1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910785269703321

Autore

Clarke Michael <1945->

Titolo

Challenging choices : Ideology, consumerism and policy / / Michael Clarke

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Portland, OR : , : Policy Press, , 2010

©2010

ISBN

1-4473-0067-X

1-4473-0162-5

1-282-75434-3

9786612754340

1-84742-866-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (217 p.)

Disciplina

302.13

Soggetti

Verbraucherverhalten

Kollektiventscheidung

Entscheidungsfindung

Wahlmöglichkeit

Alltag

Social choice

Decision making

POLITICAL SCIENCE - Public Policy - General

PSYCHOLOGY - Social Psychology

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Cover -- Challenging Choices -- Contents -- Preface -- Introduction -- Part One: Choice And Consumerism -- 1. What Is Choice? -- 2. Making Choices: Just Fun? -- Opportunity Cost, Regret And Complexity -- Adapting To Choice: Maximisers And Satisficers -- Reversibility And Provision -- Individual And Collective Choice -- Making Choices More Or Less Stressful -- Adaptation: A Sting In The Tail -- 3. Choice And The Consumer Society -- Industrialisation And The Acceptance Of Constant Change -- The Political Consequences Of Industrialisation -- Markets And Their Problems -- Engaging With The Problems: Socialism



And Social Democracy -- The Inevitability Of Social Democracy -- The Rise Of Affluence And The New Right -- The Coming Of Affluence -- The Legacy Of The New Right: The Consumer Society -- The Politics Of Consumerist Choice -- Credit And Consumerism -- Consumerism And The EmperorS New Clothes -- Tolerance As A Leading Value Of Consumerism -- Choice, Tolerance And Meaning -- 4. When Choice Does Not Work -- Does Choice Overwhelm Or Empower? -- Professionals And Other Experts: Intermediaries -- Provision -- Popular Music And Broadcasting: Counter-Examples? -- 5. Some Wider Problems With Choice -- Cartels And Competition -- The Problems Of Intervention -- Pubs And Beer -- Cartels: A Permanent Feature Of The Modern Economy -- Choice And The Big Lie -- Cars -- Supermarkets -- Retail Financial Services -- Bad Choices -- Credit And The Money Illusion -- Choice And Duty -- Conclusion: Spoiled For Choice -- Part Two: Choice And The Life Cycle -- 6. Introduction: Choice And The Life Cycle -- 7. Jobs And Careers -- 8. Lovers, Partners, Spouses -- 9. Fertility And Family -- Child Rearing -- 10. Retirement -- 11. Death -- The Current Debate -- The Problems Of Care -- Part Three: Conclusions -- 12. Choice And Meaning -- Religion As A Support For Meaning -- Individualism And The Retreat Into Self In The Search For Meaning: Hedonism -- The Retreat Into Self: Self-Improvement -- Choice And Meaning: Three Options -- 13. Conclusion -- Notes And Sources -- Index.

Sommario/riassunto

This lively and topical book provides a critique of choice in contemporary society and policy. Having choices empowers us, but constant extension of choice overwhelms us. In a concise and readable style, the author considers whether choice enhances or burdens our lives, and questions the blithe assumption that more choice is always for the better.