THE TIMELY AND ALARMING
BOOK THAT TELLS THE STORY OF OUR DECLINING PROFESSIONAL
MIDDLE CLASS...
 Educator,
artist, social worker, not-for-profit administrator,
journalist—these white-collar professions are typically
populated with college-educated, middle class
professionals who forgo big-money careers in finance,
medicine or law to pursue more “meaningful” work in
creative and service-oriented sectors.
But increasingly, these career choices are leaving
middle class professionals struggling to make ends meet,
let alone fulfill social expectations and reach the
economic stability of the “American dream.”
Through hundreds of interviews with families and
individuals from across America, award-winning
journalist Nan Mooney traces how and why today’s
educated professional middle class is experiencing
financial volatility more profound and paralyzing than
the struggles experienced by previous generations. In
(Not) Keeping Up With Our Parents, Mooney illustrates
how members of this class are increasingly opting out of
creative and service-oriented careers, choosing to delay
or forgo having children, carrying significant debt well
into middle age, and struggling so hard to keep their
own finances secure that they have little resources to
offer those less fortunate. The issues they
face—negotiating massive student loan and credit card
debt, struggling to pay for health and child care, and
choosing between funding their children’s education and
their own retirement—reveal an entire segment of society
teetering on the edge.
In response, Mooney encourages today’s professional
middle class to overcome their sense of fear and
resignation and engage in the prospect of change. She
proposes ways individuals and communities can stop the
economic downward spiral—from advocating for more
government support for education, child care, health
care and retirement, to initiating a shift in values so
that self worth is no longer defined by the size of
one’s bank account. |
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About the author
See Nan
Mooney's schedule of readings and appearances
Listen to Nan on the PBS
NewsHour.
Read an interview with
Nan Mooney at Salon.com
Nan Mooney is the author of I Can’t Believe She Did That: Why Women
Betray Other Women at Work (St. Martin’s Press
2005) and My Racing Heart: The Passionate World of
Thoroughbreds and the Track (HarperCollins 2002.)
NAN MOONEY is the author of I Can’t Believe She Did
That: Why Women Betray Other Women at Work (St. Martin’s
Press 2005) and My Racing Heart: The Passionate World of
Thoroughbreds and the Track (HarperCollins 2002.) Her
work has appeared in The Washington Post, Slate, The
Daily News, The Utne Reader, The Seattle Weekly, Women’s
eNews and various other publications.
She currently lives in Seattle with her son Leo and far
too much rain.
Your can reach her at
mooneynan@hotmail.com.
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