schaffer_middle_class_ethics


 * Middle Class Ethics**

As part of a larger study on middle class ethics, this project aims to examine the imaginaries of democracy and expertise that structure the membership of middle-class advocacy groups. Using a handful of groups in Troy, NY—largely affiliated with “Transition Troy,” a group whose focus is on local politics and the implementation of local, sustainable systems—this study asks how communication technologies and imaginaries of decision-making exclude (and occasionally include) the groups who are conceivably the target of Transition Troy’s work from the decision-making process. Through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with activists and implicated actors, this study aims to improve understanding of…