Dream hoarders : how the American upper middle class is leaving everyone else in the dust, why that is a problem, and what to do about it /

Dream hoarders : how the American upper middle class is leaving everyone else in the dust, why that is a problem, and what to do about it /

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Bibliographic Details
Author / Creator:Reeves, Richard V., author.
Imprint:Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, 2017.
Description:1 online resource
Language:English
Subject:
Middle class -- United States.
Income distribution -- United States.
Income distribution.
Middle class.
United States.
Electronic books.
Format: E-Resource Book
URL for this record:http://pi.lib.uchicago.edu/1001/cat/bib/11910962
Hidden Bibliographic Details
ISBN:9780815729136
0815729138
9780815729129
081572912X
Digital file characteristics:text file
Notes:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed February 19, 2018).
Summary:"America is becoming a class-based society. It is now conventional wisdom to focus on the wealth of the top 1 percent-especially the top 0.01 percent-and how the ultra-rich are concentrating income and prosperity while incomes for most other Americans are stagnant. But the most important, consequential, and widening gap in American society is between the upper middle class and everyone else. Reeves defines the upper middle class as those whose incomes are in the top 20 percent of American society. Income is not the only way to measure a society, but in a market economy it is crucial because access to money generally determines who gets the best quality education, housing, health care, and other necessary goods and services. As Reeves shows, the growing separation between the upper middle class and everyone else can be seen in family structure, neighborhoods, attitudes, and lifestyle. Those at the top of the income ladder are becoming more effective at passing on their status to their children, reducing overall social mobility. The result is not just an economic divide but a fracturing of American society along class lines. Upper-middle-class children become upper-middle-class adults. These trends matter because the separation and perpetuation of the upper middle class corrode prospects for more progressive approaches to policy. Various forms of "opportunity hoarding" among the upper middle class make it harder for others to rise up to the top rung. Examples include zoning laws and schooling, occupational licensing, college application procedures, and the allocation of internships. Upper-middle-class opportunity hoarding, Reeves argues, results in a less competitive economy as well as a less open society. Inequality is inevitable and can even be good, within limits. But Reeves argues that society can take effective action to reduce opportunity hoarding and thus promote broader opportunity. This fascinating book shows how American society has become the very class-defined society that earlier Americans rebelled against-and what can be done to restore a more equitable society"--
Other form:Print version: Reeves, Richard V. Dream hoarders. 1st edition. Washington, D.C. : Brookings Institution Press, 2017
Publisher's no.:MWT11855809
Review by Choice Review

In the 2016 presidential campaign, Bernie Sanders claimed "the system is rigged." Brookings Institution fellow Richard Reeves doesn't disagree with that statement, though he takes issue with where the rigging occurs. For Reeves, it's not the top 1 percent but rather the rest of the top quintile--his "upper middle class"--that has garnered the lion's share of the income gains and has worked hard to protect its position in society. He points to our zoning policies, mortgage interest deductions, and other favored tax treatments (though he strangely omits deductions for charitable contributions). His biggest bugaboo is college admissions policies that give preferences to "legacies"--that is, applicants from alumni families. The book is a welcome basis for discussions in policy circles and among friends, but is largely derivative and too short--150 pages of text with a lot of interchapter repetitions and 30 pages of endnotes--to represent any "final word" on the important contemporary topic of income inequality. And while for the most part the author does not wear his political leanings on his sleeve, there is implicitly a bias in his selection of issues and sources he includes and those he ignores. Summing Up: Recommended. All readership levels. --Allen R. Sanderson, University of Chicago

Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review

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