Fear of falling
the inner life of the middle class
by Barbara Ehrenreich · first published 1989
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3HN commenters
2013–2025first – last mentioned
67% recommend33% neutral
An analysis of the professional middle class from the liberal elite of the 1960s to the yuppies of the 1980s and the amount of power and influence they wield over the American culture.
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…and sublimation of their desires and dreams. That's why they're simultaneously overpaid and overtaxed - just to keep them caged and desperate, a layoff away from a family annihilation. Loyal to death. Fear of Falling by Barbara Ehrenreich is a good book about this. This essay is pompous. Just say: I'm afraid my job is going to leave me, and it makes me feel insecure. Maybe sympathize a little when all of the storefronts…
on “Our efforts, in part, define us” ↗…anyone is buying into this idea that today's college educated professional in the US is better off than the college educated professional of the 1950s and 1960s, I suggest you read Barbara Ehrenreich's "Fear of Falling" where she shows a mountain of evidence of why this is not the case. If these startups are so great for everyone, where are the older people? Where do they go, since they don't seem to be around, other…
on “Why Silicon Valley is not the second coming of the Gilded Age” ↗https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_of_Falling -> "Fear of Falling: The Inner Life of the Middle Class, a book by Barbara Ehrenreich" (sheesh, nowadays books come under the heading "Other", while music and video get their own headers?) Thanks for…
on “Empathy and Failures of Democracies” ↗https://www.barbaraehrenreich.com/titles/barbara-ehrenreich/... Fear of Falling by Barbara Ehrenreich.