Tressie McMillan Cottom is hailed as a "master of metaphor" and "one of America's most bracing thinkers on race, gender, and capitalism." She centers Black women in uncommonly incisive analyses of social problems. Her writing offers a fresh and uncompromising perspective on contemporary societal challenges. Cottom masterfully blends academic sociology with a public intellectual's voice, crafting works that are both intellectually stimulating and accessible.
In eight highly praised treatises on beauty, media, money, and more, Tressie McMillan Cottom transforms narrative moments into analyses of whiteness, black misogyny, and statussignaling as means of survival for black women
The Shifting Landscape of Marketized Higher Education
This edited volume proposes that the phenomenon of private sector, financialized higher education expansion in the United States benefits from a range of theoretical and methodological treatments. Social scientists, policy analysts, researchers, and for-profit sector leaders discuss how and to what ends for-profit colleges are a functional social good. The chapters include discussions of inequality, stratification, and legitimacy, differing greatly from other work on for-profit colleges in three ways: First, this volume moves beyond rational choice explanations of for-profit expansion to include critical theoretical work. Second, it deals with the nuances of race, class, and gender in ways absent from other research. Finally, the book's interdisciplinary focus is uniquely equipped to deal with the complexity of high-cost, low-status, for-profit credentialism at a scale never before seen.
The author, drawing from her background as a former admissions counselor and extensive interviews, critiques the for-profit college system. She highlights the high costs, dubious credentials, and the challenging choices faced by individuals pursuing education for a better future. Through personal insights and testimonies, the book sheds light on the systemic issues within the industry and the impact on students' lives.