Read either or both--two titles on society and economic inequality
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis
Robert Putnam
2015
386 Pages
San Diego City Library, 7 copies available, County library, 1 available
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger
Richard G. Wilkinson, Kate Pickett
2012
330 Pages
San Diego City Library, 5 copies available; not available in the County system, used copies and Kindle copies online
Our Kids: The American Dream in Crisis, publisher's summary
The promise of the American Dream is that anyone, regardless of his or her origins, can have a fair start in life. If we work hard, we can get a good education and achieve success. But over the last several decades a disturbing 'opportunity gap' has unexpectedly emerged between kids from 'have' and 'have-not' backgrounds. The central tenet of the American Dream--that all children, regardless of their family and social background, should have a decent chance to improve their lot in life--is no longer 'self-evident.' Robert Putnam begins this groundbreaking examination of our national prospects with the story of his high school class of 1959 in Port Clinton, Ohio. The vast majority of those students--'our kids' to everyone in town--went on to lives better than those of their parents. They raised their children with the same expectations. But those children--and their children--have not fared so well in an age of fragile families, crumbling communities, and disappearing jobs. Their lives reflect the diminishing opportunities that haunt so many American kids today. Putnam tells poignant stories of rich and poor kids from cities and suburbs across the country, drawing on a formidable body of research undertaken especially for this book. Our Kids is a rare combination of moving personal narratives and authoritative evidence--and for that reason, all the more troubling to read. It is a signal contribution to the ongoing discussion about inequality in America, a deeply informed and perceptive analysis of our country at a critical time. In the final chapter, Putnam offers suggestions for how we might halt this decline in opportunity and restore a greater chance for upward mobility."
The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger, summary
Thee remarkable data the book lays out and the measures it uses are like a spirit level which we can hold up to compare different societies. The differences revealed, even between rich market democracies, are striking. Almost every modern social and environmental problem-ill health, lack of community life, violence, drugs, obesity, mental illness, long working hours, big prison populations-is more likely to occur in a less equal society. The book goes to the heart of the apparent contrast between material success and social failure in many modern national societies.
