The Sum of Small Things

书名：The Sum of Small ThingsATheoryoftheAspirationalClass
作者：ElizabethCurrid-Halkett
译者：
ISBN：9780691162737
出版社：PrincetonUniversityPress
出版时间：2017-5-23
格式：epub/mobi/azw3/pdf
页数：272
豆瓣评分： 7.3

书籍简介：

How the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite, and how their consumer habits affect us all In today's world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption–like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and TOMS shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children's growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates. In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society "the aspirational class" and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide. Exploring the rise of the aspirational class, Currid-Halkett considers how much has changed since the 1899 publication of Thorstein Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class. In that inflammatory classic, which coined the phrase "conspicuous consumption," Veblen described upper-class frivolities: men who used walking sticks for show, and women who bought silver flatware despite the effectiveness of cheaper aluminum utensils. Now, Currid-Halkett argues, the power of material goods as symbols of social position has diminished due to their accessibility. As a result, the aspirational class has altered its consumer habits away from overt materialism to more subtle expenditures that reveal status and knowledge. And these transformations influence how we all make choices. With a rich narrative and extensive interviews and research, The Sum of Small Things illustrates how cultural capital leads to lifestyle shifts and what this forecasts, not just for the aspirational class but for everyone.

作者简介：

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. She is the author of The Warhol Economy and Starstruck . Her work has been featured in the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, New Yorker, and Wall Street Journal. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and their two sons.

书友短评：

@ 藕粽 理论和方法论的槽就不吐了。作者大多数时候都在津津乐道于文化精英的恶趣味（还拿自己举例）。除了最后两三页，散落在各处不成体系的批判显得言不由衷。以及完全不懂 FT 的专栏作家哪只眼睛看出来川普是这本书「房间里的那头大象」的。 @ 地下宇航员 其实就bourdieu的那一套 @ 悟空 散步的时候听，好几次都想弃书了，强迫症还是听到了最后。作者作为一个学者，逻辑非常潦草，不严谨。自己有一个观点，然后再随便找一些边角的数据去支持自己的观点,差评。学到一个有意思的词，frustrated achievers，这就是传说中的内卷吧。 @ Eudaimonia 观点并不新颖，方法论、理论和写作方式和导师Sharon很接近，想要写成通俗读物。简单来说就是文化精英早就不再以物质作为炫耀性消费，而转向了非炫耀性的教育、医疗、健康、食物等生活/投资方式来巩固阶级基础，“不自觉”地再生产了不平等。最后为了升华主题跳跃到了全球中产阶级的崛起… @ Gengiii✨ 挺有意思的，但寻求优越感本就是人类的天性吧，消费只是手段而已 @ 棉花老闆 观点抓人眼球，但看了3/4左右放弃。每个观点反复重申，多重案例证明，像个啰里八嗦的老师，喋喋不休地划重点。 @ c h l 3.5 @ 查無此人 大笑中读完 及不断提醒自己 可不能陷入消费主义的陷阱啊 哈哈 @ … 观点不新颖，车轱辘话翻来覆去地讲，却把它当作是什么晦涩难懂的定义要给它举上八百个例子。

Acknowledgments ix 1 The Twenty-first-Century "Leisure" Class 1 2 Conspicuous Consumption in the Twenty-first Century 24 3 Ballet Slippers and Yale Tuition: Inconspicuous Consumption and the New Elites 46 4 Motherhood as Conspicuous Leisure in the Twenty-first Century 78 5 Conspicuous Production 110 6 Landscapes of Consumption 148 7 "To Get Rich Is Glorious"? The State of Consumption and Class in America 182 Appendix 199 Notes 221 References 233 Index 247
· · · · · ·

添加微信公众号:好书天下获取