Not so much a New Year's Resolution, more a self-defence mechanism. I'm going to have to write up books as I read them if I'm to avoid a repeat of the (still unfinished) marathon of the December entry! So, here goes...
- Oliver James, "Affluenza"
If this book is a bestseller, which is what is claimed on the cover, then it's pretty ironic, given that it is an out and out attack on the consumer society. A perfect illustration really of just how there is no escape from the amorphous but ubiquitous Shopping Monster which sucks all human hopes and aspirations into its omnivorous maw. It looks like Oliver James is getting rich telling us how money doesn't make us happy! If, however, we can will ourselves to suspend our awareness of this awkward fact, "Affluenza" tells an interesting story. Oliver James argues, convincingly, that there is a straight correlation between the superficial values induced by what he calls in his shorthand "Selfish Capitalism" and emotional distress expressed in depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and personality disorders. His research is based on individual interviews carried out in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Shanghai, Moscow, Copenhagen and New York, which throw light on the extent to which the different nations are afflicted by what he terms the "Affluenza Virus" - the placing of a high value on money, possessions, appearances (physical and social) and fame. Inevitably we arrive at the foregone conclusion: the more you got the virus, the unhappier you are. His method is scarcely scientific, extrapolating as it does from the specific to the general. But his results, however obvious, cannot be stated too often or too emphatically. He implies that the creation of artificial "needs" is all a sort of corporate conspiracy aimed at inculcating in us the false values which are indispensable to sustaining demand for superfluous goods and services. Well, like obviously, duh! If you're selling, you need to convince the customer to buy. Beyond certain basic essentials, most purchases are made in order to satisfy psychological needs of greater or lesser sophistication. James proposes ways in which we can insulate ourselves from the virus. Basically they boil down to asking yourself whether you really need something before you buy it. Could be quite a puritan programme! Frivolous consumption is surely innocent enough within limits. Sound advice includes not buying more house than you can easily afford, so as not to become a mortgage slave. All right in theory, but, for many, even the most modest accomodation will turn them into mortgage slaves. His most important recommendation is that we revalue the status of motherhood. It is absurd that the most important role in all our lives is now somehow faintly embarrassing. Oh, is that all you do?
I enjoyed this book, cheering inwardly as I read it. However, to my mind, his conclusions don't go far enough. The problem, as I see it, is that we all of us have an inner emptiness which needs to be filled. In the apparent absence of any alternative, failing to comprehend our real need, we fill that emptiness with the random bric-à-brac of the consumer society. If that inner space were nourished by a profound sense of the meaning and pupose of our lives, we could be as rich as Croesus and still remain inwardly untouched.
- Oliver James, "Affluenza"
If this book is a bestseller, which is what is claimed on the cover, then it's pretty ironic, given that it is an out and out attack on the consumer society. A perfect illustration really of just how there is no escape from the amorphous but ubiquitous Shopping Monster which sucks all human hopes and aspirations into its omnivorous maw. It looks like Oliver James is getting rich telling us how money doesn't make us happy! If, however, we can will ourselves to suspend our awareness of this awkward fact, "Affluenza" tells an interesting story. Oliver James argues, convincingly, that there is a straight correlation between the superficial values induced by what he calls in his shorthand "Selfish Capitalism" and emotional distress expressed in depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and personality disorders. His research is based on individual interviews carried out in New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Shanghai, Moscow, Copenhagen and New York, which throw light on the extent to which the different nations are afflicted by what he terms the "Affluenza Virus" - the placing of a high value on money, possessions, appearances (physical and social) and fame. Inevitably we arrive at the foregone conclusion: the more you got the virus, the unhappier you are. His method is scarcely scientific, extrapolating as it does from the specific to the general. But his results, however obvious, cannot be stated too often or too emphatically. He implies that the creation of artificial "needs" is all a sort of corporate conspiracy aimed at inculcating in us the false values which are indispensable to sustaining demand for superfluous goods and services. Well, like obviously, duh! If you're selling, you need to convince the customer to buy. Beyond certain basic essentials, most purchases are made in order to satisfy psychological needs of greater or lesser sophistication. James proposes ways in which we can insulate ourselves from the virus. Basically they boil down to asking yourself whether you really need something before you buy it. Could be quite a puritan programme! Frivolous consumption is surely innocent enough within limits. Sound advice includes not buying more house than you can easily afford, so as not to become a mortgage slave. All right in theory, but, for many, even the most modest accomodation will turn them into mortgage slaves. His most important recommendation is that we revalue the status of motherhood. It is absurd that the most important role in all our lives is now somehow faintly embarrassing. Oh, is that all you do?
I enjoyed this book, cheering inwardly as I read it. However, to my mind, his conclusions don't go far enough. The problem, as I see it, is that we all of us have an inner emptiness which needs to be filled. In the apparent absence of any alternative, failing to comprehend our real need, we fill that emptiness with the random bric-à-brac of the consumer society. If that inner space were nourished by a profound sense of the meaning and pupose of our lives, we could be as rich as Croesus and still remain inwardly untouched.
posted by asbo at 1:14 PM
2 Comments:
Affluenza is certainly not new. Veblen described "conspicuous consumption" in 1899 and if you visit the stately homes and palaces of the past there has clearly been plenty of it. It's become much more widespread though, "democratized". It's the mainspring of the modern Western economy and what the developing world aspires to. It is also obviously unsustainable on an ever bigger scale. It's easy for those of us who are more affluent to criticze it. But there is a very real isuue here of loss from sight of real values that make people genuinely happy. Of which indeed parenthood is one.
What can you say in the end? The misery of Affluenza stares us in the face wherever we turn. The world is upside-down, geared to the inflation of individual ego-prestige. If we were real men, we would devote our principle energies to becoming vehicules of grace. Step one would involve an absolutely honest appraisal of all the subtle prestige considerations which blindly inform our own attitudes.
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