“Brilliant—a keen, elegantly written, and scorching account of the American family today. Through vivid stories, sharp analysis and wit, Quart anatomizes the middle class’s fall while also offering solutions and hope.”
— Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
Families today are squeezed on every side—from high childcare c...
“Brilliant—a keen, elegantly written, and scorching account of the American family today. Through vivid stories, sharp analysis and wit, Quart anatomizes the middle class’s fall while also offering solutions and hope.”
— Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
Families today are squeezed on every side—from high childcare costs and harsh employment policies to workplaces without paid family leave or even dependable and regular working hours. Many realize that attaining the standard of living their parents managed has become impossible.
Alissa Quart, executive editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, examines the lives of many middle-class Americans who can now barely afford to raise children. Through gripping firsthand storytelling, Quart shows how our country has failed its families. Her subjects—from professors to lawyers to caregivers to nurses—have been wrung out by a system that doesn’t support them, and enriches only a tiny elite.
Interlacing her own experience with close-up reporting on families that are just getting by, Quart reveals parenthood itself to be financially overwhelming, except for the wealthiest. She offers real solutions to these problems, including outlining necessary policy shifts, as well as detailing the DIY tactics some families are already putting into motion, and argues for the cultural reevaluation of parenthood and caregiving.
Written in the spirit of Barbara Ehrenreich and Jennifer Senior, Squeezed is an eye-opening page-turner. Powerfully argued, deeply reported, and ultimately hopeful, it casts a bright, clarifying light on families struggling to thrive in an economy that holds too few options. It will make readers think differently about their lives and those of their neighbors.
作者简介
· · · · · ·
Alissa Quart is the executive editor of the journalism non-profit Economic Hardship Reporting Project. She co-founded its current incarnation with Barbara Ehrenreich. She is also the author of four previous acclaimed books, “Branded,’’ “Republic of Outsiders,’’ “Hothouse Kids’’ and the poetry book “Monetized.’’ She writes the Outclassed column for The Guardian and has publishe...
Alissa Quart is the executive editor of the journalism non-profit Economic Hardship Reporting Project. She co-founded its current incarnation with Barbara Ehrenreich. She is also the author of four previous acclaimed books, “Branded,’’ “Republic of Outsiders,’’ “Hothouse Kids’’ and the poetry book “Monetized.’’ She writes the Outclassed column for The Guardian and has published features and reported commentary in many magazines and newspapers, most recently for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Nation and The New York Review of Books. She has won the Columbia Journalism School’s 2018 Alumni Award and the LA Press Club Award for Commentary, was a 2010 Nieman fellow at Harvard University, and has been nominated for an Emmy and a National Magazine Award.
话题选得很好，讲美国中产家庭在维持经济和社会地位上越来越困难，传统上收入颇丰的文科教授、律师、医生（也包括传统而言收入不错的货车司机这种蓝领员工）由于飙升的生活居住花费及巨额学贷，尤其是生育小孩或人生际遇不佳，慢慢滑入中下阶层。产业结构是一方面问题，比如高校用低廉的价格聘请许多兼职教授，这些博士学位的知识分子没有收入保障，也没有升职到tenure track的前景，难以维系体面的生活，也需要加入零...话题选得很好，讲美国中产家庭在维持经济和社会地位上越来越困难，传统上收入颇丰的文科教授、律师、医生（也包括传统而言收入不错的货车司机这种蓝领员工）由于飙升的生活居住花费及巨额学贷，尤其是生育小孩或人生际遇不佳，慢慢滑入中下阶层。产业结构是一方面问题，比如高校用低廉的价格聘请许多兼职教授，这些博士学位的知识分子没有收入保障，也没有升职到tenure track的前景，难以维系体面的生活，也需要加入零⼯经济帮补家计。还有老生常谈的机器人取代人类劳动问题，比如初级律师、药剂师等，工作相继被AI取代。问题分析很好，到解决方案这种million dollar question的时候不免乏力了，作者多次提到工会化和提高政府资助，把球抛回无底洞，通篇拿纽约举例也不太有代表性，大城市搵食本就艰难嘛。(展开)
读这本书的初衷除了找到自己生活的答案，也是因为前段时间美剧《摩登爱情》里第二季第一集On A Serpentine Road, With the Top Down. 故事讲的是一个工作勤勤恳恳的女医生家庭经济困难，需要面临出售老式车的故事，而卖车就意味着永别旧爱。其中有一句台词模糊记得是“财富并...
(展开)
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1 有用 Annieangel 2021-12-29 11:32:23
一个个case是真的动情，但是每一章节最后都陷入一个academia式的理想化到幼稚的提建议阶段。生活不堪重负的确不是广大中产的错，但是解决办法也不是“扩大公立学校咨询服务对象到付不起咨询费的移民群体”这种完全无视阶级产生根源的建议。政府制度的锅不可能靠几个advocacy组织和志愿服务完成，全民医保、不迷信skilled labor等同于postgrad degree这样的科普，才能把不堪重负的... 一个个case是真的动情，但是每一章节最后都陷入一个academia式的理想化到幼稚的提建议阶段。生活不堪重负的确不是广大中产的错，但是解决办法也不是“扩大公立学校咨询服务对象到付不起咨询费的移民群体”这种完全无视阶级产生根源的建议。政府制度的锅不可能靠几个advocacy组织和志愿服务完成，全民医保、不迷信skilled labor等同于postgrad degree这样的科普，才能把不堪重负的中产拉出来。 (展开)
0 有用 sjj539477 2022-01-11 21:29:09
少圣母 社会有问题不假 但里面有些人就是是自己作出来的 别怪社会
0 有用 某然 2022-10-03 08:12:40 美国
千言万语就是中产阶级难，阶级跃升极困难但下滑太容易。虽然具体案例/论证/建议都是针对美国社会，但就我冲浪的体验来说对我们的转型也挺有借鉴意义。UBI加油啊共产主义好！不过个人不太能共情作者对自动化的厌弃就是了，我是那种哪怕自己被碾压也想让人类社会奔跑向前的思路。
0 有用 桑葚公主 2024-03-02 06:33:54 北京
我在国内微博上看到的：纽约法拉盛地区火锅店服务员年薪15W刀；我在美国人自己写书里读到的，中小学老师下班了要去开uber，在车上抽空改作业。
0 有用 Nic 2022-07-13 14:16:06
话题选得很好，讲美国中产家庭在维持经济和社会地位上越来越困难，传统上收入颇丰的文科教授、律师、医生（也包括传统而言收入不错的货车司机这种蓝领员工）由于飙升的生活居住花费及巨额学贷，尤其是生育小孩或人生际遇不佳，慢慢滑入中下阶层。产业结构是一方面问题，比如高校用低廉的价格聘请许多兼职教授，这些博士学位的知识分子没有收入保障，也没有升职到tenure track的前景，难以维系体面的生活，也需要加入零... 话题选得很好，讲美国中产家庭在维持经济和社会地位上越来越困难，传统上收入颇丰的文科教授、律师、医生（也包括传统而言收入不错的货车司机这种蓝领员工）由于飙升的生活居住花费及巨额学贷，尤其是生育小孩或人生际遇不佳，慢慢滑入中下阶层。产业结构是一方面问题，比如高校用低廉的价格聘请许多兼职教授，这些博士学位的知识分子没有收入保障，也没有升职到tenure track的前景，难以维系体面的生活，也需要加入零⼯经济帮补家计。还有老生常谈的机器人取代人类劳动问题，比如初级律师、药剂师等，工作相继被AI取代。问题分析很好，到解决方案这种million dollar question的时候不免乏力了，作者多次提到工会化和提高政府资助，把球抛回无底洞，通篇拿纽约举例也不太有代表性，大城市搵食本就艰难嘛。 (展开)