New Class Society

Earl Wysong is professor of sociology at Indiana University Kokomo. He is a past president of the Indiana Academy of the Social Sciences and author of High Risk and High Stakes.Robert Perrucci is professor of sociology at Purdue University, a past president of the Society for the Study of Social Problems, and former editor of the American Sociologist, Social Problems, and Contemporary Sociology.David Wright is professor of sociology at Wichita State University, where he is also associate provost for academic data systems and strategic planning.

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.

• List of Tables and FiguresAcknowledgments Introduction1 Class in America: The Way We Were2 The New American Class Structure3 The New Economy and the New Class Structure4 The Global Economy and Class Inequalities5 How the Middle Class Died6 Conflicting Class Interests and Class War7 The Invisible Class Empire8 Political Finance: It’s Money That Matters9 Policy Planning and Classwide Lobbying10 The Information Industry11 Educating for Privilege: Dreaming, Streaming, and Creaming12 The Pacification of Everyday Life13 The Culture Industry and Pacification14 Class in the Twenty-first CenturyBibliographyIndexAbout the Authors