Degrees of Risk - Navigating Insecurity and Inequality in Public Higher Education

An ethnographic analysis of how insecurity is at the heart of contemporary higher education. Institutions of higher education are often described as -ivory towers,- places of privilege where students exist in a -campus bubble,- insulated from the trials of the outside world. These metaphors reveal a widespread belief that college provides young people with stability and keeps insecurity at bay. But for many students, that-s simply not the case. Degrees of Risk reveals how insecurity permeates every facet of college life for students at public universities. Sociologist Blake Silver dissects how these institutions play a direct role in perpetuating uncertainty, instability, individualism, and anxiety about the future. Silver examined interviews with more than one hundred students who described the risks that surrounded every decision: which major to choose, whether to take online classes, and how to find funding. He expertly identified the ways the college experience played out different