"The Secure Society Has Become the 'Risk Society'"

"In the throes of the Great Depression, Americans decided that there had to be a better way to organize government and society, one that would allow individuals and families to enjoy greater stability and security. This philosophical shift from 'rugged individualism' to 'united we stand, divided we fall' paved the way for the New Deal, the Great Society, and the forging of an unwritten but pervasive social contract between employers and employees that rested on mutual loyalties and protections. The government invested in its citizens, employers invested in their employees, and individuals worked hard to make the most of those investments. As a result, in the decades immediately following World War II, prosperity reigned, inequality decreased, and a large and thriving middle class was born.
"Beginning in the 1970s, this system began to unravel."


Salon runs an excerpt of Marianne Cooper's Cut Adrift: Families in Insecure Times.


And Stephanie Coontz adds to the discussion in The New York Times.