Uneasy Street: The Anxieties Of Affluence
by Rachel Sherman /
2017 / English / PDF
5 MB Download
A surprising and revealing look at how today's elite view
their own wealth and place in society
A surprising and revealing look at how today's elite view
their own wealth and place in society
From TV’s “real housewives” to
From TV’s “real housewives” toThe Wolf of Wall Street
The Wolf of Wall Street,
our popular culture portrays the wealthy as materialistic and
entitled. But what do we really know about those who live on
“easy street”? In this penetrating book, Rachel Sherman draws on
rare in-depth interviews that she conducted with fifty affluent
New Yorkers―including hedge fund financiers and corporate
lawyers, professors and artists, and stay-at-home mothers―to
examine their lifestyle choices and their understanding of
privilege. Sherman upends images of wealthy people as invested
only in accruing and displaying social advantages for themselves
and their children. Instead, these liberal elites, who believe in
diversity and meritocracy, feel conflicted about their position
in a highly unequal society. They wish to be “normal,” describing
their consumption as reasonable and basic and comparing
themselves to those who have more than they do rather than those
with less. These New Yorkers also want to see themselves as hard
workers who give back and raise children with good values, and
they avoid talking about money.
,
our popular culture portrays the wealthy as materialistic and
entitled. But what do we really know about those who live on
“easy street”? In this penetrating book, Rachel Sherman draws on
rare in-depth interviews that she conducted with fifty affluent
New Yorkers―including hedge fund financiers and corporate
lawyers, professors and artists, and stay-at-home mothers―to
examine their lifestyle choices and their understanding of
privilege. Sherman upends images of wealthy people as invested
only in accruing and displaying social advantages for themselves
and their children. Instead, these liberal elites, who believe in
diversity and meritocracy, feel conflicted about their position
in a highly unequal society. They wish to be “normal,” describing
their consumption as reasonable and basic and comparing
themselves to those who have more than they do rather than those
with less. These New Yorkers also want to see themselves as hard
workers who give back and raise children with good values, and
they avoid talking about money.
Although their experiences differ depending on a range of
factors, including whether their wealth was earned or inherited,
these elites generally depict themselves as productive and
prudent, and therefore morally worthy, while the undeserving rich
are lazy, ostentatious, and snobbish. Sherman argues that this
ethical distinction between “good” and “bad” wealthy people
characterizes American culture more broadly, and that it
perpetuates rather than challenges economic inequality.
Although their experiences differ depending on a range of
factors, including whether their wealth was earned or inherited,
these elites generally depict themselves as productive and
prudent, and therefore morally worthy, while the undeserving rich
are lazy, ostentatious, and snobbish. Sherman argues that this
ethical distinction between “good” and “bad” wealthy people
characterizes American culture more broadly, and that it
perpetuates rather than challenges economic inequality.
As the distance between rich and poor widens,
As the distance between rich and poor widens,Uneasy
Street
Uneasy
Street not only explores the real lives of those at the top
but also sheds light on how extreme inequality comes to seem
ordinary and acceptable to the rest of us.