Coming Apart

December 5, 2011
Comparing today’s class divisions to 1963 conditions, American Enterprise Institute scholar Murray depicts a pernicious erosion of common culture, restricting his analysis to non-Latino whites. Murray builds on research, including statistically based arguments linked to IQ, advanced in 1994’s controversial The Bell Curve, to describe the creation of a culturally distinct “new upper class” and its concomitant “new lower class” in places like Austin, Tex.; Manhattan; and Newton, Iowa—or the semifictional composite neighborhoods of Belmont, Mass., and Fishtown, Pa. Figures and trends analyzed here lend insight into undeniably massive changes in American society, while more anecdotal evidence (such as Murray’s memories of early 1960s Harvard) is open to subjective qualification. Of course, the picture of a snobby and self-selecting, interbreeding class of largely white, highly educated professionals living in “SuperZips” (the top zip codes in terms of advanced education and income) leans on well-worn images of neo-yuppiedom. While Murray insists he’s more interested in describing the “nature of the problem” than the causes, his argument would be stronger if it didn’t lay so much of the problem at the feet of a self-segregating “new upper class” and its rising incomes and distinct tastes and proclivities. Though it provides much to argue with, the book is a timely investigation into a worsening class divide no one can afford to ignore. Agent: Amanda Urban, International Creative Management.