Introduction: The American Dream and the Middle Class xxiii
an overview essay or essays. Then each essay is accompanied by a series of entries
that expand on concepts, terms, personalities, and events relevant to the essay.
Entries include cross-references to other entries, but the essays do not, nor are the
essays included among the cross-references listed at the end of each entry. Both
essays and entries contain Further Reading sections.
The two-volume set consists of a collection of group portraits of the American
middle class followed by seven thematic parts. “Prologue: A Portrait of the Middle
Class” discusses issues that inform this entire encyclopedia, including definitions
(income, occupation), self-identification, origins and future, and the role of race.
We talk about the middle class all the time and think we know what it means, but
the precise parameters of the middle class are surprisingly difficult to specify. What
are the experts saying now? Adding to this complexity is how being middle class
manifests itself among groups separated by race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and
immigrant status. These considerations are all addressed in the Prologue section.
Part 1 of the seven thematic parts is “Economic Uncertainty and the American
Middle Class.” Just what’s gone wrong with our economy that has made achieving
the American dream harder? Accompanying the lead essay, “What Happened to the
American Dream,” is a series of entries detailing economic concepts, issues, schools
of thought, and persons that have shaped and will continue to shape economic
debate for decades to come. Part 2, “Politics, Public Policy, and the American Middle
Class,” rounds out Volume One by examining the political fault lines of our time.
It includes the key issues, events, institutions, legislation, and individuals who have
left their marks on the evolving middle class
Volume Two begins with Part 3, “Education, Housing, Labor, and the American
Middle Class.” The education system is where students learn the cognitive skills
(e.g, the three R’s) that enable them to participate in the economy, but also affective
traits (e.g., confidence, self-motivation, work ethic) that allow them to flourish as
a member of a class. How does the middle class and upper middle class reproduce
itself? This section also examines the role of labor unions and labor laws in helping
to create the contemporary middle class, and takes stock of the importance of home-
ownership, which is key to cultivating a middle-class lifestyle and identity. Several
issues that have influenced the evolution of homeownership and neighborhood
composition are explored.
“Health and the American Middle Class” is Part 4. What is the “temperature” of
the middle class these days? Is health simply a random factor in our lives, or is there
a relationship between our social standing and our health? What are the health
issues creating anxiety for the middle class today? Some are long-standing health
problems (e.g., cancer and substance abuse). Others are of more recent vintage but
are likely to plague us for decades to come (e.g., anorexia, autism, and body image
issues). Has government policy ameliorated health problems in society?
Parts 5 through 7 cover, respectively, crime, norms and ideologies, and culture
and the media. Basic security is fundamental to living a middle-class lifestyle. What
are the criminal justice issues of our time? What do middle class people believe?
What are their ideals? What are their hang-ups? What are their flaws? How is the
