Victor Tan Chen is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and the founding editor of In the Fray magazine. He is the coauthor, with Katherine S. Newman, of The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America.

• Acknowledgments 1. They Had It Coming 2. All This Garbage from Life: Education and the Capital Speedup 3. Decline and Fall: Hardship, Race, and the Social Safety Net 4. Half a Man: Fragile Families and the Unmarriageable Unemployed 5. Vicious Circles: The Structure of Power and the Culture of Judgment 6. Loser: The Failures of the American Dream 7. There Go I Appendix: Research Methods and Policy Details Notes Index

"Rich... Chen constructs a skilled analysis of overlapping issues rising from differences of race, gender and family status." -- Angelia R. Wilson Times Higher Education "The book is full of accounts, many containing moving, first-person stories of the impact on individuals and families of difficult work... Recomended." -- C. K. Piehl CHOICE connect "Cut Loose is an illuminating look at the impacts of prolonged joblessness that accompanied economic restructuring for a group of long-term unemployed autoworkers in Michigan and Ontario in 2009-10." American Journal of Sociology "[Chen's] in-depth interviews are both empathetic and perceptive... Important." Contemporary Sociology

Victor Tan Chen is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and the founding editor of In the Fray magazine. He is the coauthor, with Katherine S. Newman, of The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America.

• Acknowledgments 1. They Had It Coming 2. All This Garbage from Life: Education and the Capital Speedup 3. Decline and Fall: Hardship, Race, and the Social Safety Net 4. Half a Man: Fragile Families and the Unmarriageable Unemployed 5. Vicious Circles: The Structure of Power and the Culture of Judgment 6. Loser: The Failures of the American Dream 7. There Go I Appendix: Research Methods and Policy Details Notes Index

"Rich... Chen constructs a skilled analysis of overlapping issues rising from differences of race, gender and family status." -- Angelia R. Wilson Times Higher Education "The book is full of accounts, many containing moving, first-person stories of the impact on individuals and families of difficult work... Recomended." -- C. K. Piehl CHOICE connect "Cut Loose is an illuminating look at the impacts of prolonged joblessness that accompanied economic restructuring for a group of long-term unemployed autoworkers in Michigan and Ontario in 2009-10." American Journal of Sociology "[Chen's] in-depth interviews are both empathetic and perceptive... Important." Contemporary Sociology

Victor Tan Chen is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Virginia Commonwealth University and the founding editor of In the Fray magazine. He is the coauthor, with Katherine S. Newman, of The Missing Class: Portraits of the Near Poor in America.

• Acknowledgments 1. They Had It Coming 2. All This Garbage from Life: Education and the Capital Speedup 3. Decline and Fall: Hardship, Race, and the Social Safety Net 4. Half a Man: Fragile Families and the Unmarriageable Unemployed 5. Vicious Circles: The Structure of Power and the Culture of Judgment 6. Loser: The Failures of the American Dream 7. There Go I Appendix: Research Methods and Policy Details Notes Index

"Rich... Chen constructs a skilled analysis of overlapping issues rising from differences of race, gender and family status." -- Angelia R. Wilson Times Higher Education "The book is full of accounts, many containing moving, first-person stories of the impact on individuals and families of difficult work... Recomended." -- C. K. Piehl CHOICE connect "Cut Loose is an illuminating look at the impacts of prolonged joblessness that accompanied economic restructuring for a group of long-term unemployed autoworkers in Michigan and Ontario in 2009-10." American Journal of Sociology "[Chen's] in-depth interviews are both empathetic and perceptive... Important." Contemporary Sociology