Affluenza
by John de Graaf, David Wann & Thomas Naylor
Consumerism is a disease. Here are the symptoms.
For you if
you own more than you need and feel worse than you expected to and want someone to explain the connection
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Affluenza: the bloated, sluggish, unfulfilled feeling that results from the dogged pursuit of more. De Graaf, Wann, and Naylor diagnosed American consumer culture as a contagious social disease — its symptoms including debt, overwork, anxiety, environmental destruction, and the persistent sense that the next purchase will finally be enough. Originally a PBS documentary, expanded into a book that traces the epidemic from its postwar origins through the mall culture and credit card economy that normalized it. Not a self-help book — a cultural diagnosis that names the system producing the symptoms. The most accessible economics-punk book on the shelf for readers who haven't yet encountered Capitalist Realism or The Dawn of Everything and need an entry point that meets them in their daily life.
Where This Book Lives
Part of a Reading Journey
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For the family bookshelf
Same idea, written for a younger reader. Good for reading together.
