Download or read book Middle American Individualism written by Herbert J. Gans and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1988 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by one America's most eminent sociologists, this book examines the lives and ideals of today's "middle Americans"--whom the more affluent and elite have long put down as an uncultured and unthinking mass--and finds in them the individualistic creed upon which democracy thrives. Neither narcissistic, like that of the "Me Generation" yuppie, nor materialistic, like that of the capitalist, their individualism is the simple desire for personal control over one's social and, especially, economic environment. It is an individualism based on self-reliance, much like that which Alexis de Tocqueville identified as the fundamental American trait over 150 years ago. Far from being right-wing racists, greedy materialists, or uncultured "Joe Sixpacks," Herbert J. Gans describes this diverse group of Americans as the blue, pink, white, and new-collar workers who come in all colors and live modestly in suburbs, small towns, or big city ethnic neighborhoods. Numerically and culturally they make up the majority of Americans, and it is their particular vision of the American Dream to which every presidential candidate appeals. Yet, while they have often been viewed as a mass susceptible to political manipulation, the traditional distrust middle Americans feel toward big government, big business, and other bureaucratic organizations has led them to avoid politics as much as possible. As a result American society, argues Gans, is turning into an "upscale democracy," with voting and other forms of political participation becoming increasingly the province of the rich and well-organized. Current economic and political trends toward greater centralization are enlarging the gulf between middle Americans and those institutions upon which they must depend for their well-being; in Middle American Individualism Gans shows that this growing alienation is the greatest threat to democracy today. How can America reclaim this disaffected and ever more silent majority? Rejecting the usual appeals for less political apathy and more community action, Gans advocates a series of proposals that would bring political institutions to the people rather than forcing them to seek political, economic, and social guidance within the unfamiliar and intimidating surroundings they are forced to deal with now. Calling for a new understanding between liberals and middle Americans, Gans seeks nothing less than a transformation of our present system into a truly representative democracy. Middle American Individualism is the first step in that direction.

Download or read book The End of the Line written by Kathryn Marie Dudley and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1997-06-23 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume tells the story of what the 1988 closing of the Chrysler assembly plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, meant to the people who lived in that town. Through interviews with displaced autoworkers and other members of the community it dramatizes the lessons Kenoshans drew from the plant shutdown. This volume tells the story of what the 1988 closing of the Chrysler assembly plant in Kenosha, Wisconsin, meant to the people who lived in that company town. Since the early days of the 20th century, Kenosha had forged its identity and politics around the interests of the auto industry. When nearly 6000 workers lost their jobs in the shutdown, the community faced not only a serious economic crisis but also a profound moral one. In this study, Dudley describes the painful, often confusing process of change that residents of Kenosha, like the increasing number of Americans who are caught in the crossfire of de-industrialization, were forced to undergo. Through interviews with displaced autoworkers and Kenosha's community leaders, high-school counsellors and a rising class of upwardly mobile professionals, Dudley dramatizes the lessons Kenoshans drew from the plant shutdown.

Download or read book The American Middle Class written by Lawrence Samuel and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-07-18 with total page 183 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The middle class is often viewed as the heart of American society, the key to the country’s democracy and prosperity. Most Americans believe they belong to this group, and few politicians can hope to be elected without promising to serve the middle class. Yet today the American middle class is increasingly seen as under threat. In The American Middle Class: A Cultural History, Lawrence R. Samuel charts the rise and fall of this most definitive American population, from its triumphant emergence in the post-World War II years to the struggles of the present day. Between the 1920s and the 1950s, powerful economic, social, and political factors worked together in the U.S. to forge what many historians consider to be the first genuine mass middle class in history. But from the cultural convulsions of the 1960s, to the 'stagflation' of the 1970s, to Reaganomics in the 1980s, this segment of the population has been under severe stress. Drawing on a rich array of voices from the past half-century, The American Middle Class explores how the middle class, and ideas about it, have changed over time, including the distinct story of the black middle class. Placing the current crisis of the middle class in historical perspective, Samuel shows how the roots of middle-class troubles reach back to the cultural upheaval of the 1960s. The American Middle Class takes a long look at how the middle class has been winnowed away and reveals how, even in the face of this erosion, the image of the enduring middle class remains the heart and soul of the United States.

Download or read book The Future of Us All written by Roger Sanjek and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2000-02 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Before the next century is out, Americans of African, Asian, and Latin American ancestry will outnumber those of European origin. In the Elmhurst-Corona neighborhood of Queens, New York City, the transition occurred during the 1970s, and the area's two-decade experience of multiracial diversity offers us an early look at the future of urban America. The result of more than a dozen years' work, this remarkable book immerses us in Elmhurst-Corona's social and political life from the 1960s through the 1990s. First settled in 1652, Elmhurst-Corona by 1960 housed a mix of Germans, Irish, Italians, and other "white ethnics." In 1990 this population made up less than a fifth of its residents; Latin American and Asian immigrants and African Americans comprised the majority. The Future of Us All focuses on the combined impact of racial change, immigrant settlement, governmental decentralization, and assaults on local quality of life which stemmed from the city's 1975 fiscal crisis and the policies of its last three mayors. The book examines the ways in which residents--in everyday interactions, block and tenant associations, houses of worship, small business coalitions, civic rituals, incidents of ethnic and racial hostility, and political struggles against overdevelopment, for more schools, and for youth programs--have forged and tested alliances across lines of race, ethnicity, and language. From the telling local details of daily life to the larger economic and regional frameworks, this account of a neighborhood's transformation illuminates the issues that American communities will be grappling with in the coming decades.

Download or read book FEC Reports on Financial Activity written by and published by . This book was released on 1989 with total page 568 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Oversight Hearings with Regard to the Reauthorization of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 990 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Resources in Education written by and published by . This book was released on 1991-07 with total page 848 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Status of the Family Farm and the Prospects for the Future written by United States. Congress. House. Committee on Agriculture. Subcommittee on Forests, Family Farms, and Energy and published by . This book was released on 1988 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Shaping the Future written by Horst Hutter and published by Lexington Books. This book was released on 2006 with total page 1978 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shaping the Future maps out the ascetic practices of a Neitzschean way of life. Hutter argues that Nietzsche's doctrines are attempts and 'temptations' that aim to provoke his free-spirited readers into changing themselves by putting philosophy into practice in their lives.

Download or read book Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians Volume 5 written by Victoria Reifler Bricker and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-07-22 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1981, under the editorship of Victoria Bricker, UT Press began to issue supplemental volumes to the classic sixteen-volume work Handbook of Middle American Indians. These supplements are intended to update scholarship in various areas and to cover topics of current interest that may not have been included in the original Handbook. This volume is designed to recognize the important role that epigraphy has come to play in Middle American scholarship and to document significant achievements in three areas: dynastic history, phonetic decipherment, and calendrics. The book covers four of the major pre-Columbian scripts in the region (Zapotec, Mixtec, Aztec, and Maya) and one that is relatively unknown (Tlapanec).

Download or read book Middle Class Culture in the Nineteenth Century written by L. Young and published by Springer. This book was released on 2002-12-19 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Drawing on expressive and material culture, Young shows that money was not enough to make the genteel middle class. It required exquisite self-control and the right cultural capital to perform ritual etiquette and present oneself confidently, yet modestly. She argues that genteel culture was not merely derivative, but a re-working of aristocratic standards in the context of the middle class necessity to work. Visible throughout the English-speaking world in the 1780s -1830s and onward, genteel culture reveals continuities often obscured by studies based entirely on national frameworks.

Download or read book The Future of Energy Gases written by and published by . This book was released on 1993 with total page 908 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Supplement to the Handbook of Middle American Indians Volume 6 written by Barbara W. Edmonson and published by University of Texas Press. This book was released on 2010-06-28 with total page 490 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1981, UT Press began to issue supplemental volumes to the classic sixteen-volume work, Handbook of Middle American Indians. These supplements are intended to update scholarship in various areas and to cover topics of current interest. Supplements devoted to Archaeology, Linguistics, Literatures, Ethnohistory, and Epigraphy have appeared to date. In this Ethnology supplement, anthropologists who have carried out long-term fieldwork among indigenous people review the ethnographic literature in the various regions of Middle America and discuss the theoretical and methodological orientations that have framed the work of areal scholars over the last several decades. They examine how research agendas have developed in relationship to broader interests in the field and the ways in which the anthropology of the region has responded to the sociopolitical and economic policies of Mexico and Guatemala. Most importantly, they focus on the changing conditions of life of the indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. This volume thus offers a comprehensive picture of both the indigenous populations and developments in the anthropology of the region over the last thirty years.

Download or read book Promoting Tourism in Rural America written by and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 76 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Agrindex written by and published by . This book was released on 1992 with total page 768 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Radical Middle Class written by Robert D. Johnston and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2003 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Publisher Description

Download or read book Oversight Hearings with Regard to the Reauthorization of the Commodit Futures Trading Commission written by United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry and published by . This book was released on 1990 with total page 500 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: