Recent research by economists Anne Case and Angus Deaton documents a dramatic rise in mortality rates among working-class white people in the U.S. The immediate causes of these “deaths of despair,” as the pair refer to them, are often factors like drug abuse, health problems like diabetes, and suicide. But these issues stem from a larger epidemic of job insecurity for Americans without a college degree, creating a sense of untethered hopelessness among millions of people. The problem is widespread enough that it led, in 2015, to the first overall decline in U.S. life expectancy since 1993.
What Happens at Home When People Can’t Depend on Stable Work
Recent research by economists Ann Case and Angus Deaton documents a dramatic rise in mortality rates among working class white people in the U.S., tied to a massive shift in the reliability of steady work. Yet it is not just job insecurity that matters here, the author argues, but rather what we might call the culture of insecurity: the growing conventional wisdom that precarious employment is inevitable. Once this becomes ingrained, it has effects not only when it comes to work, but in people’s intimate lives as well. The author explains how, when people are left out in the cold by their employers, they steer their yearnings for commitment toward more culturally legitimate arenas, like their personal relationships with friends and family. Yet these yearnings often end up making their intimate lives more fraught, as high expectations meet human frailty. This can lead to even more sorrow and betrayal.