Main Thesis Overview
In his book, Elsewhere USA: How we got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety, Conley describes two portraits namely Mr. & Mrs. 1959 and Mr. & Mrs. 2009. He emphasizes the differences between the two portraits using broad ideas, lifestyle differences that exist between the educated, white collar families prevailing in those eras. It is from this standpoint that he weaves the discussion focusing on economic, social and corporate levels.
Interestingly, Conley maps out numerous changes that have taken place over the past three decades, and how they were planned out in an unbelievable and interesting manner. He explores how continuous economic, technological and social changes, have affected man’s way of life (Collins 6).
A flashback on how the author was brought up, his parents’ lifestyle back in the days which are significantly different from modern ones and, in fact, deeply contrasts to today’s environment and lifestyle are provided. This helps one appreciate the dramatic changes which have occurred and continue to occur in various spheres of our lives today. Illustrated below are some of the sub arguments that contribute to the overall assessment of the thesis.
How we got from the company man, family dinners, and affluent society to the home office, blackberry moms, and economic anxiety” (Dalton 1)
Conley explores the gradual dramatic changes that have taken place in our daily lives over the past three decades. The various spheres of life have various bounds and are related to each other, e.g. there are certain links between such areas of life as leisure and work, home and office and public space and private space; not only have they blurred but also become permeable. A deep insight into our new social reality is given (Collins 10). Our daily lives are connected with the often occasionally overlooked sociological changes.
These often overlooked sociological changes include increased women participation in the labor force, the rise in economic inequality which has in turn resulted in increased anxiety among successful professionals. The books provides an in-depth inside into how our society is influenced by advances in technology, what social and economic changes those brought to our daily and our private lives. Both positive and negative impacts of these changes need to be explored. Which one exceeds the other? Are there better ways of dealing or handling these dramatic changes in order to be better placed in the modern day world?
”The essential character of positional goods in our time is that the satisfaction they provide is not intrinsic to their value to an individual” (Dalton10)
Conley argues that the utility of positional goods relies on their relative position. Goods are visualized as material goods basically used for the purpose of setting the status in the society. One major observable consequence is the increasing role that material goods play as positional goods. (Klinenberg 11). Elsewhere has been visualized to be so obsessed with material goods which justifies them to be positional goods. In fact, most of these so called positional goods are just but mere improvements of the previous similar goods (Collins 12-13). Several people often find themselves running for the so called positional goods disregarding the economic implication they pose in their lives. Most of these positional goods are entirely for pleasure and purposes of setting status in the society.
However, the author should have considered providing additional information to draw a clear line between what is meant by positional and material goods. It is almost impossible to expect people to continue using the goods and materials they used yesterday. It may not be entirely for pleasure or setting status in the society but at times factors such as a convenience and performance may be put into consideration.
“The fun things are quickly dismissed because the cost of life-related events can easily be offset by working longer” (Dalton 30).
In contrast to 1959 professionals, current day professionals do not regard leisure as a priority. Arguably, leisure and work have merged into one discordant alliance “leisure”. An alarming growth in insecurity among “elsewhere” professionals has been observed. They usually fear about the status of their employment (Klinenberg 15). This is greatly attributed to the lack of value in their service as most of the times they are literally away from their work.
In Elsewhere, work is 24/7, implying that professionals work almost 24 hrs in each of the seven days of the week. As a result of this, people have lost touch with their families, gone are the days when people used to play with their kids, picked them from school since most of the time people are occupied elsewhere in their professional fields. In turn, these professionals have resulted in hiring other people for lower pay to supplement them for these services.
Additional data on how these changing behaviors and work patterns have impacted the family environment is essential. One may also want to learn better methods or ways of maintaining a working balance between work and family.
Works Cited
Collins, Randall. Sociological Insight: An Introduction to Non-Obvious Sociology. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1992. Print.
Conley, Dalton. Elsewhere, USA: How we got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety. Chicago: Amazon publishers, 2000. Print
Klinenberg, Eric. Heat Wave: A Social Autopsy of Disaster in Chicago. Illinois: Illinois State University 2002. Print