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The Sum of Small Things

A Theory of the Aspirational Class

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The Sum of Small Things

Written by: Elizabeth Currid-Halkett
Narrated by: Rachel Dulude
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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In today's world, the leisure class has been replaced by a new elite.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 Tantor Political Science Popular Culture Sociology Physical Exercise Economic disparity
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What the critics say

"There is a lot to learn here about the contemporary face of income inequality." ( Publishers Weekly)

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Really terrible narrator

If you want to be an audiobook narrator, you should be pretty good at pronouncing slightly uncommon words. This person is not. Some really quite common words are annoyingly mispronounced. Really throws the whole thing off.

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