The New Class Society Goodbye American Dream [Hardcover]

In this 4th edition of a seminal work, Wysong (Indiana Univ.-Kokomo), Perrucci (Purdue), and Wright (Wichita State Univ.) update their previous assertions regarding the loss of the middle class and the American dream. In the wake of the recent recession, banking and industry bailouts, the Occupy movement, and similar influences, the underlying message of the previous editions is even more salient. This volume represents an updated version of what came before, expounding on the 'double diamond' model of US society. Supporting their assertions with new and diverse evidence, the authors support this model as a departure from past constructs of society that more resemble a layered wedding cake, for example. Recent years have been replete with evidence of the theory represented by this double diamond model. Therefore, since this volume represents the most current permutation and presentation of the growing chasm in US society, it remains an exceptionally important book. The developments of recent years have done nothing to weaken the core of the theory, but rather have provided substantial and nuanced support. Summing Up: Essential. Upper-level undergraduate and graduate collections related to stratification.This text is both an introduction to class structures in the US and an analysis of their evolution and entrenchment. The authors, American sociology professors, argue that over the last 40 years dramatic class inequalities have re-emerged even deeper than before. They take a pluralistic approach to defining and studying class, favoring socioeconomic and not just productive interpretations. Their new class system is defined by a privileged upper-class and a highly stratified new working-class. They consider the influence of globalization, how the middle-class died, class war, money in politics, the information industry, the role of education in creating new forms of privilege, class-biased policy planning, the pacification of everyday life and then the role of the clsß