Description
Book SynopsisMakes an important and original contribution to the national conversation about inequality and risk in American society. This title is packed with intriguing discoveries ranging from the surprising anxieties of the rich to the critical role of women in keeping struggling families afloat.
Trade Review"Accessible, elucidating, and grounded in real stories... Cooper offers a robust analysis of gender dynamics, with sharp insights about the heavy burden on women to manage the family's anxiety. Cooper's necessary and timely study is a discomfiting reminder of the human cost of the recession." STARRED REVIEW Publishers Weekly "Cooper's interviewees are fascinating, heartbreakingly optimistic in their poverty or head-shakingly preoccupied with their wealth (which is never enough)... A well-told, personal representation of what's happened to real people in times of 'income stagnation, growing inequality, increasing economic instability, soaring debt, and rising costs.'" Booklist "Revelatory." -- Helaine Olen Pacific Standard "Cut Adrift could well serve as a guide and touchstone ... for the many occasions on which scholars and activists explore the consequences of increasing inequality and uneven vulnerability to economic risk." American Journal of Sociology (AJS)
Table of ContentsPreface Acknowledgments Introduction: One Nation Under Worry 1. From Shared Prosperity to the Age of Insecurity: How We Got Here 2. Forging Security in an Insecure Age: The Study 3. Downscaling for Survival: Laura Delgado 4. The Upscaling of Security at the Top: Brooke and Paul Mah 5. Holding On at the Middle: Gina and Sam Calafato 6. When Religion Fills the Gap: Laeta and Kapo Faleau 7. Debt and Hope: Eddie and Chelsea Jenner Conclusion: The Social Cost Epilogue: The Families Today Notes Index
