Kindle Price:	€9.06
	Price includes VAT
Sold by:	Amazon Media EU S.à r.l.

You've subscribed to ! We will pre-order your items within 24 hours of when they become available. When new books are released, we'll charge your default payment method for the lowest price available during the pre-order period.

Update your device or payment method, cancel individual pre-orders or your subscription at
Your Memberships and Subscriptions

There was an error. We were unable to process your subscription due to an error. Please refresh and try again.

Follow the author

Joel Kotkin

+ Follow

More books from this author

The New Class Conflict (English Edition) Kindle Edition

English edition by Joel Kotkin (Autor) Format: Kindle Edition

4.2 102 ratings

See all formats and editions

In ways not seen since the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth century, America is becoming a nation of increasingly sharply divided classes. Joel Kotkin's The New Class Conflict breaks down these new divisions for the first time, focusing on the ascendency of two classes: the tech Oligarchy, based in Silicon Valley; and the Clerisy, which includes much of the nation's policy, media, and academic elites.

The New Class Conflict is written largely from the point of view of those who are, to date, the losers in this class conflict: the middle class. This group, which Kotkin calls the Yeomanry, has been the traditional bulwark of American society, politics, and economy. Yet under pressure from the ascendant Oligarchs and ever more powerful Clerisy, their prospects have diminished the American dream of class mobility that has animated its history and sustained its global appeal.

This book is both a call to arms and a unique piece of analysis about the possible evolution of our society into an increasingly quasi-feudal order. Looking beyond the conventional views of both left and right, conservative and liberal, Kotkin provides a tough but evenhanded analysis of our evolving class system, and suggests some approaches that might restore the middle class to its proper role as the dominant group in the American future.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00N72V72I
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Telos Press Publishing (31 Aug. 2014)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1844 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 230 pages

Best Sellers Rank: 1,282,622 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- 3,162 in Sociology (English)
- 12,847 in Politics (English)
- 49,459 in Politics & Social Science (Foreign Language)

Customer reviews:
4.2 102 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Joel Kotkin

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Joel Kotkin is the Roger Hobbs Distinguished Fellow in Urban Studies at Chapman University in Orange, California, and the Executive Editor of the widely read website NewGeography.com. He is the author, most recently, of The New Class Conflict, as well as The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050, The City: A Global History, and The New Geography: How the Digital Revolution Is Reshaping the American Landscape. An internationally recognized authority on global economic, political, social, and technological trends, Kotkin is a regular contributor to The Daily Beast and Forbes.com, and he writes a weekly column for the Orange County Reigster, where he serves on the editorial board. His writing has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, City Journal, Politico, the New York Daily News, and Newsweek.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5

102 global ratings

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from other countries

Robert A. Hall

A must read for open minded people

Reviewed in the United States on 23 September 2015

Verified Purchase

I rate this excellent book as a "Must Read" for open-minded, intelligent people. (Not so much for polemists of the right and left who haven't entertained a thought beyond the current talking points of their team in years.) It is neither a liberal nor a conservative book--I can imagine Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz sitting side by side in the library mining it for facts and talking points. Well and widely sourced (footnotes make up about 35% of the book) Kotkin quotes favorably from Marx and Elizabeth Warren as well as many conservative thinkers. The book deals with the rise of a new oligarchy of tech billionaires and the clerisy who support them to replace the old oligarchy of energy and industrial barons. He goes into depth about the growth of income inequality and the decline of the middle and working classes in ways that will resonate with both progressives and conservatives. He spares neither party in his apportionment of responsibility for the current state of economic affairs. Kotkin weaves solid economic history from the fall of feudalism to the rise of the middle class into the narrative. Minds that are open to learning cannot fail to learn from this book. Some of the quotes that stuck with me: "Increasingly, American politics resemble not so much a rising democracy as an emerging plutocracy, with dueling groups of billionaires right and left determining most political choices." "Middle-class taxpayers have been transformed into unwitting underwriters of over $20 billion in bonuses paid out in 2013 by Wall Street." "The tax system penalizes the Yeomanry (his term for the low and middle income earners) but rewards the oligarchs." "In the absence of a focus on how to grow economies more rapidly and broadly, both political philosophies (liberal and conservative) fall short." I highly recommend this book to those with the G2 to understand it, open minds and a concern about the direction of this country.

Robert A. Hall
Authr: "The Coming Collapse of the American Republic."

6 people found this helpful

James Blonde

This isn't funny anymore.

Reviewed in Canada on 19 October 2014

Verified Purchase

Every page is a no holds barred analysis of the current socioeconomic situation
in the U.S. and it's a reality check. So many books exist which I have read in the past
fifteen years have similar overtones, Rifkin, Bruce, et al, but nobody as yet has offered
any cohesive all in one book solution to the demise of the middle class, only presenting
the problems with grim statistics and insight, an endless bounce between
cause and effect. With all the super computer systems in Silicon Valley, complete
with artificial intelligence eg, that Google possesses now (and I don't think that it's the fault
of hardware and software makers there for the middle class's demise, they have been huge employers
and created jobs for thousands), couldn't there be a consortium set up cheaply with all their
huge cash reserves and program a local economy computer
algorithm to forecast long term micro market or larger market trends for goods and services so that
the most needy, who have ambition, can take advantage of the computer's results and set up shop quickly
in larger towns and cities. All these neural network computers in Wall Street investment
firms have been continually producing substantial income for them for the past thirty years now,
why not for the Yeoman now?

One person found this helpful

O. G. M. Morgan

Makes The Point - Then Misses It.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 5 January 2015

Verified Purchase

Joel Kotkin writes fairly well, but he lets himself down, right from the start of "The New Class Conflict", by steering a course midway between the Democrat and the Republican position. The truth is that the New Upper Class in the United States is almost entirely Democrat. In order to sustain the illusion that that is not so, Kotkin has to repeat snide remarks, for instance, about the Koch brothers. According to Democrat mythology, the Kochs bankroll every right-of-centre political campaign in the United States. Senator Harry Reid has been banging on about the Koch brothers for months. Kotkin treats that as evidence, but endless repetition doesn't make a statement true.

In reality, with a right-of centre majority in the US, there is a good reason that the Kochs are so outnumbered by the leftwing billionaires, who have to compensate for the lack of financial contributions from the so-called rank-and-file. On the Tea Party side, the money comes from the grass roots and keeps coming, however much the likes of Kotkin and McCain would like it to stop.

The book is still worth reading, because Kotkin exposes how stratified American society has become. Just don't waste too much time on his analysis. Kotkin can't get his head around the fact that the grass roots Republicans are the true egalitarians in America. He is so attuned to assuming that Republicans = Aristocrats that he can't even visualise the new reality.

6 people found this helpful

Jeffrey Noah

insightful and revealing

Reviewed in Canada on 30 March 2017

Verified Purchase

Insightful and revealing of politically correct politics.

ashenenden

Recovering the American Dream

Reviewed in the United States on 3 April 2015

Verified Purchase

The assertions in this book are supported by considerable detail, some of which might shock the ordinary person. Examples: Steve Case, the founder of America on Line and a member of the social class termed by Kotkin "the clerisy" or the new governing class, maintains that the USA should accept 30 million immigrants (kindle ref 1488); California, once regarded as the home of opportunity and upward social mobility, now has massive unemployment (kindle ref 1988), accounts for a third of US welfare recipients, and has extremely high fuel costs due to that state's endorsement of fashionable alternative energy (kindle ref 1977), the nett result being that California is becoming a "highly feudalistic rural economy".

The clerisy has now most of the wealth and exercises most influence, usually in a direction that people are unlikely to want. For example, the clerisy considers that suburbs are energy-inefficient and it advocates centralised housing, which, maintains Kotkin, is fine if one has a large income allowing for possession of a roomy apartment; but unlikely to be favoured by those with small incomes who would be obliged by the clerisy to live in the inner-city in small boxes. Instead they prefer living in suburbs where there is room to move and the poverty rate is lower than urban areas. Contrary to the predictions of experts people generally favour single-family homes. (kindle ref 1212).

The clerisy likes big government and more government control, particularly in regard to ecology and energy, but do not appreciate (or perhaps do not care about) the cost to be paid. People living in rural Oregon counties " ... complain that Portland's strict control over such things as energy and land use makes economic development all but impossible, even where these resources are far more plentiful" (kindle ref 2148).

Kotkin notes that such people as Al Gore, Prince Charles, and Richard Branson insist that the ordinary people, whom Kotin calls the "yeomanry", must curb their expensive ways of life and "live small" but themselves engage in extravagent lifestyles and are "blissfully unaware " of the hypocricy (kindle ref 2189) in their preaching.

The author comments about education. Although strongly recommended by the clerisy it is no longer a guarantee of good employment, or indeed of any employment. Only half the college graduates since 2006 had full time jobs and the situation is getting worse. There seems little point in "stuffing more students into a system that, in the end, fails to prepare young people for the future and lands them in debt" (kindle ref 2398-2420).

Kotkin favours a "decentralised bottom up system". He says it worked well in America for many years, but has been displaced or rendered ineffective by all manner of government controls and other influences. He suggests that the best results will be achieved by allowing localities to control their own fate, relatively free of governmemt intervention. His account of the new class order and its origins and effects are depressing, but he considers that correction is possible - although under threat the Amerian Dream is not dead.

One reviewer said that much of the material in Kotkin's book appeared elsewhere. That might be so, but it is refreshing to find such views stated clearly, in detail, backed up by extensive references, and argued passionately.

Amazon Advertising Find, attract and engage customers	Amazon Music Stream millions of songs	AbeBooks Books, art & collectables	Amazon Web Services Scalable Cloud Computing Services	Audible Download Audiobooks	IMDb Movies, TV & Celebrities

Kindle Direct Publishing Indie Digital & Print Publishing Made Easy	Shopbop Designer Fashion Brands	Amazon Warehouse Deep Discounts Open-Box Products	ZVAB Centralized Directory of Antiquarian Books	Amazon Business Pay by Invoice. PO Numbers. For Business.

Cookies and advertising choices

Buy for others

Buying and sending Kindle Books to others

Follow the author

Image Unavailable

The New Class Conflict (English Edition) Kindle Edition

Popular titles by this author

Product details

About the author

Joel Kotkin

Customer reviews

Top reviews from Germany

Top reviews from other countries

Cookies and advertising choices

Buy for others

Buying and sending Kindle Books to others

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Follow the author

The New Class Conflict (English Edition) Kindle Edition

Popular titles by this author

Product details

About the author

Joel Kotkin

Customer reviews

Top reviews from Germany

Top reviews from other countries