The Top 5: The rural myth, annoyance economy, & family as a good
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Welcome to the latest edition of the Top 5 articles we’ve read this week. Each week, we read dozens of articles in the hope we find essays and reporting that speak to big ideas, trends, future looks, and incredible human stories. We hope you enjoy our list, and do always let us know if you have a suggestion or a recommendation!
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The Top 5 articles for your week:
“Beyond the myth of rural America” (New Yorker)
Because Daniel Immerwahr explores a new book on how rural identity was constructed and held up as an American ideal, and a farce. “A piercing, unsentimental new book, “The Lies of the Land” (Chicago), by the historian Steven Conn, takes the long view. Wistful talk of “real America” aside, Conn, who teaches at Miami University, in Oxford, Ohio, argues that the rural United States is, in fact, highly artificial. Its inhabitants are as much creatures of state power and industrial capitalism as their city-dwelling counterparts. But we rarely acknowledge this, Conn writes, because many of us—urban and rural, on the left and the right—“don’t quite want it to be true.””
“Are Generational Labels Meaningless?” (Substack - American Storylines)
Because Daniel Cox argues in favor of heavily relying on generational comparisons and labelling: “I make these arguments not in defense of a particular academic specialty, but as someone who has spent a career communicating research findings to the general public. In this work, having standard definitions and well-established categories is invaluable. If some of the most reputable researchers no longer use these terms, the less reliable sort will likely take full advantage of this absence, employing less precise methods or inconsistent approaches. Abandoning generational labels without offering a suitable replacement invites chaos and confusion.”
“Why Culture Has Come to a Standstill” (NYT)
Because Jason Farago is asking a really intriguing question: “For 160 years, we spoke about culture as something active, something with velocity, something in continuous forward motion. What happens to a culture when it loses that velocity, or even slows to a halt?”
“Perspective: The problem with valuing parenting like paid labor” (Deseret News)
Because Leah Libresco Sargeat argues, “the family needs to be defended as a good in itself to hold its own against market logic.”
“The Annoyance Economy” (The Atlantic)
Because Annie Lowrey points out our weird economic dynamic: “nostalgia, true or false, is driving up the Annoyance Index. Even if things are pretty good at the moment, many Americans remember them feeling better in the recent past. Families had way more cash on hand during the pandemic. Interest rates were much lower. Wage growth was faster a year ago. Prices were lower—a lot lower—before the pandemic. And many employees have been forced back to the office, when they were happy working at home.”
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