The author of Coming Apart Charles Murray is one of America’s most respected author, social scientist and influential policy makers. In this book Charles Murray debunks his analytical skills. He articulately writes his thoughts of the American society based on three decades of observation in absolute sobriety. This makes the book comprehensible for any reader. He addresses issues in the society with audacity. This brings out his trait as a judicious elite and truth teller. This trait has brought him a lot of criticism. This is because his authoritative documentation of social stratification in this book makes the society uncomfortable due to its stark truth.
Charles Murray states in this book that the American society is unconsciously splitting into two divergent classes. He meticulously illustrates the decline in the American society without withholding any punch line in the book. He notes cognitive homogamy is the society root of the divergent fortunes between the upper and the lower social classes in America. The social elites and rich people in America live cloistered and isolated lives. As a result the mainstream society is deprived their knowledge and investment skills. This contrasts to the past American exceptionalism spirit that transcended the society in the 1960s. During this time the American upper social class was culturally clustered with the rest of the society. For instance they watched the same television shows as the rest of the Americans. They also bought cars from the same stores with the other members of the social spectrum. However, the present American elite and rich society cultural habits cannot be attained by the mainstream American community. They have divergent social preferences. The knowledge from this book articulately debunks the prevailing social problems in America. It has marshaled evidence that supports the image like opinions of the author. Therefore it would be prudent to end this essay by stating coming apart is a literary form that controversially attacks the present nature of the American society.