This book puts middle Australia under the microscope, examining how quality of life is faring in the face of change and uncertainty. 400 Australians from around the country shared their experiences of work, family, and community for this book, creating a striking picture of Australian society into a new millennium. This lived experience is set against hard data so that we can truly understand the impact - good and bad - of economic restructuring on the broad Australian middle class. Meticulously researched, it mounts a moral and intellectual counter-argument to economic reform. A sequel to the best-selling Economic Rationalism in Canberra, Michael Pusey's book will be equally important.
Michael Pusey was educated in England, France, Australia and the United States, where he took his doctorate at Harvard. He is the author of the best-selling Economic Rationalism in Canberra and is presently Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of New South Wales.
Introduction: economic reform; 1. Incomes and meanings; 2. Jobs work and fairness … In the wake of Labour market reform; 3. Working families: struggling with the costs of reform; 4. Civil societies and communities; 5. Politics, power and institutions; 6. Conclusion.
'Commentators talk about Middle Australia. In this humane and scholarly book, Michael Pusey talks with Middle Australians instead, to find out what they think is happening to their world. The result is fascinating. One of the most important contributions to Australian self-understanding of recent years.' Robert Manne