John de Graaf

Originally a one hour special on PBS about overconsumption in the 1990s, the book Affluenza expands on what the show had to say on the subject. The first two sections section of the book covers how American society shifted over to a consumer society from a more frugal and saving society. The shift came from post-World War II prosperity, the growth of suburbia, continued influence of advertising, and other factors, leading to now, with people having very large houses, storage units, working show more longer and longer hours with less vacations, and continuing declines in reported quality of life. Part three covers ways to shift one's life from this high focus on stuff back to focusing on community and family and the world around us. Given the recent economic collapses, I think more Americans would benefit from reading and applying the techniques in this book.

I do have one disagreement with a statement in the book. One of the suggestions made for less consumption of meat, because of cattle using up so much grain and water in their raising. First, when cows are fed properly on the food they are designed to eat (grass, NOT grain, cows get sick on grain), they actually enhance overall quality of both the meat produced and the land on which they graze. Secondly, the implication in this statement that people can eat the grain is questionable, since there are so many people with gluten issues as is, and that a heavily grain based diet is potentially one of the big causes for so much chronic illness in Americans.
I do think Americans eat too much food, period. Not simply meat. Among our collective affluenza, "we" are obsessed with the idea of getting the highest volume of food for the least amount of cost. Never mind the quality of the food, or how the animals are treated, or how much fertilizer needs to be dumped on fallow land because it's being overtaxes by monocultures.

Otherwise, I highly recommend the book. In fact I think it's close to necessary reading. show less

Given all the plaudits Affluenza has received, I found it to be a surprisingly bad book.

I suppose its authorial team is to be given credit for 'consciousness raising' -- but they're awful writers. We get plenty o' platitudes -- plus bromides! Shrill, hectoring denunciations of American lifestyles plus the biggest selection of 'noble savage' references you'll find outside Rousseau. Did you know that people in every country, in every time in history, except maybe for some dead white guy show more countries sometimes, have understood the secret to life and happiness -- except Americans?

Look, I'm all for confronting affluenza. I agree with the book's ultimate premise, i.e. that buying things doesn't lead to guaranteed happiness or give life ultimate meaning. But the treatment here is so stupifyingly shallow and inane reading it made we want to go out and burn down some redwoods. Tell me you can read passages like this one and not feel the same way:

"Simple things to save the Earth? Sure, let's do as many as we can, because they reduce impacts, stimulate better design, and save money . . . . But while we're at it, let's not forget a few other details that need to be taken care of by the week after next: redesigning the American economy and many of its products, and recycling the American mindset." (p. 202)

Have you ever read more inappropriately breezy, vapid prose? And don't think there's any depth behind these sweeping pronouncements: the best you'll get is lots of calls for government regulations and cheesy environmentalist claptrap. The authors suggest that we confront the anomie of postmodern consumerist culture by advocating, over and over and yet over again, that it's nice to 'get back in touch with nature'.

Affluenza is a serious topic, but this is not a serious book. show less

The first book on economics that I've encountered that starts with the premise that an economy's most important job is to provide food, shelter and clothing for the people participating in it! The authors clearly understand that an economy is a shared idea about how we can collectively get things done and that the idea we currently share in the United States isn't working very well.

Throughout the book the authors point to other high-functioning economies (mostly in Europe) that have made show more different collective decisions about what they want their economies to do. It is clear that:
- the economy will not collapse if we provide health insurance for everyone
- employment will go up if we all get more time off (because more people will be needed to get the same amount of work done)
- having less stuff and more time will not only be better for us as individuals (more time means more exercise for one thing). It's also better for the environment

My only complaint about the book is that it gets a tad redundant. I don't know how many times the point about time off is better for your health was repeated. I got it the first time.

However, I highly recommend this book to anyone who thinks we can't change things in the US because the economy will collapse. It's not the economy, stupid, it's what we want from the economy that's the problem. show less

It's good to know that I'm doing at least some things right, though I know I could do more. Reading this book only reaffirmed my beliefs about the state of over-consumption in America and increasingly, in the world. Written tongue-in-cheek as an exposé of the disease of affluenza, the authors discuss the disorder's symptoms, causes, and treatments.

I always seem to read these types of books after the predictions have come true. For example, take the credit crash of fall 2008. For anyone in show more government or business who said the state of credit in America was fine and were surprised by the catastrophe, this book is but one exhibit in a litany of books, articles, and documentaries that surmised a crash would be the inevitable conclusion. It makes me wonder what the authors of Affluenza would have written had they had the chance to see what happened under the Bush administration. I imagine it would have gone from concerned and distressed to appalled and disgusted.

For me the highlight was part two: causes of affluenza. It was wonderful to hear Marx again and incongruous that as a society we still fail to heed his advice. Again and again throughout history we are shown the errors of our ways yet still make the same mistakes. And now with the rest of the world watching and imitating us, we're taking everyone down the primrose path. Hopefully this time, we will have learned some lessons. It's not just the economy that is at stake if we don't - it's our environment, our health, our families, and our self-worth. show less