Meeting Needs in an Affluent Society

This book contains a collection of papers presented at the third annual conference of the Institute for Research in the Social Sciences (IRISS) at the University of York. The conference brought together researchers from Social Science Research Units and departments at the university to consider ways in which needs are identified and resources used to meet them in an apparently affluent society. A wide perspective was brought to bear on these issues reflecting the range of disciplines. Although the topics are diverse, the themes are consistent and revolve around the recognition and identification of need, the possibility in a rich society of overlap between need and greed, emergence of new perspectives on need as technological development extend opportunities, financial effects of recent changes in society which create different balances of resources and the philosophy and values underlying the tradeoffs and balances with which policy makers apportion those resources within their control.