Class counts : education, inequality, and the shrinking middle class / Allan Ornstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ornstein, Allan C.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Social classes--United States.

Social classes.

United States.

Poverty--United States.

Poverty.

Wealth--United States.

Wealth.

Education, Higher--Social aspects--United States.

Education, Higher.

Education, Higher--Social aspects.

Middle class--United States.

Middle class.

Elite (Social sciences)--United States.

Elite (Social sciences).

Power (Social sciences)--United States.

Power (Social sciences).

Physical Description:

xiii, 357 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, MD : Rowman & Littlefield Pub. Group, Inc., [2007]

Summary:

Class counts. Class differences and class warfare have existed since the beginning of Western civilization, but the gap in income and wealth between the rich (top 10 percent) and the rest has increased steadily in the past twenty-five years. The United States is heading for a financial oligarchy much worse than the aristocratic old world that our founding fathers feared and tried to avoid. The middle class is struggling and shrinking, the Medicare and Social Security trusts are drying up, and education is no longer the great equalizer. A moral society, one that is fair and just, sets limits on the accumulation of wealth and inherited privilege and also guarantees a safety net for the less fortunate. This book describes the need for a redistribution of wealth in order to make U.S. society more democratic, fair, and just, and outlines the ways in which we can begin to make these very necessary changes. This is a powerful and timely book, one that should be read by anyone interested in preserving the social fabric of American life.

Contents:

What the book is about

About the author

Introduction

Historical thoughts of equality and inequality

Personal comments on inequality

Poverty expressed through the novel

The subjective valence

Good morning America!

Our Western heritage

The Greeks

Greek history and philosophy

Class and culture

America: the new Athens, the new Rome

The fall of Rome

The future of Pax Americana

Old history lessons

Current history lessons

1776 and beyond: elitist versus enlightened thought

Revolutionary icons

Washington: the nation's leader in war and peace

Adams: not so liberal

Madison: a Roman form of government - a republic

Patrician principles and property rights

The Tories

Federalists and Whigs

The spirit of '76

Crossing swords

Alexander Hamilton: limiting the "mob."

Thomas Jefferson: natural rights and humanitarianism

Jefferson and Hamilton yesterday and today

A final comment

Patrician influence and social/educational thought

Worlds apart

Stretched thin, today

Economics 101/ education 101

The economics of teaching and schooling

A trip down memory lane

The promised land

Pushing ahead

Geography and "smart" thinking

Reaffirming the best and brightest

A change in meritocracy

Relationship of education to income

The conservative view

The liberal view

A synthesis view

The call for educational excellence and equity

Racial and class implications

What is equality

The role of education

Historical perspective

Educational opportunity

The winning of the West

The democratic forces of the West

Hypothesizing about the past

The voice of Rousseau

Shades of blue and gray and black and white

Social mobility and social structure

Measures of inequality

A just society

Power, privilege, and elite institutions

A final comment: frankness and fairness

Education, mobility and the American dream

Conservative and liberal thoughts concerning class

The rich and poor

The new titans and the new workers

Left behind Americans

Imbalances of big business

Changing American society

Post Sputnik schooling: talent, testing, and tracking

Equal opportunity

Conservative and liberal educators

Supply and demand-and the American dream

The changing market place

Mounting debt and declining mobility

Money and morality

Worsening gaps between the super rich and non rich

The declining influence of education

The golden years are over

The guilded age

The triumph of big business

Engendering the American dream

The ideal industrial model

Visions and divisions of reform

Criticism of corporate industrialism

A "modest" proposal

U.S.A. today

Bundles of money

The rich get richer

Lessons to learn

Oops, a different historical perspective

Disappearing dollars

Some oldies and goodies

Economic bust within an economic boom

Feed the workers more pork

Retiring and rethinking college saving plans

Leaving the old folks behind

World inequality

New York City: an electric jolt

Personal images and interpretations

Global inequality and instability

The changing global village

The shrinking white world

High-tech vs low-tech nations

The growing proletariat

The third world is growing

Post-modern reality

The "population bomb"

Inequality and third-world women

Energy, earth and the economy

All roads lead to Washington, D.C

Disagreement and debate

The class between belief and unbelief

Wisfhul thinking: recommendations and solutions

Sword fighting between conservatives and liberals

Seeking a sane policy

Extreme views

Tax-cut theorists: differences between the political left and right

Off center: miles apart

Finding the center

Donkeys, elephants, and rich people

Political lessons to learn

Dreaming the impossible dream

Reforming the tax code

Estate and gifts taxes

Luxury tax

Windfall tax

Focus on fuel

Focus on essentials

Free college tuition

Safety nets stretched thin

Deficits, debt, and declining benefits

Social security

The pension picture

The health care bubble

Private health care

Medicaid

Medicare

A personal perspective

Food for political thought

Last words.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780742547414

0742547418

9780742547421

0742547426

OCLC:

71789923