Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequality
- Authors:
- | |
- Publisher:
- 2020
Summary
Rugged Individualism and the Misunderstanding of American Inequalityexplores and critiques the widespread perception in the United States that one’s success or failure in life is largely the result of personal choices and individual characteristics. As the authors show, the distinctively individualist ideology of American politics and culture shapes attitudes toward poverty and economic inequality in profound ways, fostering social policies that de-emphasize structural remedies. Drawing on a variety of unique methodologies, the book synthesizes data from large-scale surveys of the American population, and it features both conversations with academic experts and interviews with American citizens intimately familiar with the consequences of economic disadvantage. This mixture of approaches gives readers a fuller understanding of “skeptical altruism,” a concept the authors use to describe the American public’s hesitancy to adopt a more robust and structurally-oriented approach to solving the persistent problem of economic disadvantage.
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Bibliographic data
- Copyright year
- 2020
- ISBN-Print
- 978-1-61146-234-0
- ISBN-Online
- 978-1-61146-235-7
- Publisher
- Lexington, Lanham
- Language
- English
- Pages
- 296
- Product type
- Book Titles
Table of contents
- Contents No access
- Chapter One. The Problem withAmerican Individualism No access Pages 1 - 50
- Chapter Two. The American Inequality Palette No access
- Chapter Three. Social Psychological Functions of Inequality Beliefs No access
- Chapter Four. In Conversation No access
- Chapter Five. Cleaning the Ivory Tower No access
- Chapter Six. Paved with Good Intentions No access
- Chapter Seven. Inequality Beliefs and Social Justice No access
- Afterword No access Pages 261 - 268
- References No access Pages 269 - 290
- Index No access Pages 291 - 294
- About the Authors No access Pages 295 - 296





