Product Description

For decades our political leaders and opinion makers have touted higher incomes as the way to a better future but after many years of sustained economic growth and increased personal incomes we must confront an awful fact: we aren't any happier. In this provocative new book, Clive Hamilton argues that, far from being the answer to our problems, growth fetishism and the marketing society lie at the heart of our social ills. Growth Fetish is the first serious attempt at a politics of change for rich countries dominated by sicknesses of affluence, where the real yearning is not for more money but for authentic identity, and where the future lies in creating a society that promotes the things that really do improve our well-being. 'Right on target and badly needed.' Noam Chomsky

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #411790 in Books
• Published on: 2004-02-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 288 pages

Review
"'If people aren't getting any happier as they go on getting richer, why do we continue to trash the planet and turn people into consumptive zombies in pursuit of economic growth? There is a conspiracy of silence about all this which simply has to be broken.' Jonathon Porritt, Chairman of the British government's Sustainable Development Commission"

Hugh Stretton
Breaks new ground by asking us to think what a post-growth, environmentally stable society might actually be like.

Professor Richard Layard, London School of Economics
A powerful statement about the failure of the rat-race society and the need for a new philosophy of sociable living.

Customer Reviews

A truly inspiring book
Although a book by an Australian economist may appear, at first, a somewhat dull prospect, Clive Hamilton's book is enthralling and inspiring from the word go.

Starting from the point that the aim of all governments of both left and right is that of economic growth, he argues that, despite steady economic growth, in the West over a number of years, we are none the happier for it. He argues that we should fight back against our consumerist tendencies, noting that many marketing campaigns are created even before the product exists and the product is then created to sell a lifestyle rather than producing something of benefit to anyone except those who profit financially from it. In order to take part in this frenzy of consumerism, we inevitably spend more of our time working longer and harder, leaving little free time to actually enjoy our lives and relationships with others around us. He notes that, after the 9/11 attacks, George W Bush urged the US public not to give in to terrorism by 'going out and shopping'! He argues that much of the crime and violence in society is due to our obsession for consumption noting that our current lifestyle is destroying the very planet we live on. He notes that if the rest of the world were to consume at the same rate as the USA, we would need 10 planet Earths to provide sufficient resources.

This book truly inspired me to re-assess my own lifestyle and has changed my life without a doubt. As Clive Hamilton argues, this is one revolution we can all take part in without the use of violence, simply by shopping and consuming less, whilst actually getting more from our lives.

A call to revolution
This is a suprising and excellent book. It provides a clever, thorough and enjoyable critique of globalization and the world we live in. Our world is one created by neoliberal fantasies which renders us helpless and unhappy. Basic reading for all critics of modern capitalism.