Declare Books In Pursuance Of Consumed - How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults & Swallow Citizens Whole
Original Title: | Consumed - How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults and Swallow Citizens Whole |
ISBN: | 0393049612 (ISBN13: 9780393049619) |
Edition Language: | English |
Benjamin R. Barber
Hardcover | Pages: 320 pages Rating: 3.38 | 773 Users | 123 Reviews
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Title | : | Consumed - How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults & Swallow Citizens Whole |
Author | : | Benjamin R. Barber |
Book Format | : | Hardcover |
Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
Pages | : | Pages: 320 pages |
Published | : | March 19th 2007 by W.W. Norton (first published 2007) |
Categories | : | Nonfiction. Economics. Sociology. Politics. Psychology. Social Science. Cultural |
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"Powerful and disturbing. No one who cares about the future of our public life can afford to ignore this book."—Jackson LearsA powerful sequel to Benjamin R. Barber's best-selling Jihad vs. McWorld, Consumed offers a vivid portrait of an overproducing global economy that targets children as consumers in a market where there are never enough shoppers and where the primary goal is no longer to manufacture goods but needs. To explain how and why this has come about, Barber brings together extensive empirical research with an original theoretical framework for understanding our contemporary predicament. He asserts that in place of the Protestant ethic once associated with capitalism—encouraging self-restraint, preparing for the future, protecting and self-sacrificing for children and community, and other characteristics of adulthood—we are constantly being seduced into an "infantilist" ethic of consumption.
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Ratings: 3.38 From 773 Users | 123 ReviewsCritique Out Of Books Consumed - How Markets Corrupt Children, Infantilize Adults & Swallow Citizens Whole
A book such as this is polarizing and any reviews will inevitably be emotionally founded in the economy ideology in which the reviewer subsides in. That being the case, knowing full well my own political and economic bias, the point is very well argued. The complaints of redundancy are founded and the work does not purport to be a literary masterpiece. The scene which he depicts is one in which corporations vie with more traditional institutions over subversive influence on the lives ofThis guy is a brilliant thinker and this is his latest great book
Consumed is designed as a wake-up call, however Barber will be hard-pressed to get the attention of our consumption-laden populace, who wishes only to be entertained and not educated. This book is not entertaining in the least, but it does provide a solid historical view of the stages of capitalism in this country and the perils of our current consumerist mindset. Barber uses the phrase infantilist ethos to describe our psychological state, which has been established by robust and omnipresent
Essentially, this book is saying that consumer capitalism is turning people into child like morons in order to sell them more crap they neither want nor need. This point is valid if hardly a revolutionary idea. However, if one spends 300+ pages bitching about the effects of consumer capitalism on mass culture, they have an obligation to provide something more than a weak, vague solution to this problem. I wasn't expecting a "cure all" solution but his solution (some vaguely defined world
Dense, but worth the read. One of Mr. Barber's main points is that we want to consume things that are fast, easy, or simple, but some of the best things are slow, hard, and complicated. His book is intellectual, it isn't a fast read, but his ideas are priceless. They make you think of 1) the way a life full of ads and shopping doesn't satisfy all our needs as complete people 2) what you can do to protect yourself and improve the world.
Excellent. Scary. With prose that neither talks down nor gets to academic. All that you'd want in a public intellectual.And really, it's an important work, and I fully agree with Barber's basic notions of reclaiming notions of civic space and the commons.On the other hand:Some sections are too much a rehearsal of a list of examples. And some examples don't contain enough analysis to suggest that Barber quite dug enough into it (both those things he lauds and criticizes). Case in point: His
Barber provides brilliant commentary on our consumer culture. A much more focused read, and a bit more engaging than "Jihad vs. McWorld".
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