The Measure of America: American Human Development Report, 2008-2009

In Charles Dickens's novel about capitalism run amok, a teacher asks: "Now, this schoolroom is a Nation. And in this nation, there are fifty millions of money. Isn't this a prosperous nation? Girl number twenty, isn't this a prosperous nation, and an't you in a thriving stat...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perspectives on politics 2009, Vol.7 (4), p.913-914
Main Authors: Stone, Deborah, Burd-Sharps, Lewis, Martins, Sarah, Kristen, Eduardo Borges
Format: Review
Language:English
Subjects:
Congressional districts
Earnings
GNP
Gross National Product
Human development
Human Development Index
Indicators
Inequality
Life expectancy
Low income groups
Measurement
Prosperity
Quality of life
Segregation
U.S.A
Union membership
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Summary:In Charles Dickens's novel about capitalism run amok, a teacher asks: "Now, this schoolroom is a Nation. And in this nation, there are fifty millions of money. Isn't this a prosperous nation? Girl number twenty, isn't this a prosperous nation, and an't you in a thriving state?" "Girl number twenty" (the teacher doesn't dignify the pupils with names) later confides to a friend how she got it all wrong: "I said I didn't know. I thought I couldn't know whether it was a prosperous nation or not, and whether I was in a thriving state or not, unless I knew who had got the money, and whether any of it was mine. But that had nothing to do with it. It was not in the figures at all" (Hard Times [1854] 1997, 64). [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]
ISSN:1537-5927
1541-0986
DOI:10.1017/S1537592709991939