Marianne Cooper, is a sociologist at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research at Stanford University and also contributes to the Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality. Dr. Cooper received her Ph.D. in sociology from the University of California, Berkeley. She lives in Silicon Valley with her husband and two young children.
Her recent book “Cut Adrift: Families In Insecure Times” provides very important and original insights to the national conversation about the growing income disparities and economic risks that Americans face daily. Many economists and social scientists are exploring this vital topic but Dr. Cooper’s approach analyzes “what keeps Americans up at night.” She spent time with families of various economic classes, from unemployed, almost homeless to the very affluent and describes individual families coping styles. Accompanying moms to their children’s soccer matches, sitting in their living rooms, eating meals with them, Dr. Cooper explored the different coping strategies of the affluent, middle-class and poor families in Silicon Valley that reflect huge inequalities and even cause greater income disparities. Invariably, regardless of income, poor to fabulously wealthy, everyone is anxious.
In an article about her book, Marianne Cooper writes “In talking with families from rich to poor for my new book, Cut Adrift: Families in Insecure times, I learned that the rich don’t think they have enough and strive to attain more, while middle and working-class families realize they can’t do much to improve their situations so they lower their expectations and try to get used to less. These different approaches to managing insecurity don’t just reflect inequality, they actually fuel it…This is the emotional story behind the statistics documenting the fact that we live in precarious times.”
To listen to and/or download Corinne’s conversation with Marianne Cooper click the following link: 2-2-2015 Corinne_Marian Cooper
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