ISBN:
9781476769899
,
9781476769905
Language:
English
Pages:
386 Seiten
,
Diagramme
,
24 cm
Edition:
First Simon & Schuster trade paperback edition March 2016
Parallel Title:
Erscheint auch als
DDC:
305.5130973
Keywords:
Social mobility
;
Social classes
;
Equality
;
American Dream
;
Social mobility United States
;
Social classes United States
;
Equality United States
;
American Dream
;
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Economic Policy
;
POLITICAL SCIENCE / Public Policy / Social Policy
;
HISTORY / United States / 21st Century
;
United States Economic conditions
;
United States Social conditions
;
United States Social conditions
;
United States Economic conditions
;
USA
;
Soziale Mobilität
;
American dream
Abstract:
"The promise of the American Dream is that anyone, regardless of his or her origins, can have fair start in life. If we work hard, we can get a good education, achieve success, an live lives better than those of previous generations. But over the last several decades a disturbing 'opportunity gap' has unexpectedly grown 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'. Drawing on a formidable body of research undertaken especially for this book, Our Kids is a groundbreaking look at the new landscape of diminished opportunities set in an age of fragile families, crumbling communities, and disappearing jobs. Written with authority and compassion, it is a signal contribution to the ongoing conservation about inequality in America."
Abstract:
"The bestselling author of Bowling Alone offers [an] ... examination of the American Dream in crisis--how and why opportunities for upward mobility are diminishing, jeopardizing the prospects of an ever larger segment of Americans"--
Abstract:
"What has happened to the Land of Opportunity? 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."--Book jacket
Note:
Originally published: New York: Simon & Schuster, 2015
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