1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9911095911903321

Autore

Grigsby Mary <1952->

Titolo

Buying time and getting by : the voluntary simplicity movement / / Mary Grigsby

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Albany, NY, : State University of New York Press, c2004

ISBN

9780791485521

0791485528

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Disciplina

179/.9

Soggetti

Voluntary simplicity movement

Simplicity

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references (p. 209-218) and index.

Nota di contenuto

Front Matter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Voluntary Simplicity: A Cultural Movement -- The Ecological Ethic and the Spirit of Voluntary Simplicity -- Getting a Life: Constructing a Moral Identity in the Voluntary Simplicity Movement -- Gendered Visions of Process, Power, and Community in the Voluntary Simplicity Movement -- Looking into the Shadows: The Politics of Class, Gender, and Race/Ethnicity in the Voluntary Simplicity Movement -- New Tools and Old: Transformation and Reproduction in the Voluntary Simplicity Movement -- Selected Voluntary Simplicity Resources -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Buying Time and Getting By provides a detailed account of the voluntary simplicity movement, which took off in the United States in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The concept of voluntary simplicity encompasses both self-change aimed at bringing personal practice into alignment with ecological values and cultural change that rejects consumerist values and careerism. While simple livers struggle with self-change, they work toward the broader goals of a sustainable global environment, sustainable communities, increased equality in access to resources, and economies aimed at human quality of life rather than profit. Author Mary Grigsby looks inside the movement at the daily lives of participants and includes their own accounts of their efforts. She also uses reflexive empirical analysis to explore race, class,



and gender in relation to the movement. The influence of the dominant culture and institutionalized power in shaping the movement are balanced with the importance of participants' dynamic identity work.

2.

Record Nr.

UNINA9911133423603321

Autore

Frank Robert

Titolo

Falling Behind : How Rising Inequality Harms the Middle Class / / Robert Frank

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley, CA : , : University of California Press, , [2013]

©2013

ISBN

9780520957435

0520957431

Edizione

[2nd ed.]

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (177 p.)

Collana

Wildavsky Forum Series ; ; 4

Disciplina

305.5/50973

Soggetti

Consumption (Economics) -- United States

Equality -- Economic aspects -- United States

Income distribution -- United States

Middle class -- United States -- Economic conditions

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- CONTENTS -- Preface to the 2013 Edition -- Preface to the 2007 Edition -- 1. Introduction -- 2. Recent Changes in Income and Wealth Inequality -- 3. Inequality, Happiness, and Health -- 4. Envy or Context? -- 5. The Rising Cost of Adequate -- 6. Why Do We Care about Rank? -- 7. What Types of Consumption Are Most Sensitive to Context? -- 8. How Can Middle-Class Families Afford to Keep Up? -- 9. Smart for One, Dumb for All -- 10. Looking Ahead -- 11. Lessons for Public Policy -- 12. Reflections -- Notes -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

With a timely new foreword by Robert Frank, this groundbreaking book explores the very meaning of happiness and prosperity in America today. Although middle-income families don't earn much more than they did several decades ago, they are buying bigger cars, houses, and appliances. To pay for them, they spend more than they earn and carry



record levels of debt. Robert Frank explains how increased concentrations of income and wealth at the top of the economic pyramid have set off "expenditure cascades" that raise the cost of achieving many basic goals for the middle class. Writing in lively prose for a general audience, Frank employs up-to-date economic data and examples drawn from everyday life to shed light on reigning models of consumer behavior. He also suggests reforms that could mitigate the costs of inequality. Falling Behind compels us to rethink how and why we live our economic lives the way we do.