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Consuming Desires - Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness (Large print, Paperback, Large type / large print edition)
Loot Price: R949
Discovery Miles 9 490
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Consuming Desires - Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness (Large print, Paperback, Large type / large print edition)
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Consider this paradox: Ecologists estimate that it would take three
planets Earth to provide an American standard of living to the
entire world. Yet it is that standard of living to which the whole
world aspires. In Consuming Desires, award-winning writer and
social commentator Roger Rosenblatt brings together a brilliant
collection of thinkers and writers to shed light on the triumphs
and tragedies of that disturbing paradox. The book represents a
captivating salon, offering a rich and varied dialogue on the
underlying roots of consumer culture and its pervasive impact on
ourselves and the world around us. Each author offers a unique
perspective, their layers of thoughts and insights building
together to create a striking, multifaceted picture of our society
and culture. Jane Smiley probes the roots of consumerism in the
emancipation of women from household drudgery afforded by
labor-saving devices and technological innovation; Alex Kotlowitz
describes the mutual reinforcement of fashion trends as poor
inner-city kids and rich suburban kids strive to imitate each
other; Bill McKibben discusses the significance, and the irony, of
defining yourself not by what you buy, but by what you don't buy.
The essays range widely, but two ideas are central to nearly all of
them: that consumption is driven by yearning and desire -- often
unspoken, seemingly insatiable -- and that what prevents us from
keeping our consumptive impulse in check is the western concept of
self, the solitary and restless self, entitled to all it can pay
for. As Rosenblatt explains in his insightful introduction:
Individualism and desire are what makes us great and what makes us
small. Freedom is our dream and our enemy. The essays touch on
these paradoxes, and while all are too nuanced and graceful to
preach easy reform, they give an idea of what reform means, where
it is possible, and, in some cases, where it may not be as
desirable as it appears.
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