{"product_id":"down-and-out-in-utopia","title":"Down and Out in Utopia","description":"\u003cp\u003eImagine that you have just lost your job. You wonder: \"Who or what can I depend on now?\" The answer, it turns out, varies significantly depending on where you live. In Norway, a small European social democracy, you would almost certainly turn to the country's comprehensive public welfare system. With a work history, you could be eligible for two years of unemployment benefits that replace upwards of 62% of your previous salary. Meanwhile, you would not be too worried about covering other major expenses: annual out-of-pocket healthcare costs are capped at a few hundred dollars, parents receive monthly payments per child, public education is tuition-free, and pensions are guaranteed. What would this experience teach you about government, work, taxes, and freedom?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003cem\u003eDown and Out in Utopia\u003c\/em\u003e, anthropologist Kelly McKowen explains what happens to those without jobs in one of the world's wealthiest and most egalitarian countries. Following the daily lives of a diverse group of unemployed individuals during the \"oil crash\" of the mid-2010s, he shows that being \"down and out\" in a social democracy offers people a unique moral education with lessons about the nature and value of the state, labor, welfare, and belonging. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eEngaging, timely, and illuminating, \u003cem\u003eDown and Out in Utopia\u003c\/em\u003e makes the case that through social policy, we shape life's hardships - and these hardships, in turn, shape us and how we view the world. \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Toronto Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48905433645230,"sku":"9781049805344","price":29.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0735\/4417\/1694\/files\/imageloader_c77bbece-a045-4177-9c10-0d69a000396e.jpg?v=1786546710","url":"https:\/\/ofmooseandmindbookshop.com\/products\/down-and-out-in-utopia","provider":"Of Moose and Mind Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}