Memories of Class and Youth in the Age of Disposability

In spite of being discredited by the economic recession of 2008, market fundamentalism or unfettered free-market capitalism has once again become a dominant force for producing a corrupt financial service industry, runaway environmental devastation, egregious amounts of human suffering, and the rise of what has been called the emergence of “finance as a criminalized, rogue industry.”1 The Gilded Age is back with huge profits for the ultrarich, banks, and other large financial service institutions while at the same time increasing impoverishment and misery for the middle and working classes. The American dream, celebrating economic and social mobility, has been transformed into not just an influential myth but also a poisonous piece of propaganda.