The many sacrifices of the recession.

What is deprivation? Is it best measured objectively? That's the idea behind the "poverty line"—although that yardstick, which dates from 1939 and is based on the cost of a minimal diet, is in desperate need of updating, as a new bill in the House would do. Or does deprivation in our still well-off country have as much or more to do with relative measures as with absolute ones?

The idea that deprivation is relative seems especially relevant for people hurt by the recession. They have less than what they had before. And sometimes they also have less than the friends and neighbors around them. What do people give up when they have to cut back, and how deprived do those sacrifices make them feel?

I've been thinking about this in light of the responses I received to my question about what readers have foregone because of the recession. I heard from about 100 people. Some listed more than one thing they've given up. Their responses break down like this:

Sacrifices

Eating out 21
Travel 15
Salon/beauty products 13
My own place/future home 12
Shopping for fun 9
Cable 8
Going out to the movies 7
Health or car insurance 6
Coffee out 5
Peace of mind/sense of security or freedom 5
Having a child 3
Hobbies (pets) 3
Spontaneity 3
Hopes for retirement 2
Private school for my child 2
Time with my family 2

A lot of people, in other words, are doing without what could be labeled as luxuries: restaurant outings, trips, manicures, getting their hair highlighted, cable TV. That's what you'd expect in a downturn, and if it's not good for the economy collectively, because it means less consumer spending, it makes sense individually. More bleakly, there's also a set of big life-altering sacrifices: deciding not to have a child or buy a house.

You can't really compare the luxuries to the larger things surrendered. Babies, of course, trump cologne. Moving in with your in-laws or not being able to travel to see your child isn't in the same category as giving up a trip to Cancun, however longed for. But the emotional affect of each category, small sacrifice and large, merits its own exploration. Sometimes, small luxuries are the vehicles for larger expressions of identity.

First, the heartbreakers. "I gave up my pregnancy," writes one woman who asked me not to use her name. Her fiance's company was in meltdown and hers was midtakeover. They are both still in school. "When we found out we were going to add another life to this chaos, we couldn't do it," she writes. "An unplanned pregnancy coupled with an uncertain job market, then the fact that we would have to accelerate our marriage plans … and find a home suitable for a family (instead of tiny one-bedroom) was just too much." Women have for decades cited economic concerns as one of the top reasons for having an abortion. But that doesn't make the often difficult decision to have an abortion easy. This reader said she also suffered a second loss: her best friend, who could not understand the choice she was making.

Tags: recession, sacrifice

Emily Bazelon is a founding editor of Double X, and a writer and editor at Slate.

Comments

cheap puma

By: zhenhua | Thu, 02/09/2012 - 01:24

I really enjoyed reading it an

By: jakeblake | Wed, 02/08/2012 - 23:39

I really enjoyed reading it and I think need to read more on this topic. Articles On Photography artistic fashion photography

pumashoeshot

By: zhenhua | Sat, 02/04/2012 - 04:38

Hi! Thanks for the great

By: alpha15995 | Thu, 01/19/2012 - 01:07

Hi! Thanks for the great information you have provided! You have touched on crucuial points! i bookmarked it and will be back to check it out some more later.
wedding dresses online store,cheap wedding dresses,UGG Boots On Sale,cheap ugg boots,Down coats and jackets,Down coats,Down jackets,Classic And Fashion Boots,Fashion boots,Classic Boots,

Cheap UGGs

By: 200991 | Tue, 01/10/2012 - 20:18

A nearly century-old hunting Cheap UGGs is catching on with a younger generation that sees the utilitarian footwear as hip.L.L Bean's familiar duck UGG Bailey Button with leather uppers and rubber soles - designed for slogging through mud and snow - has become something of a statement owing to its newfound popularity on campuses, UGG Amberlee the company said. Another reason is new styles, UGG Tularosa including something Leon Leonwood Bean surely never envisioned in 1912: bright blue and pink leather, new for spring.Part of the success of the UGG Kensington is its versatility, in barnyards or in cities, in snow or rain.Defying a trend toward offshore production,UGG Bailey Button Triplet the outdoors retailer is adding 125 full-time employees to its Maine manufacturing operation to keep pace with orders.
The well-known UGG Classic Short Sparkles appears to be benefiting from a retro trend, whether it's penny loafers or Gap's 1969 series blue jeans, said Candace Corlett, UGG Caspia president of WSL Strategic Retail in New York.Another factor that could be helping Bean: There's been little that's new and exciting in footwear in recent years beyond UGG Montclair boots and Crocs, said Alexander Geyman, editor of Focus on Fashion Retail. Trendy UGG Classic Cardy boots and the Timberland brand outstrip Bean's in sales, he said.
The duck UGG Classic Short carry the "Made in the USA" label, something that's hard to find these days in footwear. Nationwide, the number of shoe-manufacturing jobs dropped from more than 200,000 in the 1970s to 12,500 this year, UGG Fox Fur according to the U.S. Labor Department. In Maine, shoe-manufacturing jobs peaked at more than 25,000 in the 1960s, UGG Delaine and last year there were 1,300 jobs, according to the Maine Department of LaborWell-known Maine brands like G.H. Bass, Cole Haan, UGG Knightsbridge Sebago and Dexter are now made abroad. But L.L. Bean has resisted the notion of making its Bean UGG Plumdale.As the story goes, L.L. Bean created the hunting UGG Classic Tall for himself after his feet got wet and cold on a hunting trip, and it was not an instant success. Ninety of the first 100 pairs sold in 1912 were returned after the leather separated; Bean had a satisfaction guarantee, UGG Annabelle so he returned customers' money.These days, UGG Retro Cargo the original L.L. Bean Hunting Shoe is available unlined or with various linings, UGG Finnegan including Gore-Tex, Thinsulate and shearling. There are plenty of other variations, including quilted, canvas and plaid, UGG Sheepskin Cuff and even bright blue and pink leather. There are low-cut versions as well.All of them are still made by hand. The rubber soles are made by L.L. Bean workers in Lewiston, UGG Mayfaire and they're sewn to the leather uppers at an L.L. Bean plant in Brunswick.All told, there are 320 workers at L.L. Bean's factory in Brunswick, making UGG Highkoo, dog beds, canvas totes and other products.Each Gore-Tex liner is inflated and dunked in a tank to make sure it's watertight before being dried and put in the UGG Roslynn.

nike air max

By: lovenike | Mon, 01/09/2012 - 04:22

Nike Air Max series will belong to be changed. They are the best face of a shock protection system. Setting the standard for excellence, Air Max 2011 consistently combines great styling with exceptional quality, performance, and comfort:Air Max 2011.Air Max 2012.Air Max 24-7.Air Max 90.Nike Free 3.0.Nike Free Run

For someone in that Nike Air

By: seoerchen | Fri, 01/06/2012 - 04:36

For someone in that Nike Air Max 95 360 position of that position of leadership Nike Air Max 95 to have that view is untenable. She Air Max 90 is a shadow minister. To hold the view that 'white people' would behave that way is outrageous and hurtful."I think Nike Air Max 90 it's outrageous when we had the fantastic end to the murder trial of Stephen Lawrence."I've had so many emails about this. It is hurtful to label my constituents as people who would divide and conquer black Cheap Nike Air Max 95 people. If this was a white Nike Air Max 90 VT MP saying black people like Air Max 2012 dividing white people they'd be Air Max 95 out in five minutes. She should do the decent thing and resign."The row began last night after Miss Adewunmi wrote on Twitter: “I do wish everyone would stop saying ‘the black community’ though. WHICH ONE?“Same with ‘black community leaders’ they wheel Cheap Nike Air Max 90 out whenever someone black gets stabbed. Miss Abbott, who ran for the Labour leadership in 2010, responded: “I Cheap Air Max 90 understand the cultural point you are making. But you are playing into a 'divide and rule' agenda.

As Nike Air Max 2012 an

By: seoerchen | Fri, 01/06/2012 - 03:01

As Nike Air Max 2012 an actor, Kapoor was a leading man who played poets and misfits and lovers. With the actress Nargis, he made up one of Hindi movies’ great romantic couples. And he Nike Air Max 90 could be comic too, as in “Shree 420,” in which his everyman tramp is not above the old slipping-on-a-banana-peel gag. (No one is spared: Nargis takes a tumble too.) As a Nike Air Max 87 director and producer, eventually with his own studio, Kapoor lived the auteur’s Air Max 2012 Australia dream. In a mostly Cheap Air Max 2012 formulaic and conservative industry, he made inventive, personal films that were entertaining and accessible but also something more. Socially conscious and Socialist-inclined with nation-building themes, they resonated in — and maybe even helped to define — a newly independent India busy inventing itself. For those who have never seen a Hindi movie or are Air Max 2012 curious about Kapoor, the Museum of Nike Air Max 90 Premium Modern Art’s well-chosen eight-film series Raj Kapoor and the Golden Age of Indian Cinema, opening on Friday, is an excellent place to start, focusing mainly on Kapoor’s heyday, the late 1940s to ’50s. And for Nike Air Max 95 those already familiar with Kapoor, the series offers a rare opportunity to see his films as they should be seen: on the big screen, in new 35-millimeter prints.

abercrombe

By: xuntong01 | Wed, 12/28/2011 - 21:21

Dressed in abercrombe below, to spread leg, leaning against a all kinds of rose petals herbaceous peony with jade clip yarn new pillow, and fang officer two HuaQuan first. When the hot mouth fang shouted, dressed only in a abercrombi girded with a under, also to spread trouser leg. Head forehead with a circle (eyebrow plait, goal to centers, "a root ELuan degree of finish total plait, allsaints dragging in brain. The right ear plug in the eye with the size of a rice only a small jade lid, the single left ear with a abercrombie & fitch 8 , the show's face as the full moon of the white, eye such as autumn pay off.

This YouSanJie walking arm in arm with loose hair, abercrombie & fitch cheap half attack by surprise half open, revealing the light green wiping a bosom, a mark Snow White meat. Underneath , a pair of lotus or become warped or and, no moment sven. Two is like a swing in general, the light under, the more the LiuMei cage cui fog, wingceltis mouth DanSha point. This is a pair of autumn eye,

The qing-wen wear only abercrombie & fitch clothing, red XiaoYi red sleep shoes, be covered with hair, riding in the male on slavery. Musk month is , dressed in a suit , where the catch neither rib limb. Male slaves back on the kang, but, dressed in abercrombie & fitch coupon , red pants green socks, two feet disorderly deng and the smile of breath

See wonderful jade head wearing a abercrombie & fitch outlet cover a water TianQing satin edge long vest, tied chou-heung color silk sash, waist of a pale MoHua of white silk skirt, follow a shi son, waving the drag drag comes along.

A big surprise here-mulberry

By: looking | Wed, 12/28/2011 - 03:13

A big surprise here-mulberry outlet store, Mulberry is a famous brand in the world; these mulberry bags are on hot sale with cheap price and good service!Mulberry Shop Online, All Kinds of mulberry sale Sale, Discount Mulberry Handbags With New Styles, Free Shopping And Fast Delivered, Buy Now!The official mulberry factory shop Outlet site for women's bags, men's bags.Buy Ugg boots in ouruggs outlet will enjoy the big discount.Buyugg outlet boots in our uggs will enjoy the big discount. And Ugg boots here are in high quality.Our UGGS boots On ugg salestore gives you more discounts with 100% sheepskin guarantee.

Is the Recession Causing More Abortions?

If it is, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

Annie Murphy Paul
|
May 15, 2009

The Recession Wrecks Friendships

One friend gets poorer, the other stays the same.

Emily Bazelon
|
June 11, 2009

Is the Recession Causing More Abortions?

If it is, that wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.

Annie Murphy Paul
|
May 15, 2009

Life

Recession-Era Sacrifices

Comments

cheap puma

By: zhenhua | Thu, 02/09/2012 - 01:24

I really enjoyed reading it an

By: jakeblake | Wed, 02/08/2012 - 23:39

pumashoeshot

By: zhenhua | Sat, 02/04/2012 - 04:38

Hi! Thanks for the great

By: alpha15995 | Thu, 01/19/2012 - 01:07

Cheap UGGs

By: 200991 | Tue, 01/10/2012 - 20:18

nike air max

By: lovenike | Mon, 01/09/2012 - 04:22

For someone in that Nike Air

By: seoerchen | Fri, 01/06/2012 - 04:36

As Nike Air Max 2012 an

By: seoerchen | Fri, 01/06/2012 - 03:01

abercrombe

By: xuntong01 | Wed, 12/28/2011 - 21:21

A big surprise here-mulberry

By: looking | Wed, 12/28/2011 - 03:13

Related Articles

Is the Recession Causing More Abortions?

The Recession Wrecks Friendships

Is the Recession Causing More Abortions?

DoubleX

The Root

Good Morning America

Washington Post