Overview

"Americans are feeling insecure. They are retreating to gated communities in record numbers, fearing for their jobs and their 401(k)s, nervous about their health insurance and their debt levels, worrying about terrorist attacks and immigrants. In this innovative volume, editors Hugh Gusterson and Catherine Besteman gather essays from nineteen leading ethnographers to create a unique portrait of an anxious country and to furnish valuable insights into the nation's possible future. With an incisive foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich, the contributors draw on their deep knowledge of different facets of American life to map the impact of the new economy, the 'war on terror', the 'war on drugs', racial resentments, a fraying safety net, undocumented immigration, a health care system in crisis, and much more. In laying out a range of views on the forces that unsettle us, ""The Insecure American"" demonstrates the singular power of an anthropological perspective for grasping the impact of corporate profit on democratic life, charting the links between policy and vulnerability, and envisioning alternatives to life as an insecure American."

Full Product Details

Author:   Hugh Gusterson ,  Catherine Besteman ,  Barbara Ehrenreich
Publisher:   University of California Press
Imprint:   University of California Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 2.80cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.635kg
ISBN:  

9780520259690

ISBN 10:   0520259696
Pages:   392
Publication Date:   24 November 2009
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Tertiary & Higher Education ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   In Print  
Limited stock is available. It will be ordered for you and shipped pending supplier's limited stock.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Barbara Ehrenreich Acknowledgments Introduction Catherine Besteman and Hugh Gusterson Part One Fortress America 1. A nation of Gated Communities Setha M. Low 2.Warmaking as the AmericanWay of life Catherine Lutz 3. Republic of fear: The rise of Punitive Governance in America Roger N. Lancaster Part Two The New Economy 4. Neoliberalism, or The Bureaucratization of the World David Graeber 5.The Age of Wal-Mart Jane L. Collins 6. Deindustrializing Chicago: A Daughter's story Christine J.Walley 7. Racism, risk, and the new Color of Dirty Jobs Lee D. Baker Part Three Insecurity as a Profit Center 8. Normal Insecurities, Healthy Insecurities Joseph Dumit 9. Cultivating Insecurity: How Marketers Are Commercializing Childhood Juliet B. Schor Part Four The Most Vulnerable 10. Uneasy street T.M. Luhrmann 11. Body and soul: Profits from Poverty BrettWilliams 12. Useless suffering: The War on Homeless Drug Addicts Philippe Bourgois 13.Walling out Immigrants Peter Kwong Part Five Insecurity and Terror 14. Compounding Insecurity:What the neocon Core reveals about America today Janine R.Wedel 15. Deploying law as aWeapon in America'sWar on terror Susan F. Hirsch Part Six Insecurities of Body and Spirit 16. Death and Dying in Anxious America Nancy Scheper-Hughes 17. Get religion Susan Harding Notes List of Contributors Index

Reviews

Highly recommended. --Choice

Author Information

Hugh Gusterson is Professor of Anthropology at George Mason University. He is the author of Nuclear Rites and coeditor (with Besteman) of Why America's Top Pundits Are Wrong, both from UC Press. Catherine Besteman is Professor of Anthropology at Colby College and the author of Transforming Capetown (UC Press).

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