoned working class voters, the undeserved power of polls, and why you should never play Trump’s voice in a Democratic political ad.
What I admire so much in Shifting Terrain is that host Rachel Rybaczuk slices the genre pie with more granularity and accuracy than ideological political podcasts. As a sociologist, Rachel Rybaczuk knows that identifying the working class in the U.S. is a moving target.
In an episode about right-wing media in season one, a guest said that the party and right-wing media have convinced working-class Republican voters that they should focus on cultural issues and not economic ones, primarily because Republican policies don’t favor the working class.
Shifting Terrain is the best sociology podcast and one of the best political shows. It dares to question whether the admin assistant from Manhattan and the dollar store retail clerk in rural Iowa are both working class. The sign of a great podcast is that it’s more interested in asking the right questions than finding oversimplified answers.
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