Voluntary Simplicity Responding to Consumer Culture

by Doherty, Daniel; Brooks, David; Elgin, Duane; Etzioni, Amitai; Frank, Robert; Gregg, Richard B.; Luttwak, Edward N.; Maslow, A H.; Mitchell, Arnold; Myers, David G.; Shi, David; Schor, Juliet; Twitchell, James B.; Wagner, Charles

• ISBN13: 9780742520677
• ISBN10: 0742520676
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2003-11-22
• Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Summary

In the past fifty years, the standard of living in most industrialized nations has risen dramatically, but the number of people describing themselves as content has remained steady or fallen. The result has been a growing desire to regain some of the virtues of simpler times, whether by forgoing luxuries, switching careers, or returning to nature. These essays reflect on the different facets of voluntary simplicity and consumer culture, providing an historic view of the movement as well as a social-scientific analysis of its causes and effects.

Table of Contents

Preface
Daniel Doherty	vii
Introduction: Voluntary Simplicity-Psychological Implications, Societal Consequences	1	(28)
Amuai Etzioni
Part I: Human Wants, Human Goods
1 A Theory of Human Motivation	29	(12)
A.H. Maslow
2 Wealth and Happiness: A Limited Relationship	41	(12)
David G. Myers
3 Consuming for Love	53	(12)
Edward N. Luttwak
4 The Problem of Over-Consumption-Why Economists Don't Get It	65	(18)
Juliet Schor
5 Achieving Collective Well-Being Through Greater Simplicity: A Simple Proposal	83	(18)
Robert Frank
Part II: Simplicity Throughout History
6 Early American Simplicity: The Quaker Ethic	101	(24)
David Ski
7 Simple Needs	125	(6)
Charles Wagner
8 The Value of Voluntary Simplicity	131	(14)
Richard B. Gregg
9 Voluntary Simplicity: A Movement Emerges	145	(30)
Duane Elgin and Arnold Mitchell
Part III: Critical Perspectives
10 Conspicuous "Simplicity"	175	(8)
David Brooks
11 The Liberating Role of Consumption and the Myth of Artificially Created Desires	183	(10)
James B. Twitchell
Notes	193	(14)
Index	207	(2)
About the Contributors	209