SOCIAL STUDIES

Program 04-09-19-A

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To The Best of Our Knowledge
from Wisconsin Public Radio

If you believe those at the top of society deserve their success, doesn't that mean you think those at the bottom deserve their failure? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we'll talk about status anxiety. Also, we'll find out why American poverty matters to everyone.

SEGMENT 1:

Alain de Botton calls his new book "Status Anxiety." He tells Steve Paulson that we all worry about our place in the pecking order and our lifestyle choices reflect our anxieties. Also, Monty Python weighs in on status anxiety with the "Four Yorkshiremen" sketch.

SEGMENT 2:

Nick Flynn is the author of "Another Bullshit Night in Suck City" - a memoir of his complex relationship with his father, who showed up as a client at the homeless shelter where Nick was working. Nick Flynn tells Anne Strainchamps that his father is still a drunken brawler, but they have a pretty good relationship now. Also, Mark Robert Rank is the author of "One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All." He tells Steve Paulson that American society is structured to accept a certain amount of poverty but that other capitalist societies with good economies have chosen to do things differently.

SEGMENT 3:

Lisa Tucker's latest novel is "Shout Down the Moon." She talks with Jim Fleming about the role of social class in her work. And, Robert W. Fuller is the author of "Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank." He says "rankism" is a form of discrimination based on the abuse of rank and that it runs rampant throughout our society, often hiding behind the more familiar sexism or racism. Fuller gives Jim Fleming several examples.

Cassette copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 04-09-19-A.

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Books:

• Alain de Botton, Status Anxiety (Pantheon Books)
  
• Mark Robert Rank, One Nation, Underprivileged: Why American Poverty Affects Us All (Oxford University Press)
  
• Robert W. Fuller, Somebodies and Nobodies: Overcoming the Abuse of Rank (New Society Publishers)
• Nick Flynn, Another Bullshit Night in Suck City (A Memoir) (Norton)
  
• Lisa Tucker, Shout Down The Moon (Downtown Press)

Links:

• -- Alain de Botton
  http://www.alaindebotton.com/
  
• -- Lisa Tucker
  http://www.lisatucker.com/
  
• -- Robert W. Fuller
  http://www.breakingranks.net
  http://www.dignitarians.org

Audio:

• - "Four Yorkshiremen"/Monty Python
  from the CD, "The Instant Monty Python CD Collection, Volume 3: Live at Drury Lane" (Virgin)

Music:

• -- "The "In" Crowd"/Ramsey Lewis
  from the CD, "Ramsey Lewis's Finest Hour" (Verve)
  http://www.ramseylewis.com/
  
• -- "Homeless Child"/Ben Harper
  from the CD, "The Will to Live" (Virgin Records)
  http://www.benharper.net/
  
• -- "Poverty"/Ennio Morricone
  from the CD, "Once Upon A Time in America: Soundtrack"
  (Rykodisc)
  
• -- "I Loves You, Porgy"/Nina Simone
  from the CD, "Nina Simone Anthology (Original Recording
  Remastered)" (RCA)
  http://ninasimone.com/welcome.html
  
• -- "The 10 Attacks of Dagger"/Drums & Tuba
  from the CD, "Vinyl Killer" (Righteous Babe Records)
  http://www.drumsandtuba.com

Distribution dates:

week of 06/19/2005 - hour 1 week of 09/19/2004 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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