Podcast appearances and mentions of elizabeth currid halkett

Experts on electoral politics, political strategy, economic development, and immigration will have a wide-ranging discussion on the 2024 election and the systems that influence and inform voter beliefs and engagement. Brett Carter is an assistant professor of Political Science and International Relations at USC and a Hoover Fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution. He is the author of Propaganda in Autocracies: Institutions, Information, and the Politics of Belief, and his work has been featured by the New York Times, The Economist, and NPR's Radio Lab, among others. Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of Public Policy at USC. A recipient of a 2023 Guggenheim Fellowship, she holds the Kluge Chair in Modern Culture at the Library of Congress. Currid-Halkett is the author of four books, including most recently The Overlooked Americans. Her work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, and The New Yorker. Roberto A. Suro holds a joint appointment as a professor at USC Annenberg and the USC Price School of Public Policy. He is a long-time journalists' TIME, New York Times, Washington Post and a specialist on immigration and the Latino population. He was awarded a Berlin Prize for his scholarship on immigration and was the Andrew W. Mellon Fellow in the Humanities at the American Academy in Berlin in 2019. Moderator: Manuel Pastor is a Distinguished Professor of Sociology at USC, where he directs the Equity Research Institute and holds the Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change at USC. A member of the California Governor's Council of Economic Advisors and the California Racial Equity Commission, his most recent book is Solidarity Economics: Why Mutuality and Movements Matter, co-authored with Chris Benner. Forthcoming in 2024 is Charging Forward: Lithium Valley, Electric Vehicles, and a Just Future, also co-authored with Chris Benner ·  

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, a public policy professor at USC, has spent years studying small-town America. What she's learned may surprise you.

There's a myth that rural America is dying when, in fact, that couldn't be further from the truth. Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. She joins host Krys Boyd to discuss the small towns in the middle of the country that are thriving and, by many metrics, outperforming much larger urban centers. Her book is “The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country.”

In light of the growing divisions among Americans, this panel will address the intersection of culture and politics in society, how we can better understand divisiveness, and find common ground. Geoffrey Cowan is an award-winning writer, television producer, and University Professor and Annenberg Family Chair in Communication Leadership at the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. He is the author of several books, including Let the People Rule: Theodore Roosevelt and the Birth of the Presidential Primary, See No Evil: The Backstage Battle Over Sex and Violence on Television, and The People v. Clarence Darrow: The Bribery Trial of America's Greatest Lawyer. Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of Public Policy at the USC Price School of Public Policy, whose research focuses on arts and culture, the American consumer economy, and the role of cultural capital in geographic and class divides. She is the author of several books, including The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class and The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country (forthcoming). Jeffery Jenkins is the Provost Professor of Public Policy, Political Science, and Law, Maria B. Crutcher Professor of Citizenship and Democratic Values, and director of the Political Institutions and Political Economy (PIPE) Collaborative at USC. His book, Republican Party Politics and the American South, 1865-1968, shows how the GOP evolved from a biracial party into one dominated by whites, with lessons that inform today's politics. Moderator: Robert Shrum is the director of the Center for the Political Future and the Carmen H. and Louis Warschaw Chair in Practical Politics at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. A legendary political strategist, he was once described as “the most sought-after consultant in the Democratic Party,” by The Atlantic Monthly. 

Many urban Americans have come to believe that there's a growing chasm separating urban and rural America. While urban America bounds ahead, rural America, many assume, is being left behind, struggling with material and spiritual impoverishment, and cultural confusion. This week on Hardly Working, Brent talks with University of Southern California professor Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, who dispels some of the myths about the so-called urban-rural divide. Currid-Halkett and Brent discuss her fantastic book The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What it Means For Our Country, which Brent reviewed for the Dispatch in September. As you'll hear, rural America is doing a lot better than you might think. Mentioned in this episodeJane JacobsUniversity of Chicago General Social SurveyRaj ChettyPosse FoundationAmerican Exchange ProjectTimes/Siena Poll on Trump's advantage in battleground states

USC public policy professor Elizabeth Currid-Halkett argued that rural & urban America have more in common than what Americans have been led to believe. She was interviewed by former Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

USC public policy professor Elizabeth Currid-Halkett argued that rural & urban America have more in common than what Americans have been led to believe. She was interviewed by former Senator Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. She holds the Kluge Chair in Modern Culture at the Library of Congress, and her research has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Economist, and New Yorker. Her new book is "The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country."

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California. On today's podcast, she talks with Matt about her new book, The Overlooked Americans: The Resilience of Our Rural Towns and What It Means for Our Country.

EPISODE 1534: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, the author of THE OVERLOOKED AMERICANS, about the resilience of rural America and it means for the future of the country Elizabeth Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning and professor of public policy at the University of Southern California's Price School of Public Policy. She teaches courses in economic development, the arts, and urban policy and urban planning. Her research focuses on the arts and culture, the American consumer economy and the role of cultural capital in geographic and class divides. She is the author of The Warhol Economy: How Fashion, Art and Music Drive New York City (Princeton University Press 2007); Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity (Faber & Faber/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2010) and The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class (Princeton University Press, 2017), which was named one of the best books of the year by The Economist. Her books have been published in multiple languages. Currid-Halkett's work has been featured in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, Salon, the Economist, the New Yorker, and the Times Literary Supplement, among others. She has contributed to a variety of academic and mainstream publications including the Journal of Economic Geography, Economic Development Quarterly, the Journal of the American Planning Association, the Journal of Planning Education and Research, the New York Times, and the Harvard Business Review. She is a member of the World Economic Forum's Expert Network and Industry Strategy Officers and has been a member of the WEF Global Future Councils. Currid-Halkett is currently working on a book which revisits Tocqueville's Democracy in America to better understand how culture and politics of culture influence the current geographic and class divisions in American society. Her book, The Overlooked Americans: Revisiting Tocqueville and the Cultural Geography of the United States, is forthcoming with Basic Books. Currid-Halkett received her PhD in urban planning from Columbia University. Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John J. Miller is joined by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett to discuss her new book, 'The Overlooked Americans.'

“I think genetics are the most important thing parents need to know about parenting.”  Robert Plomin (i podkasten Principle of Charity) Forventer vi for mye eller feil ting av foreldre idag? Det har sikkert alltid vært stressende og hardt å være forelder, i mange epoker sikkert hardere enn det er nå, men det er likevel noe med dagens forventninger og normer som føles merkelige og nødvendig stressende. I denne episoden diskuterer vi slike spørsmål, og spør om ikke foreldre kanskje betyr litt mindre enn vi tror vi gjør, og hva godt som kan komme ut av en slik holdningsendring.  Vi drøfter tema som normaliseringen av høye forventninger, foreldrerollen historisk sett, verbalisering og språklæring, å leke sammen med barna, skryt, normer og normalfordeling, adferdsgenetikk og genenes rolle i barns utvikling, evolusjonære perspektiver, aldersblanding, sammenligning, å ta råd med en klype salt, og mye annet.    Diverse relevante sitater: Fra introduksjonen, sitat fra New York Times, 29.mars 2023:  "research has found, today's parents feel intense pressure to constantly teach and interact with their children, whereas previous generations spent more time doing adult activities when their children were around. While this increased attention used to be an upper-middle-class goal, more recent research shows that people across class divides believe it's the best way to parent." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/29/upshot/parenting-survey-research.html?campaign_id=2&emc=edit_th_20230130&instance_id=84025&nl=todaysheadlines®i_id=48345074&segment_id=123898&user_id=b6798e8c3cdc4fa0fed4f26860d5a19e Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, The Sum of Small Things “why have some mothers (and parents more generally) adopted practices that are difficult, time-consuming, and sometimes even painful instead of using that very same time for leisure? [...] High socioeconomic women spend two to three times more time with preschool children than those of lower socio-economic groups.” (s.96) Kathryn Paige Harden, The Genetic Lottery  “Failing to take genetics seriously is a scientific practice that pervasively undermines our stated goal of understanding society so that we can improve it.” (s.186)  “There is a striking paucity of early language research that even nods at a potential role of genetics in explaining why parents who talk more have children who talk more.” (s.184) Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate “People are appalled by human cloning and its dubious promise that parents can design their children by genetic engineering. But how different is that from the fantasy that parents can design their children by how they bring them up? Realistic parents would be less anxious parents. They could enjoy their time with their children rather than constantly trying to stimulate them, socialize them, and improve their characters. They could read stories to their children for the pleasure of it, not because it's good for their neurons.” (s.398) Bøker: Debora Belle, The After-School Lives of Children Erika Christakis, The Importance of Being Little Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, The Sum of Small Things Fredrik deBoer, The Cult of Smart Michaeleen Doucleff, Hunt, gather, parent Barbara Ehrenreich, Fear of Falling Ivar Frønes, Den krevende barndommen Alison Gopnik, The Carpenter and the Gardener Kathryn Paige Harden, The Genetic Lottery Christina Hardyment, (1983), Dream Babies: Childcare Advice from John Locke to Gina Ford Judith Rich Harris, The Nurture Assumption Brenna Hassett, Growing up human Joseph Heinrich, The WEIRDest people in the world Tom Hodgkinson, The Idle Parent Ann Hulbert, Raising America Melvin Konner, The Evolution of Childhood David Lancy, Raising Children Angeline Lillard, Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius Ole Jacob Madsen, Generasjon Prestasjon Bjørnar Mortensen Vik, For barna og samfunnet. Psykologi, barneoppdragelse og sosialpolitikk i Norge, ca. 1900 – 1975. Doktoravhandling UiB OECD, Why parenting matters for children in the 21st century Iona og Peter Opie, Children's Games in Street and Playground Steven Pinker, The Blank Slate Robert Plomin, Blueprint Hartmut Rosa, The Uncontrollability of the World William Stixrud og Ned Johnson, The Self-Driven Child Artikler David Hugh-Jones og Oana Borcan, No, wait, stop: Parents do make a difference, The Psychologist, 13.juni 2022, https://www.bps.org.uk/psychologist/no-wait-stop-parents-do-make-difference (litt stråmann ute og går her, men kjekt å få med dette perspektivet) Ole Jacob Madsen, Helsestasjonismen, Morgenbladet 29.juli 2016, https://www.morgenbladet.no/ideer/2016/07/29/helsestasjonismen/ Sanna Sarromaa, Å være forelder behøver ikke å være et slit!, VG 3.mars 2023, https://www.vg.no/nyheter/meninger/i/RGKVEr/aa-vaere-forelder-behoever-ikke-aa-vaere-et-slit   Podkaster Intelligence Squared, Parenting Doesn't Matter (Or Not As Much As You Think), https://www.intelligencesquared.com/events/parenting-doesnt-matter-or-not-as-much-as-you-think/?fbclid=IwAR3XxaW7oUPFrYtpab-B7z5FTbHOpNKXhJOj8JhfH4d4lkdsVnFZmCLOfHE Intelligence Squared US, Is parenting overrated? https://www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debate/parenting-overrated/#/ Very Bad Wizards, Parents just don't understand, 16.april 2019 Principle of Charity, Robert Plomin, 30.jan 2023   ---------------------------- Logoen vår er laget av Sveinung Sudbø, se hans arbeider på originalkopi.com Musikken er av Arne Kjelsrud Mathisen, se facebooksiden Nygrenda Vev og Dur for mer info. ----------------------------  Takk for at du hører på. Ta kontakt med oss på vår facebookside eller på larsogpaal@gmail.com Det finnes ingen bedre måte å få spredt podkasten vår til flere enn via dere lyttere, så takk om du deler eller forteller andre om oss.  Både Lars og Pål skriver nå på hver sin blogg, med litt varierende regelmessighet. Du finner dem på disse nettsidene: https://paljabekk.com/ https://larssandaker.blogspot.com/   Alt godt, hilsen Lars og Pål

In this episode we discuss The Sum of Small Things by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett. Next time we'll discuss Wanting: The Power of Mimetic Desire in Everyday Life by Luke Burgis.

What made America into a tinderbox, ready for Donald Trump's spark? That's the question Evan Osnos, staff writer for the New Yorker, set out to answer in his book Wildland: The Making of America's Fury. Having lived overseas for many years, mostly in China, Evan returned to the U.S. in 2013 and felt something of a stranger in his own land. The events of the next few years added to this sense. So he set out to find out what had happened to make his home country feel so foreign, by returning to the places he knew best: Greenwich CT, where he grew up, Clarksburg WV where he started his reporting career, and Chicago where he covered city politics for the Tribune. The book is already a bestseller and being heaped with critical acclaim. The story is of a country that was ever more divided by class and geography and politics, but ever more connected by the ties of the modern economy. Evan and I talk about the financialization of the economy, and the transformation of the culture of his home town of Greenwich into the hedge fund capital of the country; the battles over the coal industry; the rise of Trump; the potential for Joe Biden to bring the nation back together; the cleavages of race and wealth in cities like Chicago. Although he is worried about what he calls the "seclusion of mind" of many of America's tribes, Evan ends on an optimistic note: that the pandemic has shown that whether we like it or not, we're all in together. Evan Osnos Evan Osnos is a staff writer for the New Yorker, contributor to CNN, and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution covering politics and foreign affairs. A graduate of Harvard, Osnos started his journalism career in West Virginia and Chicago, before being stationed in the Middle East to report on the Iraq War. He then moved to Beijing for eight years and wrote, “Age of Ambition: Chasing Fortune, Truth, and Faith in the New China” which won the National Book Award. He now lives in Washington, D.C. with his wife and two children.  More Osnos  Read his "novelistically gripping" book, Wildland: The Making of America's Fury Find more of his writing at The New Yorker  Follow him on twitter: @eosnos Also mentioned We briefly discussed the book “The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class”, written by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett. Osnos referred to Michael Sandel's work, specifically what he calls "The Skyboxification of American Life" We discussed the saga of Varsity Blues, and the very notable quote from Gordon Caplan: “To be honest I'm not worried about the moral issue here.”  Osnos referred to the documentary-style photography of Walker Evans Osnos spoke in depth about Patriot Coal  I highlighted the racial disparity in wealth pre- and post-recession, which you can learn more about here.  Osnos mentions a political movement in West Virginia, called WV Can't Wait  The Dialogues Team Creator: Richard Reeves Research: Ashleigh Maciolek Artwork: George Vaughan Thomas Tech Support: Cameron Hauver-Reeves Music: "Remember" by Bencoolen (thanks for the permission, guys!)  

Who broke America? Quite likely, you did. David Brooks, my guest today, describes how the new elite, the "bobos" as he once labelled them (bourgeois bohemians) have created a hereditary meritocracy, failed the leadership test, condescended to the less successful, and actively contributed to inequality and segregation. We talk about what class means today, why David now thinks economics is more important than he did, his advice for both the Democrats and the Republicans, the culture wars, and much more. We end with a discussion of his work on a new book on the importance of social recognition, of being seen.  David Brooks David Brooks is a prominent social and cultural commentator writing regularly for the New York Times and the Atlantic, and previously for the Wall Street Journal. He also appears on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR's “All Things Considered” and NBC's “Meet the Press” to discuss politics and culture. Brooks teaches at Yale University and belongs to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.  More Brooks Read his Atlantic piece, How the Bobos Broke America, building off his 2001 book, Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There His previous books include The Social Animal, The Road to Character, and The Second Mountain.  For more, check out his column at the New York Times and his column at the Atlantic You can follow more of his work on twitter: @nytdavidbrooks Also Mentioned We chatted about my book, Dream Hoarders. We mentioned several scholars who work on social and/or economic inequality, including:Robert Putnam, specifically referring to his work on extracurricular activities.  Raj Chetty and how geography plays a role in mobility.  Sean Reardon, specifically his point that racial diversity is more common than class diversity. Richard Fording and his work on occupational segregation. We also mentioned Jonathan Rauch and his work on the cognitive regime - which you can learn more about in this episode of my podcast.  Brooks mentioned the book “Privilege: The Making of an Adolescent Elite at St. Paul's School” written by Shamus Rahman Khan. We discussed Brooks' infamous deli meat anecdote in his 2017 piece “How We Are Ruining America” Brooks referred to the work of Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist who studied power dynamics and the importance of cultural capital, linguistic capital, symbolic capital, and more.   I mentioned Michelle Margolis' research on religion and politics, which you can learn more about in her book “From Politics to the Pews.”  I also referred to the book “The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class”, written by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett.  Brooks mentioned Ibram Kendi. Brooks referred to this scene in Good Will Hunting (specifically starting at minute 3:06) I mentioned Michael Young's pivotal book “The Rise of the Meritocracy,” which I've spoken about previously here.  My previous work on respect, including this Brookings essay, has focused heavily on the importance of eye contact as an assertion of civic and moral equality.  I cited Thomas Jefferson's original draft of the Declaration of Independence, in which he wrote “we hold these truths to be sacred.” The Dialogues Team Creator: Richard Reeves Research: Ashleigh Maciolek Artwork: George Vaughan Thomas Tech Support: Cameron Hauver-Reeves Music: "Remember" by Bencoolen (thanks for the permission, guys!)  

A fun (and sometimes funny) conversation about frugality? Heck yes, friends, because this is Crazy Money! Emrys Westacott is the author of The Wisdom of Frugality and professor of Philosophy at Alfred University. In addition to courses on ethics, happiness and logic, Emrys teaches an Honors seminar called Tightwaddery, or The Good Life on a Dollar a Day in which students hunt for bargains at yard sales, cut each other’s hair, and cook a banquet composed of meals that cost about a dollar to prepare. One student’s recipe was called “Apple Crisp and how to pilfer your ingredients from the dining hall (which suggests she might not have gotten an “A+” in Emrys’ Ethics class). The Daily Beast named Tightwaddery one of America’s “Hottest College Courses” and CNN called it one of “22 Fascinating and Bizarre College Classes.” Emrys' work on the topic of frugality centers around a few important questions: What does it mean to live the good life? Can frugality actually make you happier? And--while we’re at it--what does frugality even mean? In today’s episode, Emrys and I discuss what Stoicism, Buddhism, the Epicureans, and Christianity can teach us about getting the most out of life by knowing what we want from our money. We touch on Puritanism, Transcendentalism, Neo-liberalism, Quarantine, the FIRE movement, and some other books you might want to check out (The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class by Elizabeth Currid-Halkett and The Happiness Curve by Jonathan Rauch). Yes, this is a rollicking intellectual soirée, and you are invited! I know you’ll enjoy Emrys' vast knowledge of the philosophical schools and refined sense of humor (by which I mean he laughed at most of my jokes). Find out more about Emrys and his work on his website and on 3 Quarks Daily. Read Paul's latest essays on Medium. Find out more about Crazy Money and Paul Ollinger on his website and/or follow him on the socials: • Twitter: http://Twitter.com/Paul_Ollinger • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paul_ollinger/ • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PaulOllinger/ • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulollinger/ Produced and edited by Mike Carano. Are you really still reading? Don’t you have anything better to do? All the important information is above this…. I’m totally serious. Did you know a lot of podcast episode descriptions are purposefully over-written just to cram in a bunch of keywords to make them discoverable inside the podcast apps? But since you're still here, I’ll let you know that upcoming episodes will address coronavirus, inequality, the wealth gap, my new Peloton, Covid-19, whether Cialis Trump (s) Viagra, the asbestos -like qualities of certain insurance products, wellness, mindfulness, black lives matter, social media, Oprah, Wall Street, refinancing, Taylor Swift ’s net worth, pandemic, quarantine, weight loss, diets, get rich, make money while you sleep.

If you're anything like me, this episode will make you think about the way you shop, learn, eat, parent, and exercise in a whole new way. My guest today is Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, a professor of public policy at the University of Southern California whose most recent book The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class documents the rise of a new, unprecedented elite class in the United States. Previously, the elite classes differentiated themselves from the rest by purchasing expensive material goods like flashy clothes and expensive cars. But, for reasons we get into, today’s elite is different: We signify our class position by reading the New Yorker, acquiring elite college degrees, buying organic food, breastfeeding our children, and, of course, listening to podcasts like this one. These activities may seem completely innocent — perhaps even enlightened. Yet, as we discuss here, they simultaneously shore up inequality, erode social mobility, and create an ever-more stratified society — all without most of us even noticing. This is a conversation that implicates us all, and, for that very reason, it is well worth grappling with. Book recommendations: Just Kids by Patti Smith  Art Worlds by Howard S. Becker The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt If you enjoyed this episode, you may also like: When meritocracy wins, everybody loses Work as identity, burnout as lifestyle What a smarter Trumpism would sound like My book is available for pre-order! You can find it at www.EzraKlein.com. Want to contact the show? Reach out at ezrakleinshow@vox.com You can subscribe to Ezra's new podcast Impeachment, explained on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts, or your favorite podcast app. Credits: Producer and Editor - Jeff Geld Researcher - Roge Karma Engineer - Jeff Geld Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett of USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and Johanna Blakely of USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism cover how people view themselves in and out of social media, and its effect and influence on culture.

It used to be that big mansions and fancy jewelry were the consummate signs of wealth, but new research shows that people are increasingly spending their wealth on less “conspicuous” forms of consumption. In today’s world, it pays more to signal your status with things like health care and education and nutrition. How did this change come about? And what does effect does it have on the rest of the population who can’t afford these new status symbols? In this episode, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett helps us walk a mile in the shoes of today’s “aspirational class” and see how they’re spending their wealth…and how it accelerates the rat race for the rest of society. Prof. Currid-Halkett is the James Irvine Chair in Urban and Regional Planning in the Sol Price School of Public Policy at the University of Southern California. She is the author of the new book The Sum of Small Things: A Theory of the Aspirational Class, which was named one of the best books of 2017 by The Economist.

All social classes have unspoken rules. From A-list celebrities to teachers, doctors, lawyers, and journalists — there are social norms that govern our decisions, whether we realize it or not. This week on Hidden Brain, the invisible qualities that all celebrities have in common, and how our interest in them builds because of cues we get from one another. Later in the episode, we look at another elite group: the yoga-loving, Whole Foods-shopping, highly-educated group that researcher Elizabeth Currid-Halkett calls the "aspirational class."

Spoilers in this book club podcast! If you want to read before you listen ... read and come back soon! Junot Díaz made his debut with Drown (https://goo.gl/3HXB4p), ten interconnected short stories in 1997, our book club pic for November 2016. These coming-of-age stories grant the reader a brief glimpse into the lives of immigrants, their lives in poverty in the Dominican Republic through migration to life on the edges in New Jersey. "Diaz evokes a world in which fathers are gone, mothers fight with grim determination for their families and themselves, and the next generation inherits the casual cruelty, devastating ambivalence, and knowing humor of lives circumscribed by poverty and uncertainty." (Goodreads - https://goo.gl/3HXB4p) Throughout the stories the resilience of the characters, the humanness in squalor points to universal truths, unique beauty, and casual violence in our own lives and the lives of those around us. Featuring Caroline Bhalla, Raphael Bostic, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, and Richard Green

Audio book club discussion of THE RISE AND FALL OF URBAN ECONOMIES: LESSONS FROM SAN FRANCISCO AND LOS ANGELES for links to some of the things we talk about, see the show page: https://bedrosian.usc.edu/podcast/the-rise-and-fall-of-urban-economies/ Michael Storper, co-author of our latest book club pick, The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies said recently in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times: "To succeed in the new economy ... Southern California has to face its mistakes over the last 30 years." The claim is that the Bay Area has been "better" at doing business than we have in SoCal. The book makes the claim that San Francisco has succeeded where Los Angeles has failed over the last 30 years. Experts from USC discuss the merits and faults of this comparison of the two regions. Featuring Raphael Bostic, Elizabeth Currid-Halkett, Liz Falletta, Chris Redfearn, and Mott Smith. Sponsored by the USC Bedrosian Center http://bedrosian.usc.edu/  Recorded at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy http://priceschool.usc.edu 

Elizabeth Currid-Halkett presents her latest book, Starstruck: The Business of Celebrity, at the 2011 Literary Luncheon hosted by the Friends of the USC Libraries in Doheny Memorial Library. Currid-Halkett, assistant professor at the USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development, joins the ranks of other renowned authors who previously have spoken as part of the series, including Michael Cunningham, Robin D. G. Kelley, M.G. Lord, Lisa See, University Professor Kevin Starr, Robin Swicord, Ayelet Waldman and Essie Mae Washington. Published by Faber & Faber, Starstruck quantifies the business of fame by examining celebrity photographs taken by the Getty Images wire service from 2006 to 2007. The book also explores society's obsession with celebrity, explaining why society anoints some as stars but not others and detailing the business implications that entails. "Dr. Currid's work is an excellent example of SPPD's capacity to bridge theory and practice," said Jack H. Knott, the C. Erwin and Ione L. Piper Dean of SPPD. "Her book is both academically outstanding and relevant in the world at large. "We appreciate the enormous academic contributions she makes to our school and to our students, and are thrilled that her book is so successful." Starstruck has received wide coverage by more than 20 leading media outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, New York Daily News, New York magazine, New York Post, San Francisco Chronicle, USA Today, Philadelphia Examiner, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday UK, Daily Beast, Huffington Post, Salon, Fox News, KPPC, WNYC and Radio New Zealand. Paper magazine wrote: "Never before has so much statistical analysis been brought to bear on the likes of Britney Spears, Clint Eastwood and Lara Flynn Boyle and the subtle but meaningful differences between A-, B- and C-list celebrities." According to the Philadelphia Enquirer, "The author digs deep to highlight the real reasons why the public continues to tune in (or log on) to get the latest on celebrity happenings - even if it's just shots of Jennifer Anniston stopping off at Starbucks." Currid-Halkett also wrote several op-eds based on the content of Starstruck that appeared in the Harvard Business Review, The Wall Street Journal, New York Post and New York Daily News, among others. In her first book, The Warhol Economy, Currid-Halkett explored how New York's economy is driven by art and culture. She earned a Ph.D. in urban planning from Columbia University.