A review by afestivalaparade
Elsewhere, U.S.A.: How We Got from the Company Man, Family Dinners, and the Affluent Society to the Home Office, BlackBerry Moms, and Economic Anxiety by Dalton Conley

2.5

Conley provides some interesting insights on the way turn-of-the-century American society responds to economic incentives. The chapters about the social effects of women's great workforce participation and the ever-expanding reach of the market were thought-provoking. The book shows its age in chapters about technology; it's clear Conley was writing at the exact moment of a major cultural shift with the rise of cell phones and Internet 2.0, but I think he was searching for meaning a bit too early in that shift. I did appreciate chapter 8's meditations on the ways modern technology allows for constant identity shifting, but overall this study has a bit of datedness to its observations. I'd be interested in an updated version that incorporates more recent events like the 2008 financial crisis, the gig economy (oh, what Conley must have to say about the gig economy), and how Instagram and other influencers and more recent social media have further pushed our networked identities.