Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence

325 Pages·2017·2.75 MB·English

by  Rachel Sherman

UNEASY STREET

R A C H E L S H E R M A N
U N E A S Y
S T R E E T
A N X I E T I E S
T H E O F
A F F L U E N C E
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS
PRINCETON AND OXFORD
Copyright © 2017 by Rachel Sherman
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Sherman, Rachel, 1970– author.
Title: Uneasy street : the anxieties of affluence / Rachel Sherman.
Description: Princeton : Princeton University Press,
[2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017010629 | ISBN 9780691165509 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Wealth—United States. | Rich people—United States. | Social
stratification—United States. | Social class—United States.
Classification: LCC HC110.W4 S54 2017 | DDC 305.5/2340973—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017010629
British Library Cataloging- in- Publication Data is available
This book has been composed in Adobe Text Pro
Printed on acid- free paper. ∞
Printed in the United States of America
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
For Laura

The fortunate man is seldom satisfied with the fact
of being fortunate. Beyond this, he needs to know
that he has a right to his good fortune. He wants to
be convinced that he “deserves” it, and above all,
that he deserves it in comparison with others. . . .
Good fortune thus wants to be “legitimate fortune.”
— MAX WEBER, “THE SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGY
OF THE WORLD RELIGIONS”

CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
xi
INTRODUCTION
1
1
ORIENTATIONS TO OTHERS
Aspiring to the Middle or Recognizing Privilege
28
2
WORKING HARD OR HARDLY WORKING?
Productivity and Moral Worth
58
3
“A VERY EXPENSIVE ORDINARY LIFE”
Conflicted Consumption
92
4
“GIVING BACK,” AWARENESS,
AND IDENTITY
122
ix