This book examines the iconic presence of second chances in everyday
life. David Newman explores its various iterations in popular culture,
commercial marketplaces, religion, intimate relationships, education,
criminal justice, and human bodies. He analyzes how this concept—as
a cultural aspiration, driver of policy, and lived personal
experience—has become part and parcel of our individual sense of
self and our collective national identity. While the rhetoric of
redemption is familiar and ubiquitous, Newman uncovers the costs and
constraints of second chances, paying particular attention to the
factors that affect judgments of deservedness. Informed by an array of
data sources including personal interviews, mission statements of
nonprofit recovery agencies, images in popular culture, stories from
the news, plot summaries of novels, and scriptural texts, Newman
frames the second chance experience as the quintessential cultural
paradox: a concept that simultaneously represents the pinnacle of our
shared hopes for renewal and our deepest suspicions about the
intransigence of human nature.
Les mer
Produktdetaljer
ISBN
9781498553995
Publisert
2019
Utgiver
Vendor
Lexington Books
Språk
Product language
Engelsk
Format
Product format
Digital bok
Forfatter