Consuming Desires: Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of HappinessRoger Rosenblatt Island Press, 2006 - 240 halaman 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." |
Isi
1 | |
One World of Consumers | 23 |
Whats Wrong with Consumer Society? Competitive | 37 |
Consuming for Love | 51 |
False Connections | 65 |
Consuming Nature | 87 |
A News Consumers Bill of Rights | 97 |
When We Devoured Books | 111 |
Edisi yang lain - Lihat semua
Consuming Desires: Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness Roger Rosenblatt Tampilan cuplikan - 1999 |
Consuming Desires: Consumption, Culture, and the Pursuit of Happiness Roger Rosenblatt Pratinjau tidak tersedia - 2006 |
Istilah dan frasa umum
advertising Aldo Leopold Alex Kotlowitz American André Schiffrin aspire audience automobile become Beecher Bharati Mukherjee blackflies Blackfly season called capitalism cars century choice citizens clothing consumer society consumerism consumption create culture desire earth ecological design economic ethic food court forests Gatsby global human Hush Puppies ideas immigrants income Indian individual industrial Jane Smiley Johnsburg journalists Juliet Schor kids labor land less lifestyle live luxury mall mass material means ment middle class million Molly Haskell moral natural North once patterns political poor Press problem publishing Random House religion rich Roger Rosenblatt savings Schor sell shirts social South Asian spending status Stephanie Mills story Stuart sumers sumption television things Thorstein Veblen tion Tommy Hilfiger United urban waste women yearning York
Bagian yang populer
Halaman 1 - He took out a pile of shirts and began throwing them, one by one, before us, shirts of sheer linen and thick silk and fine flannel, which lost their folds as they fell and covered the table in manycolored disarray.