Farewell to Growth

Farewell to Growth
Author: Serge Latouche
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 133
Release: 2009
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0745646174

Most of us who live in the North and the West consume far too much – too much meat, too much fat, too much sugar, too much salt. We are more likely to put on too much weight than to go hungry. We live in a society that is heading for a crash. We are aware of what is happening and yet we refuse to take it fully into account. Above all we refuse to address the issue that lies at the heart of our problems – namely, the fact that our societies are based on an economy whose only goal is growth for growth’s sake. Serge Latouche argues that we need to rethink from the very foundations the idea that our societies should be based on growth. He offers a radical alternative – a society of ‘de-growth’. De-growth is not the same thing as negative growth. We should be talking about ‘a-growth’, in the sense in which we speak of ‘a-theism’. And we do indeed have to abandon a faith or religion – that of the economy, progress and development—and reject the irrational and quasi-idolatrous cult of growth for growth’s sake. While many realize that that the never-ending pursuit of growth is incompatible with a finite planet, we have yet to come to terms with the implications of this – the need to produce less and consume less. But if we do not change course, we are heading for an ecological and human disaster. There is still time to imagine, quite calmly, a system based upon a different logic, and to plan for a ‘de-growth society’.

A Farewell to Alms

A Farewell to Alms
Author: Gregory Clark
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 433
Release: 2008-12-29
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1400827817

Why are some parts of the world so rich and others so poor? Why did the Industrial Revolution--and the unprecedented economic growth that came with it--occur in eighteenth-century England, and not at some other time, or in some other place? Why didn't industrialization make the whole world rich--and why did it make large parts of the world even poorer? In A Farewell to Alms, Gregory Clark tackles these profound questions and suggests a new and provocative way in which culture--not exploitation, geography, or resources--explains the wealth, and the poverty, of nations. Countering the prevailing theory that the Industrial Revolution was sparked by the sudden development of stable political, legal, and economic institutions in seventeenth-century Europe, Clark shows that such institutions existed long before industrialization. He argues instead that these institutions gradually led to deep cultural changes by encouraging people to abandon hunter-gatherer instincts-violence, impatience, and economy of effort-and adopt economic habits-hard work, rationality, and education. The problem, Clark says, is that only societies that have long histories of settlement and security seem to develop the cultural characteristics and effective workforces that enable economic growth. For the many societies that have not enjoyed long periods of stability, industrialization has not been a blessing. Clark also dissects the notion, championed by Jared Diamond in Guns, Germs, and Steel, that natural endowments such as geography account for differences in the wealth of nations. A brilliant and sobering challenge to the idea that poor societies can be economically developed through outside intervention, A Farewell to Alms may change the way global economic history is understood.

Cognitive Capitalism

Cognitive Capitalism
Author: Yann Moulier-Boutang
Publisher: Polity
Total Pages: 258
Release: 2011
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 0745647324

This book argues that we are undergoing a transition from industrial capitalism to a new form of capitalism - what the author calls & lsquo; cognitive capitalism & rsquo;

Productivity and Prosperity

Productivity and Prosperity
Author: Karen R. Foster
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
Total Pages: 301
Release: 2016-01-01
Genre: Business & Economics
ISBN: 1487520573

In Productivity and Prosperity, Karen Foster zeroes in on the paradox of productivity: that it is the key to economic prosperity and yet its connection to well-being and median incomes has all but disappeared.

Historical Geographies of Anarchism

Historical Geographies of Anarchism
Author: Federico Ferretti
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 299
Release: 2017-07-14
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1315307537

In the last few years, anarchism has been rediscovered as a transnational, cosmopolitan and multifaceted movement. Its traditions, often hastily dismissed, are increasingly revealing insights which inspire present-day scholarship in geography. This book provides a historical geography of anarchism, analysing the places and spatiality of historical anarchist movements, key thinkers, and the present scientific challenges of the geographical anarchist traditions. This volume offers rich and detailed insights into the lesser-known worlds of anarchist geographies with contributions from international leading experts. It also explores the historical geographies of anarchism by examining their expressions in a series of distinct geographical contexts and their development over time. Contributions examine the changes that the anarchist movement(s) sought to bring out in their space and time, and the way this spirit continues to animate the anarchist geographies of our own, perhaps often in unpredictable ways. There is also an examination of contemporary expressions of anarchist geographical thought in the fields of social movements, environmental struggles, post-statist geographies, indigenous thinking and situated cosmopolitanisms. This is valuable reading for students and researchers interested in historical geography, political geography, social movements and anarchism.

Beyond the Iris

Beyond the Iris
Author: Zahid Ameer
Publisher: Zahid Ameer
Total Pages: 87
Release: 2024-03-22
Genre: Science
ISBN:

Dive into 'Beyond the Iris', an eBook delving deep into the eccentricities and marvels of vision. Explore strange eye facts, uncover surprising oddities, and embark on a captivating journey through the fascinating world of sight. Discover the bizarre realities beyond what meets the eye.

The Delusions of Economics

The Delusions of Economics
Author: Gilbert Rist
Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.
Total Pages: 213
Release: 2011-11-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 184813925X

In The Delusions of Economics, Gilbert Rist presents a radical critique of neoclassical economics from a social and historical perspective. Rather than enter into existing debates between different orthodoxies, Rist instead explores the circumstances that prevailed when economics was 'invented', and the resultant biases that helped forge the construction of economics as a 'science'. In doing so, Rist demonstrates how these various presuppositions are either obsolete or just plain wrong, and that traditional economics is largely based on irrational convictions that are difficult to debunk due to their 'religious' nature. As a result, we are prevented from properly understanding the world around us and dealing with the financial, environmental, and climatic crises that lie ahead. Provocative and original, this essential book provides incontrovertible proof that the construction of a new economic paradigm - pluralistic, ecologically compatible, grounded in reality - has now become a necessity.

The Growth of a Superpower

The Growth of a Superpower
Author: Britannica Educational Publishing
Publisher: Britannica Educational Publishing
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2012-06-01
Genre: Juvenile Nonfiction
ISBN: 1615307370

So rapid has been the growth of the United States since the mid-20th century and so profound the changes it has experienced that its current superpower status in the world sometimes obscures the radical social, political, economic, and technological transformations it has experienced in that time. Although international and domestic challenges—from the Cold War to the war on terror to healthcare—as well as successes on each front have alternately stunted and accelerated the country’s ascent, its role in world affairs is undeniable. With seminal documents of the each era complementing relevant text, this engrossing volume examines the trajectory of American history between the administrations of Harry Truman and Barack Obama and the factors that have shaped and sustained its development.

A Damn Fine Growth

A Damn Fine Growth
Author: Veronica Pinckard
Publisher: Xlibris Corporation
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2012-06-22
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1477124136

This Autobiography was written at the insistence of a daughter who was curious about my life . Far from a dreadful childhood I laughed as I wrote it, - realizing it was ripe with the richness of the ever-cheery Cockney. Born in London opposite the Houses of Parliament I was the last of 16 children. Poverty and war; evacuation; my home destroyed; war work where the first jet engines were flown and refueling in flight invented. Seven brothers, my father, and my husband whod served aboard RMS Venus on those horrendous Russian Convoys in U-boat-infested waters, all had served King and Country. My husband never got over living at fever pitch. We emigrated to Canada and New Zealand, finally to California. Settled now in the Santa Clarita Valley with my second husband, I have been a docent for 26 years at the Los Angeles Zoo touring school children; visiting schools to show slides on the plight of endangered animals; reading to children at a local school; attending college classes and ongoing programs at the local Senior Center. Our children and grandchildren live close by; 24 around the Christmas table keeps us all happily connected. Attending Tai Chi classes with my husband, I took up playing the piano four years ago. I keep busy singing with a Senior group, writing stories, knitting and crocheting. Together we have travelled much of the globe. I hope the reader will find parallels of his own. Life is never as bad as we think!