Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Middle Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That Is a Problem, and What to Do about It
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.56 (809 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 081572912X |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 240 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-12-26 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Impassioned, data-driven and focused on practical solutions, "Dream Hoarders" is a fine cure for an age of stale, cynical politics." . "Bracing, head-clearing and ultimately inspiring. With rigor and wit this book show how millions of successful, hard-working Americans, often with the best of intentions, have helped build a society where birth matters more than brilliance
Upper-middle-class opportunity hoarding, Reeves argues, results in a less competitive economy as well as a less open society.Inequality is inevitable and can even be good, within limits. This fascinating book shows how American society has become the very class-defined society that earlier Americans rebelled against—and what can be done to restore a more equitable society.. But the most important, consequential, and widening gap in American society is between the upper middle class and everyone else.Reeves defines the upper middle class as those whose incomes are in the top 20 percent of American society. But Reeves argues that society can take effective action to reduce opportunity hoarding and thus promote broader opportunity. Upper-middle-class children become upper-middle-class adults.These trends matter because the separation and perpetuation of the upper middle class corrode prospects for more progressive approaches to policy. America is becoming a class-based society.It is now conventional wisdom to focus on the wealth of the top 1 percent—especially the top 0.01 percent—and how the
like me - prompted me to be more reflective and Steve Straightforward and clear presentation of the impact of the upper-middle class on the rest of the country. Reeves self-awareness around his own class - and what he presumes of his readers, like me - prompted me to be more reflective and thoughtful about my own privilege as well as what actions I currently take (or tacitly endorse) that help maintain the status quo. I've also intellectually known that the myth of meritocracy exists but Reeves lays it out using clear data to strongly support the point. This book is essential reading for educators, policy folks, and anyone engaged in social justice or politics. . Peter Parisi said Review of "Dream Hoarders" by Richard Reeves. This book makes a compelling and disturbing argument: membership in the upper middle class has become rigid. Not only is it difficult for people below this class to enter it but it has also become nearly impossible for members of the upper middle class to fall out of it (what Reeves calls a "glass floor"). The premise is mathematical: if, as Reeves argues (correctly, it seems) "upper middle class" is coterminous with the top twenty-percent minus the top five percent of income, then it is statistically accurate to say that it has pulled away from the lower and middle classes. Simply put, people from the lower . "Are there solutions to "the 'grotesque expansions in inequality of the past Are there solutions to "the 'grotesque expansions in inequality of the past 30 years' "? (p. 152) Richard Reeves presents some provocative information about the top 20% of Americans and how they got there and (want to) stay there. I grew up in an upper lower class blue-collar family in rural north central Pennsylvania; some of the examples which Reeves gives to illustrate how dreams are hoarded resonated with me. A good example from years ago was the summer at the end of my junior year in college when I couldn't take an unpaid internship in the PA state government in Harrisburg because I needed to work in the factory at home to make money to help cover expenses during my senior year. Or that I went to a t. 0 years' "? (p. 152)" according to Anthony Bosnick. Richard Reeves presents some provocative information about the top 20% of Americans and how they got there and (want to) stay there. I grew up in an upper lower class blue-collar family in rural north central Pennsylvania; some of the examples which Reeves gives to illustrate how dreams are hoarded resonated with me. A good example from years ago was the summer at the end of my junior year in college when I couldn't take an unpaid internship in the PA state government in Harrisburg because I needed to work in the factory at home to make money to help cover expenses during my senior year. Or that I went to a t