A Talk by Marianne Cooper

The Sociology Department presents a talk by

Abstract: Over the past forty years, large-scale economic, employment, and political changes from the shift in risk to growing economic insecurity have come together to alter the means and manner by which many Americans build security.  This talk, drawn from research with fifty families from rich to poor in Silicon Valley, examines how families across the class spectrum are responding to these powerful forces.  Based on her forthcoming book, Marianne Cooper’s talk will focus on the feelings involved in families’ responses to staving off insecurity.  Her focus captures the inter-play between macroeconomic transformations that have transferred the job of creating and maintaining security on to individuals and their families and the ways in which people are adapting to and coping with these forces.  Her talk will conclude with a discussion about how the different emotional strategies affluent, middle class, and poor families rely upon in a go-it-alone age not only reflect inequality – they fuel it.