The Insecure American
How We Got Here and What We Should Do About It
1st Edition
Published on 24. November 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
392 pages
978-0-520-25971-3 (ISBN)
Description
Americans are feeling insecure. They are retreating to gated communities in record numbers, fearing for their jobs and their 401(k)s, nervous about their health insurance and their debt levels, worrying about terrorist attacks and immigrants. In this innovative volume, editors Hugh Gusterson and Catherine Besteman gather essays from nineteen leading ethnographers to create a unique portrait of an anxious country and to furnish valuable insights into the nation's possible future. With an incisive foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich, the contributors draw on their deep knowledge of different facets of American life to map the impact of the new economy, the 'war on terror', the 'war on drugs', racial resentments, a fraying safety net, undocumented immigration, a health care system in crisis, and much more. In laying out a range of views on the forces that unsettle us, "The Insecure American" demonstrates the singular power of an anthropological perspective for grasping the impact of corporate profit on democratic life, charting the links between policy and vulnerability, and envisioning alternatives to life as an insecure American.
Reviews / Votes
"Highly recommended." -- A. C. Moblety ChoiceMore details
Edition
First Edition
Language
English
Place of publication
Berkerley
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
12 b-w photographs
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 23 mm
Weight
544 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-520-25971-3 (9780520259713)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Hugh Gusterson | Catherine Besteman
The Insecure American
How We Got Here and What We Should Do About It
E-Book
11/2009
1st Edition
Naval Institute Press
€33.99
Available for download
Persons
Hugh Gusterson is Professor of Anthropology at George Mason University. He is the author of Nuclear Rites and coeditor (with Besteman) of Why America's Top Pundits Are Wrong, both from UC Press. Catherine Besteman is Professor of Anthropology at Colby College and the author of Transforming Capetown (UC Press).
Content
Foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich Acknowledgments Introduction Catherine Besteman and Hugh Gusterson Part One Fortress America 1. A nation of Gated Communities Setha M. Low 2.Warmaking as the AmericanWay of life Catherine Lutz 3. Republic of fear: The rise of Punitive Governance in America Roger N. Lancaster Part Two The New Economy 4. Neoliberalism, or The Bureaucratization of the World David Graeber 5.The Age of Wal-Mart Jane L. Collins 6. Deindustrializing Chicago: A Daughter's story Christine J.Walley 7. Racism, risk, and the new Color of Dirty Jobs Lee D. Baker Part Three Insecurity as a Profit Center 8. Normal Insecurities, Healthy Insecurities Joseph Dumit 9. Cultivating Insecurity: How Marketers Are Commercializing Childhood Juliet B. Schor Part Four The Most Vulnerable 10. Uneasy street T.M. Luhrmann 11. Body and soul: Profits from Poverty BrettWilliams 12. Useless suffering: The War on Homeless Drug Addicts Philippe Bourgois 13.Walling out Immigrants Peter Kwong Part Five Insecurity and Terror 14. Compounding Insecurity:What the neocon Core reveals about America today Janine R.Wedel 15. Deploying law as aWeapon in America'sWar on terror Susan F. Hirsch Part Six Insecurities of Body and Spirit 16. Death and Dying in Anxious America Nancy Scheper-Hughes 17. Get religion Susan Harding Notes List of Contributors Index