Alissa Quart est une rédactrice en chef et une auteure acclamée dont le travail explore les complexités du statut, de la classe et de l'inégalité économique. Elle apporte un regard vif et analytique à son écriture, cherchant à découvrir les mécanismes souvent cachés qui façonnent la vie des gens. Son commentaire social incisif incite les lecteurs à réfléchir aux problèmes sociétaux contemporains. La voix distinctive de Quart offre un examen convaincant des forces qui influencent la société moderne.
The book explores the American fixation on self-reliance, arguing that it has fostered inequality and a culture of self-blame. It critiques how this mindset has unjustly transferred the burden of survival onto everyday individuals, revealing the societal implications of such beliefs. Through this examination, it challenges the notion of individualism and its impact on community and social responsibility.
Families today are squeezed on every side--from high childcare costs and harsh employment policies to workplaces without paid family leave or even dependable and regular working hours. Many realize that attaining the standard of living their parents managed has become impossible. Alissa Quart, executive editor of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project, examines the lives of many middle class Americans who can now barely afford to raise children. Through gripping firsthand storytelling, Quart shows how our country has failed its families. Her subjects--from professors to lawyers to caregivers to nurses--have been wrung out by a system that doesn't support them, and enriches only a tiny elite. Interlacing her own experience with close up reporting on families that are just getting by, Quart reveals parenthood itself to be financially overwhelming, except for the wealthiest. She offers real solutions to these problems, including outlining necessary policy shifts, as well as detailing the DIY tactics some families are already putting into motion, and argues for the cultural reevaluation of parenthood and caregiving as truly valuable, not only emotionally but professionally and politically
Exploring the impact of cultural outsiders, this work highlights individuals who have innovatively navigated their paths to fulfillment and stability. Alissa Quart, recognized for her insightful cultural analysis, presents a compelling narrative that serves both as a tribute to the underrepresented and an impressive journalistic endeavor. The book sheds light on the unique strategies and experiences of those who challenge conventional norms, contributing to a broader understanding of resilience and creativity in modern society.
The Buying and Selling of Teenagers
Corporations spend billions of dollars annually to woo teen and pre-teen consumers. Over the last 5-10 years, the research of these groups and their behaviour has become very focused on exactly how best to part them (or their parents) with their money. Alissa Quart takes the reader into the disturbing world of teen marketing, showing how they are taught to market to each other and where adults build careers out of insinuating their way into 'friendships' with teens in order to monitor what they wear, eat, listen to and talk about with each other.This compelling book looks into the way teens succumb to peer pressure and the constant commercial battering and the young people who fight back, who turn the tables on the cock-sure mega-corporations who so cynically strive to crack the codes of teen cool. These kids prove it isn't necessary to give in to branding, but it is a drop in the water when an entire generation is being raised to consume.
Alissa Quart's first book of poetry sifts brilliantly through our landscape of damaged Americana. From spam ads to tech speak, from self-help to real estate to the lingo of gossip or "mom" sites, these poems insistently limn a country where nearly everything has taken on the character of money. Quart, the acclaimed author of Branded and two other books of reported cultural criticism, cuts into our clamorous culture, summoning its strangeness and humor. Monetized also reflects upon a shared longing for the analogue era, as well as our longing for a less commercialized past. This book is a remarkable account of a state of yearning for the passing moment in a period of rapid acceleration, a feeling Quart calls "right-now-nostalgia."
Lieben wir sie nicht alle, die großen Marken wie Disney, Nike, Calvin Klein und Donna Karan? Belohnen sie uns nicht mit Image für den täglichen Stress und bewahren sie uns nicht vor innerer Leere? Die junge New Yorker Journalistin Alissa Quart untersucht, wie Kinder und Jugendliche durch die Werbe- und Marketingstrategien großer Firmen beeinflusst werden. Sie zeigen nicht nur, wie sie selbst Moden und Trends mitbestimmen, sondern werden auch aktive Teilnehmer der Konsummaschinerie. Im Zeitalter des Brandings sind Werbekampagnen interaktiv und allgegenwärtig. Quart beschreibt, wie Werbetaktiken, vom Poster bis zum raffinierten Peer-to-Peer-Marketing, entwickelt und umgesetzt werden und welche Auswirkungen die totale Kommerzialisierung des Alltags auf unsere Vorstellungswelt und unser Verhalten hat. Zeichen und Wunder verknüpfen wir nicht mehr mit der Kirche, sondern mit den Logos, die unsere Einkaufsstraßen prägen. Besonders Jugendliche, die sozial isoliert sind, sind anfällig für die Werte, die Marken ihnen vorgaukeln. Werbung fordert sie dazu auf, ihre Eltern unter Druck zu setzen, um Konsumwünsche zu finanzieren. Wenn Branding nicht mehr genügt, werden Schönheitsoperationen der nächste logische Schritt. Quarts Reportage richtet sich an kritische Jugendliche und Eltern, die die übertriebenen materiellen Erwartungen ihrer Kinder erkennen.