Reading List
Juliet Schor
Economist and Sociologist, Boston College
Juliet Schor is an American economist and a professor of sociology at Boston College. She studies how we work and what we buy, and what both cost the planet. The Overworked American showed Americans working longer hours, and The Overspent American looked at why people spend beyond their means to keep up. Born to Buy examined marketing aimed at children, and Plenitude set out an economy built on less work and more time. She has since researched the sharing economy and gig work in After the Gig.
01
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Distinction
by Pierre Bourdieu
“Bourdieu is very much foundational in terms of understanding consumer culture. In contrast to many accounts that focus on advertising and marketing as somehow beaming desire into people, Bourdieu shows how the patterns of consumption that dominate in a society come out of structures of social inequality.” — via Interview, March 2012
02
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Econned
by Yves Smith
“Econned is a great book, which deconstructs economics. It is kind of an “Occupy economics” text that looks at what is wrong with the mainstream economists’ views. It is much more sympathetic to Keynesian economics. It looks at how we have gone wrong in our economic thinking and I think that is an important corrective. My PhD was in economics and I think that for people who are interested in understanding the run-up to the financial collapse, and what’s happened since, this is a great book.” — via Interview, March 2012
03
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The End of the Long Summer
by Dianne Dumanoski
“The End of the Long Summer is a superb book that puts both climate change and other environmental issues into a long-term perspective. A lot of it is about scientists and the way they have conceptualised the relationship between humans and nature. This book forces us to rethink the idea that we can control nature.” — via Interview, March 2012
04
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Blessed Unrest
by Paul Hawken
“Hawken is one of the liveliest, most admired and inspirational leaders of the worldwide sustainability movement. And what he noticed, as he travelled around the world speaking and interacting with groups that are working on these issues, is how many hundreds of thousands of organisations had recently sprung up to heal the planet and the people on it. He likened it to a kind of immune system response to an ill body.” — via Interview, March 2012
05
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Living in Denial
by Kari Marie Norgaard
“The Norwegians were stuck in ways that many of us in other wealthy countries are stuck in as well. Her book is not necessarily an answer but, by analysing why we are stuck, it points to some of the ways in which we might move forward.” — via Interview, March 2012