The Sum of Small Things
A Theory of the Aspirational Class
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Narrated by:
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Rachel Dulude
About this listen
In today's world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite. Highly educated and defined by cultural capital rather than income bracket, these individuals earnestly buy organic, carry NPR tote bags, and breast-feed their babies. They care about discreet, inconspicuous consumption - like eating free-range chicken and heirloom tomatoes, wearing organic cotton shirts and Toms shoes, and listening to the Serial podcast. They use their purchasing power to hire nannies and housekeepers, to cultivate their children's growth, and to practice yoga and Pilates.
In The Sum of Small Things, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett dubs this segment of society "the aspirational class" and discusses how, through deft decisions about education, health, parenting, and retirement, the aspirational class reproduces wealth and upward mobility, deepening the ever-wider class divide.
©2017 Elizabeth Currid-Halkett (P)2017 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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Story
Since Alexis de Tocqueville, restlessness has been accepted as a signature American trait. Our willingness to move, take risks, and adapt to change have produced a dynamic economy and a tradition of innovation from Ben Franklin to Steve Jobs. The problem, according to legendary blogger, economist, and best-selling author Tyler Cowen, is that Americans today have broken from this tradition - we're working harder than ever to avoid change.
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MUST READ
- By RJW on 05-06-17
By: Tyler Cowen
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Upside
- Profiting from the Profound Demographic Shifts Ahead
- By: Kenneth W. Gronbach, M.J. Moye, John Zogby - foreword
- Narrated by: Tom Parks
- Length: 7 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Demographics not only define who we are, where we live, and how our numbers change. For those who can read beyond the raw figures, they open up hidden business opportunities that lie ahead. What will happen when retiring Boomers free up jobs? How will Generation Y alter supermarkets? Which states will have the most dynamic workforces? Will American manufacturing rebound as Asia's population declines? Upside puts this powerful yet little-understood science to work finding answers.
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Needs rework to become an audio-book
- By Kristofer Jarl on 11-18-20
By: Kenneth W. Gronbach, and others
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The Nordic Theory of Everything
- In Search of a Better Life
- By: Anu Partanen
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Moving to America in 2008, Finnish journalist Anu Partanen quickly went from confident, successful professional to wary, self-doubting mess. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life - from buying a cell phone and filing taxes to education and childcare - was much more complicated and stressful than anything she encountered in her homeland. At first she attributed her crippling anxiety to the difficulty of adapting to a freewheeling new culture. But as she got to know Americans better, she discovered they shared her deep apprehension.
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A non-radical perspective on two societies
- By kwdayboise (Kim Day) on 06-20-17
By: Anu Partanen
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Coffee
- A Comprehensive Guide to the Bean, the Beverage, and the Industry
- By: Robert W. Thurston, Jonathan Morris, Shawn Steiman
- Narrated by: Dan Kassis
- Length: 18 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Leading experts from business and academia consider coffee's history, global spread, cultivation, preparation, marketing, and the environmental and social issues surrounding it today. They discuss, for example, the impact of globalization; the many definitions of organic, direct trade, and fair trade; the health of female farmers; the relationships among shade, birds, and coffee; roasting as an art and a science; and where profits are made in the commodity chain.
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Everything you need to know about coffee
- By FW1978 on 11-03-18
By: Robert W. Thurston, and others
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Korea
- The Impossible Country
- By: Daniel Tudor
- Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
- Length: 13 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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Long overshadowed by Japan and China, South Korea is a small country that happens to be one of the great national success stories of the postwar period. From a failed state with no democratic tradition, ruined and partitioned by war, and sapped by a half-century of colonial rule, South Korea transformed itself in just 50 years into an economic powerhouse and a democracy that serves as a model for other countries. With no natural resources and a tradition of authoritarian rule, Korea managed to accomplish a second Asian miracle.
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Amazing book
- By Antoine on 12-14-18
By: Daniel Tudor
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Thrive
- Finding Happiness the Blue Zones Way
- By: Dan Buettner
- Narrated by: Michael McConnohie
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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In the first book to identify demographically proven happiness hotspots worldwide, researcher and explorer Dan Buettner documents the happiest people on earth and reveals how we can create our own happy zones. Detailing extraordinary new discoveries and meticulous research on four continents, Buettner observes happiness in unlikely places and gleans surprising insight into what generates contentment and what it means to thrive.
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Around the world with circular reasoning
- By Andy on 05-17-11
By: Dan Buettner
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The Rise and Fall of American Growth
- The U.S. Standard of Living Since the Civil War
- By: Robert J. Gordon
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 30 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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In the century after the Civil War, an economic revolution improved the American standard of living in ways previously unimaginable. Electric lighting, indoor plumbing, home appliances, motor vehicles, air travel, air conditioning, and television transformed households and workplaces. With medical advances, life expectancy between 1870 and 1970 grew from 45 to 72 years. The Rise and Fall of American Growth provides an in-depth account of this momentous era.
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Over-detailed, with no engaging message
- By BehA on 01-31-17
By: Robert J. Gordon
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Future Shock
- By: Alvin Toffler
- Narrated by: Peter Berkrot
- Length: 16 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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Future Shock is about the present. Future Shock is about what is happening today to people and groups who are overwhelmed by change. Change affects our products, communities, organizations - even our patterns of friendship and love. Future Shock vividly describes the emerging global civilization: tomorrow's family life, the rise of new businesses, subcultures, lifestyles, and human relationships - all of them temporary. It illuminates the world of tomorrow by exploding countless cliches about today.
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So Accurate
- By Peter Gracia on 03-31-19
By: Alvin Toffler
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The Why Axis
- Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life
- By: Uri Gneezy, John A. List
- Narrated by: Eric Martin
- Length: 9 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
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Uri Gneezy and John List are like the anthropologists who spend months in the field studying the people in their native habitats. But in their case they embed themselves in our messy world to try and solve big, difficult problems, such as the gap between rich and poor students and the violence plaguing inner city schools; the real reasons people discriminate; whether women are really less competitive than men; and how to correctly price products and services. Their field experiments show how economic incentives can change outcomes.
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Some Interesting Insights But Poor Science
- By Harold Toomey on 06-09-23
By: Uri Gneezy, and others
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The End of the Suburbs
- Where the American Dream is Moving
- By: Leigh Gallagher
- Narrated by: Jessica Geffen
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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For nearly 70 years, the suburbs were as American as apple pie. But in recent years things have started to change. An epic housing crisis revealed existing problems with this unique pattern of development, while the steady pull of long-simmering economic, societal and demographic forces has culminated in a Perfect Storm that has led to a profound shift in the way we desire to live. In The End of the Suburbs journalist Leigh Gallagher traces the rise and fall of American suburbia from the stately railroad suburbs that sprung up outside American cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries to current-day sprawling exurbs.
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Informative, but the title is a lie
- By Marie on 08-27-13
By: Leigh Gallagher
What listeners say about The Sum of Small Things
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Elmira Cancelada
- 06-06-19
Interesting ireseach and ideas, but dry
This is more of an academic paper on current and upcoming shift in social division.
A lot of numbers at the expense of illustrative and stories, alas. The good part: the author's conclusions are totally in line with the trends one observes around. The book is useful for the marketers of high-end goods.
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- Find a Path with Heart
- 01-11-18
Insightful, fact-based explanation of our various “identities”
This book provides a history of how various identity groups have formed in America, and what that means for our future and the world’s future.
Reading it should give you insight into “how come those other folks are like that?”
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- Fred
- 06-27-19
know thyself
Apparently, I am a member of the aspirational class. This book has helped me take another look at why I do what I do without causing anxiety, like many books of the sort do.
It did help me consider my snobbish behavior about my sister geting non-organic milk, or eating at fast food joints of our childhood.
It is a good listen.
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1 person found this helpful
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- rachel coyne
- 11-15-19
Really interesting
Thoughtful, relevant analysis of real life trends. I enjoyed all the real world connections and macro view of trends
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1 person found this helpful
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- pedro chacon
- 12-20-18
great book good prospective
Really good read. Gives a great prospective on today's society and how it functions, I would recommend.
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3 people found this helpful
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- L
- 01-17-24
Underwhelming
The author’s stubborn distillation of consumer expenditure decisions to pure signal leaves the entire analysis devoid of consequence.
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- Antonia
- 04-16-21
Interesting but obviously bias
Interesting listen but It’s very apparent how the author feels about many of the trends discussed. I prefer a more objective view.
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- David Lowenthal
- 02-23-21
Great for marketers
Though I doubt it was the author’s intention, this book has given direct response marketers like me great insights into the desires, fears, fantasies, beliefs, and problems of the upwardly mobile “aspirational class.”...so as better to sell to them!
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- C and L
- 05-26-23
Ironic
The narrator mispronounces Hermes multiple times throughout the text. Do they not proof listen to these things? I find it both quite halarious, given the content of the book, and a touch irritating.
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- K
- 05-21-19
Brilliant
This book provides an amazing and well-rounded assessment of social class and it’s contemporary manifestation.
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