INTRO Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence Rachel Sherman

Uneasy Street: The Anxieties of Affluence

Rachel Sherman

Last annotated on Thursday November 16, 2017

182 Highlight(s) | 142 Note(s)

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

INTRODUCTION
Note:INTRO@@@@@@@@

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

large prewar apartment
Note:CASA

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

second home

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

children attend a prestigious private school.

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

part-time personal assistant as well as a nanny-housekeeper and occasionally a personal chef.
Note:SERVITÙ

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

travel in business class,

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

Scott worked in finance

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

supports nonprofits,

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

an active role on the board of his children’s school.

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

works for pay only occasionally,
Note:LA MOGLIE CASALINGA

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

it’s something to hide.’”
Note:LA RICCHEZZA X IL RAGAZZINO... NASCONDERE

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

he became a leftist

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

a “secret rich guy”

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

abuses of workers’ rights.
Note:LO SCHERNO DEI COMPAGNI

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

feeling uncomfortable having married into wealth.
Note:LA MOGLIE

Yellow highlight | Page: 1

she had trouble spending only on herself,

Yellow highlight | Page: 2

especially aware of those who had less.
Note:SENTIMENTO PREDOMINANTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 2

the desire to work.
Note:IL VALORE DA INSTILKARE AI FIGLI

Yellow highlight | Page: 2

feelings about their living space.
Note:CASA TROPPO GRANDE

Yellow highlight | Page: 2

they believed that each of their children should have his or her own room.
Note:UN DESIDERIO COMBATTUTO

Yellow highlight | Page: 2

so uncomfortable with the apartment

Yellow highlight | Page: 2

when I come [home], I feel like, ‘This isn’t me.’
Note:LEI... CGE HA ORIGINI WORKING CLASS

Yellow highlight | Page: 2

The conflict that ensued was, as Olivia described it, “traumatizing,” destabilizing their marriage,
Note:CASA TROPPO GRANDE...UN MILIONE DI EURO X RISTRUTTURARLA E RENDERLA MENO APPARISCENTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

struggle was also partly about the visibility of their wealth,

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

discomfort

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

standing out
Note:VOGLIA DI EVITARE ASSUTAMENTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

opulence of her home vis-à-vis those of their peers and friends, whom she described as “normal.”
Note:IL NEMICO

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

awkwardness
Note:LA GOFFAGGINE DELLA RICCHEZZA

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

even having kids’ friends over, there’s always this, like, inner hurdle that I have to get over.”
Note:PROBLEMA CON I COMPAGNI

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

Not surprisingly, neither invited me to their home;
Note:CONTRACCOLPO

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

how to set a limit on spending
Note:ALTRO PROBLEMA TIPICO

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

Scott said it had taken them nearly two years to buy an air conditioner
Note:L INCUBO DI SPENDERE PER SE STESSI

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

we do normal-Joe everyday stuff. We ride the trains. You know, for some reason it’s important to us to feel that way.”
Note:L IMPORTANZA DI SENTIRSI NORMALI

Yellow highlight | Page: 3

annual spending had reached $800,000,
Note:IL LIVELLO OGGI

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

fifty affluent and wealthy New York
Note:GLI INTERVISTATI

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

wanted to know how privileged New Yorkers made choices about consumption and lifestyle—that
Note:QUEL CHE VOGLIAMO SCOPRIRE

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

What counted as “real” needs versus “luxuries”?
Note:LUSSO

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

how people who were benefitting from rising economic inequality experienced their own social advantages.
Note:MISURARE IL DISTACCO

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

affect the life choices
Note:COME LA RICCHEZZA INCIDE

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

had struggled over these decisions.
Note:LA PRIMA COSA CHE EMERGE DAGLI INTERV

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

how much money it was acceptable to spend, and on what.
Note:DILEMMA

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

Was it okay to spend a thousand dollars on a dress? Two thousand on a purse? Half a million on a home renovation?
Note:ESEMPIO

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

what kind of people they would be
Note:IL PROBLEMA NN È SE POSSIAMO PERMETTERCELO MA....

Yellow highlight | Page: 4

When a stay-at-home mother paid for a lot of babysitting, for example, was she “a snob”?
Note:DILEMMA

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

Did a couple with tens of millions in assets have to live with a sofa they hated because it felt “wasteful” to change it?
Note:DILEMMA

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

my interviewees criticized excess and self-indulgence while praising prudence
Note:ESITO INTERVISTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

How could these affluent parents give their children high-quality (usually private) education and other advantages without spoiling them?
Note:ALTRO DILEMMA

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

How could those who did not earn money be recognized for contributing to their households?
Note:ALTRO DILEMMA

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

trouble talking about money and were conflicted about spending it.
Note:CONFERMA DI ALTRI PROFESSIONISTI CHE LAVORANO CON I RICCONI

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

how to be both wealthy and morally worthy,
Note:VOGLIA DI ESSERE BUONI

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

CLASS INEQUALITIES AND IMAGINARIES IN THE UNITED STATES
Note:tttttttttt

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

United States imagines itself as egalitarian.
Note:IMMAGINARIO

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

“American Dream” narrative

Yellow highlight | Page: 5

taboo on explicit conversations about class and money,
Note:ARGOMENTO SCOTTANTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 6

We do talk often about one class, of course: the “middle class.”
Note:ALL INCLUSOVE CLASS

Yellow highlight | Page: 6

Radical movements were decimated by anticommunist ideology
Note:RADOCALI

Yellow highlight | Page: 6

international competition, outsourcing and deindustrialization, employer attacks on unions,
Note:L EMERGERE DEI SUPERRICCHI

Yellow highlight | Page: 6

neoliberalism, globalization, financialization, technological innovation,
Note:ccccccc

Yellow highlight | Page: 6

decline of both manufacturing jobs and union strength,

Yellow highlight | Page: 6

welfare state has lost power and the social safety net has weakened.
Note:ALTR CAUSAA

Yellow highlight | Page: 6

Tax policy

Yellow highlight | Page: 7

dramatic increase in economic inequality
Note:CONSEGUENZA

Yellow highlight | Page: 7

the top 1 percent

Yellow highlight | Page: 7

CEO compensation

Yellow highlight | Page: 7

Americans without college degrees have seen their incomes stagnate since the 1970s.

Yellow highlight | Page: 7

The number of middle-wage jobs, such as those of bus drivers and retail clerks, has stagnated relative to others as job growth has occurred mostly at the top and the bottom of the wage scale.
Note:SORTI DELLA CLASSE MEDIA

Yellow highlight | Page: 7

The morally worthy middle class is also symbolically attached to the “Protestant ethic,” the idea that hard work and prudent consumption form the moral bedrock of American society.
Note:ETICA PROTESTANTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 8

both the rich and the poor are often represented as lacking the basic values of hard work and prudence.
Note:RICCHI E POVERI NELL IMMAGINARIO

Yellow highlight | Page: 8

Wealthy people have likewise been cast as both lazy and profligate, at least since 1899, when critical economist Thorstein Veblen wrote The Theory of the Leisure Class,
Note:PREGIUDIZI SUL RICCO

Yellow highlight | Page: 8

“conspicuous consumption.”

Yellow highlight | Page: 8

morally suspect in their materialism.
Note:ACCUSA STRISCIANTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 8

Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby,

Yellow highlight | Page: 8

Roaring Twenties.

Yellow highlight | Page: 8

Tabloid magazines trumpet the details of celebrities’
Note:ANCORA OGGI

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

buy gold-plated Apple watches for their dogs.
Note:CARICATURA SUL NY DEI RICCHI ASIATICI

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

morally deficient in terms of personality and behavior. They are snobby, greedy, rude, braggy, and self-absorbed.
Note:ALTRA ETICHETTA AFFIBBIATA

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

more unethical, more narcissistic, less generous, more isolated, and generally less “pro-social” than other people.

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

entitled

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

“the rich are different from you and me.”
Note:PREGIUDIZIO DELL ALTERITÀ

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

represented as exotic,

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

male entrepreneurs such as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and Steve Jobs.
Note:I POCHI RITRATTI POSITIVI

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

good rich people are also often seen as minimalist consumers.
Note:COME È VISTO IL RICCO BUONO

Yellow highlight | Page: 9

(think of Jobs’s black mock turtleneck or Mark Zuckerberg’s gray sweatshirt).
Note:SEGNI DI UMILTÀ

Yellow highlight | Page: 10

their significant philanthropic enterprises
Note:IL MARCHIO DEL BUONO

Yellow highlight | Page: 10

Possessing a down-to-earth affect is another plus;
Note:ALTRO MARCHIO DEL BUONO... AVERE ABIRUDINI SEMPLICI....FARSI UNA BIRRETTA

Yellow highlight | Page: 10

euphemisms such as “comfortable,” “fortunate,”
Note:COME I RICCHI CHIAMANO SE STESSI

Yellow highlight | Page: 10

Because Clinton pays taxes and works hard—despite her income of well over $100 million over the previous several years—she is not “really” rich.
Note:IL VERO RICCO È SEMPRE EVASORE

Yellow highlight | Page: 10

In 2011 the Occupy movement’s critique of “the 1 percent”
Note:ADDOSSO AI RICCHI

Yellow highlight | Page: 10

Thomas Piketty’s 700-page book

Yellow highlight | Page: 11

The language of class, especially the “working class,” appeared in political discourse
Note:IL RITORNO DELLA WC

Yellow highlight | Page: 11

INVESTIGATING AFFLUENCE
Note:tttttttt

Yellow highlight | Page: 11

Although images of the wealthy proliferate in the media, we know very little
Note:ESPOSIZIONE APPARENTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 11

difficulty of gaining access to wealthy people.
Note:PERCHE PLA CARENZA DI NOTIZIE

Yellow highlight | Page: 11

privilege through social closure in elite clubs
Note:DI COSA SI PARLA DI SOLITO

Yellow highlight | Page: 11

skeptical of allusions to hard work,
Note:PREGIUDIZI

Yellow highlight | Page: 11

“the psychic landscape of social class,” has focused mainly on poor or working-class people or on the middle class.
Note:I POVERI SEMBRANO INTERESSARE DI PIÙ

Yellow highlight | Page: 12

The postwar opening of higher education,
Note:AVVICINAMENTO

Yellow highlight | Page: 12

Globalization has also both helped create a more diverse upper class
Note:DIVERSIFICAZIONE

Yellow highlight | Page: 12

the rise of this belief in meritocracy
Note:LA FEDE

Yellow highlight | Page: 13

New York’s levels of residential segregation by income as well as race are also among the highest in the nation.
Note:IL POSTO PRESCELTO

Yellow highlight | Page: 14

two or three children,

Yellow highlight | Page: 14

under 10 years

Yellow highlight | Page: 14

from $250,000 to over $10 million;
Note:REDDITO

Yellow highlight | Page: 14

$80,000 to over $50 million.
Note:PATRIMONIO

Yellow highlight | Page: 14

median household income of the sample was about $625,000,

Yellow highlight | Page: 14

median net worth was $3.25 million

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

they believe in diversity, openness, and meritocracy rather than status based on birth.
Note:LA FEDE

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

All were college-educated, nearly exclusively in elite institutions.
Note:ISTRUZIONE

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

First, they had high levels of cultural capital. They were worldly and culturally curious. They enjoyed the arts and liked to travel; most said they valued experience more than material goods.
Note:LE TRE CARATTERISTICHE PRINCIPALI

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

they were politically liberal
Note:POLITICA

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

although a few located themselves to the left of the Democratic Party.
Note:cccccccc

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

many were economically conservative even if they voted Democratic.
Note:ECONOMIA

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

not especially religious.
Note:RELIGIONE

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

had been raised Catholic or Protestant;

Yellow highlight | Page: 15

Jewish;

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

open kitchens, often outfitted with white Carrara marble or handmade tiles; at handcrafted dining tables;
Note:AREDAMENTO CUCINA

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

bathrooms with soaking tubs or steam showers,
Note:AREDAMENTO

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

living rooms decorated in palettes of gold or white,

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

bedrooms with expansive views of the city or the river,
Note:CAMERA

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

brightly decorated children’s playrooms.
Note:CAMERETTA

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

how customized these homes were and how deeply these homebuyers and renovators had thought
Note:SULLA CASA GRANDI SFORZI

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

whether to have a separate dining room, whether their kids needed their own rooms or bathrooms, whether a stay-at-home mother needed an office.
Note:I PROBLEMONI

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

where their children would go to school, and where they spent time on the weekends.
Note:ALTRI PROBLEMI

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

customize their homes aesthetically,
Note:ESTETICA CENTRALE

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

express their individual styles

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

bought their homes outright or carried very small mortgages.
Note:MUTUI

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

a third of these families owned or were actively shopping for second homes
Note:SECONDA CASA

Yellow highlight | Page: 16

had slightly older children,
Note:CHI HA LA SECONDA

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

those with younger children rented summer or weekend houses or used those of family members,
Note:AFFITTO X CHI HA FIGLI PICCOLI

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

about 90 percent had done significant renovation
Note:RISTRUTTURAZIONE

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

Most children attended private schools, especially after sixth grade.
Note:SCUOLA

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

women usually had primary responsibility for the households,

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

extensive “consumption work,”
Note:STRESS DA SPESA

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

supervising and communicating with paid workers.
Note:CASALINGHE INDAFFARATISSIME

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

housecleaner;

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

hired nannies or babysitters on a regular basis

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

professional chefs, and personal assistants
Note:ALCUNI

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

financial advisors, architects, interior designers, real estate brokers,
Note:ALTRE FIGURE UTILI

Yellow highlight | Page: 17

they facilitate their clients’ consumption choices;
Note:RUOLO DEI PROFESSIONISTI

Yellow highlight | Page: 18

TALKING (OR NOT) ABOUT MONEY

Yellow highlight | Page: 18

cultural taboo against discussing money and class,
Note:TIPICO DEGLI AMERICANI

Yellow highlight | Page: 18

more private than sex,”

Yellow highlight | Page: 18

“No one’s ever asked me that, honestly.…
Note:DAVANTI ALLA DOMANDA

Yellow highlight | Page: 18

the strong sense from many people that they were underreporting
Note:UNDER

Yellow highlight | Page: 19

Despite this discomfort, many of the people I interviewed also acknowledged that they thought about money and lifestyle issues constantly
Note:DIRE E PENSARE

Yellow highlight | Page: 20

Others admitted speculating about what their friends and neighbors earned and sometimes judging friends and family members for certain kinds of spending.
Note:GIUDICARE E CLASSIFICARE

Yellow highlight | Page: 20

THE ANXIETIES OF AFFLUENCE
Note:ttttttt

Yellow highlight | Page: 20

comfortable with their class privilege.
Note:I NATI TRA 1900 1940

Yellow highlight | Page: 20

they saw themselves as pillars of that community, publicly carrying out charitable works
Note:COME SI PERPIVATO

Yellow highlight | Page: 20

community participation as an attempt to justify their privilege,
Note:IERI

Yellow highlight | Page: 20

these women saw themselves as “being better than other people,” expressing “a sense of moral, as well as social, superiority.”
Note:NONNI

Yellow highlight | Page: 20

I was surprised at how many conflicts they expressed about spending.
Note:OGGI

Yellow highlight | Page: 21

some of those I interviewed tended not even to think of themselves as socially advantaged
Note:VIA DI FUGA... CONCENTRARSI SUI PARI

Yellow highlight | Page: 21

“upward-oriented,”

Yellow highlight | Page: 21

explicitly indicated that they had some kind of moral concern about having wealth.
Note:LA MAGGIOR PARTE

Yellow highlight | Page: 21

wanted to avoid showing their wealth to those with less.
Note:TENDENZA

Yellow highlight | Page: 21

money didn’t influence how they thought about other people.
Note:PROCLAMA

Yellow highlight | Page: 22

silencing and obscuring their own privilege,
Note:IL NN PARLARE DELLE PROPRIE SPESE

Yellow highlight | Page: 22

a kind of “blindness”

Yellow highlight | Page: 22

they struggled with themselves over the question of how to be worthy
Note:IL ROVELLO

Yellow highlight | Page: 22

good people work hard.
Note:TRE CARATTERI DELLA XSONA MERITEVOLE

Yellow highlight | Page: 22

prudent consumers.
Note:SECONDA

Yellow highlight | Page: 22

become less prominent
Note:OGGI PERÒ IL LAVORO CONTA DI PIÙ

Yellow highlight | Page: 23

they described their desires and needs as basic
Note:DI BASE

Yellow highlight | Page: 23

they “could live without” their advantages
Note:DCONO

Yellow highlight | Page: 23

cast themselves as “normal” people rather than “rich”
Note:TENDENZA

Yellow highlight | Page: 23

“give back”—more
Note:TERZO

Yellow highlight | Page: 23

“I don’t think we feel entitled to it.”
Note:MERITARSI IL PRIVILEGIO

Yellow highlight | Page: 24

They clash over what kinds of needs are legitimate,
Note:È LEGITTIMO RICOSTRUIRE CASA

Yellow highlight | Page: 24

want to pass these behaviors, feelings, and values on to their children.
Note:VALORI MORALI

Yellow highlight | Page: 24

Parents want to raise nonmaterialistic, hard-working, nice people
Note:COME VORREBBERO I FIGLI

Yellow highlight | Page: 24

they are always engaged in a competitive struggle for status or distinction,
Note:IL PRIMO PREGIUDIZIO DA SFATARE

Yellow highlight | Page: 25

they are complacent about their privilege.
Note:SECONDO

Yellow highlight | Page: 25

desire to be moral actors.
Note:AINVECE

Yellow highlight | Page: 25

notions of what it means to be legitimately privileged.
Note:AL CENTRO

Yellow highlight | Page: 25

judging “bad” wealthy people means “good” wealthy people can also exist.
Note:LA LORO SPERANZA

Yellow highlight | Page: 25

it becomes hard to articulate a distributional critique rather than a behavioral one:
Note:IL COMPORTAMENTO PESA...MA QUI NN SI PARLA DI GIUSTIZIA REDI

Yellow highlight | Page: 25

regardless of how nice or hardworking or charitable they are.
Note:CONTA

Yellow highlight | Page: 25

VARIETIES OF EXPERIENCE
Note:tttttttt

Yellow highlight | Page: 26

Inheritors talked more about experiencing discomfort
Note:EREDI

Yellow highlight | Page: 26

A NOTE ON JUDGMENT
Note:tttttt

Yellow highlight | Page: 27

that rich people are unpleasant, greedy, competitive consumers.
PREGIUDIZIO@@@@@@@@