Welcome to Elsewhere, USA, where the American individual has become extinct.
Acclaimed sociologist Dalton Conley looks closely at a population of intraviduals -- fractured people who struggle to juggle professional, familial, and personal pursuits.
Gone are the days when professionals could count on clearly-defined work days with the same company for twenty years, and clearly defined roles within the family to come home to.
Instead, today's citizens of Elsewhere must try to satisfy their various selves simultaneously.
By examining three arenas – economic, familial, and technological – Conley is able to illustrate how we have all become inhabitants of Elsewhere, where division between home and office has been all but demolished; our wireless economy encourages us to work 24/7, marketing has invaded the most intimate aspects of our lives, and leisure has become a lost art.
Conley, university professor of the social sciences and chair of sociology at New York University, offers an essential understanding of how these changes have reshaped our world and our lives. Dalton Conley's essays have appeared in numerous publications; his previous books include Being Black, Living in the Red, Honky, and The Pecking Order.
Joining Conley in conversation this evening are Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, co-founders of the Breakthrough Institute, authors of Break Through and The Death of Environmentalism; both were named Time magazine's "Heroes of the Environment 2008"- First Congregational Church of Berkeley
Bio
Dalton Conley
Dalton Conley is a university professor of the social sciences and chair of sociology at New York University and a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow. He offers an essential understanding of how these changes have reshaped our world and our lives.
Dalton Conley's essays have appeared in numerous publications; his previous books include Being Black, Living in the Red, Honky, and The Pecking Order.
Ted Nordhaus
Ted Nordhaus is an author, researcher, and political strategist. He is co-author of Break Through and The Death of Environmentalism. Over the last twenty years, Nordhaus has run major campaigns and initiatives for a large assortment of environmental and progressive political causes including the Public Interest Research Groups (PIRGs), the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense, and Clean Water Action.
Nordhaus also served as the Campaign Director for Share the Water, a coalition of environmentalists, fishermen, farmers, and urban water agencies advocating reform of federal water policies in California, Executive Director of the Headwaters Sanctuary Project, and as a partner and political strategist with Next Generation and Evans/McDonough strategy and research firms serving political campaigns and environmental organizations. Nordhaus holds a B.A. in history from the University of California.
Michael Shellenberger
Michael Shellenberger is a futurist and political strategist who works on and writes about energy technology innovation, climate change, economic development, rain forest conservation, social values, national security and human rights.
As president of the Breakthrough Institute, he is a leading national advocate for the U.S. to make large, public-private investments in clean energy and decarbonization technologies to achieve energy independence, restore America's economic competitiveness, and slow global warming. Shellenberger is co-author of Break Through (Houghton Mifflin 2007) and the 2004 essay, "The Death of Environmentalism." In 2002 Shellenberger co-founded the Apollo Alliance and the Breakthrough Institute. He and Ted Nordhaus were named Time magazine "Heroes of the Environment 2008".
Shellenberger has written for The New York Times, the New Republic, the American Prospect, Salon, Harvard Law and Policy Review, Democracy, and Glamour Magazine. Shellenberger has worked as a strategist for efforts to invest billions in clean energy, save the world's last redwoods, and improve working conditions for Nike factory workers in China. Shellenberger was raised in Greeley, Colorado, received his B.A. from Earlham in Indiana, and received a Masters Degree in cultural anthropology from the University of California.
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