Growth Fetish
At last a coherent new set of ideas for critics of economic rationalism and globalisation. Hamilton argues that an obsession with economic growth lies at the heart of our current political, social and environmental ills - and offers a thought-provoking alternative.
'Right on target, and badly needed' Noam Chomsky
'Every now and then a book that is perfect in timing and tone hits my desk. Growth Fetish is that book. It is powerful and potentially transformative.' Rev. Tim Costello
'This book reveals the undelivered reality of economic growth and the hollow mantras of the Third Way. Growth Fetish provides a much needed road map to a new politics in a post-growth world.' Senator Natasha Stott Despoja
For decades our political leaders and opinion makers have touted higher incomes as the way to a better future. Economic growth means better lives for us all.
But after many years of sustained economic growth and increased personal incomes we must confront an awful fact: we aren't any happier. This is the great contradiction of modern politics.
In this provocative new book, Clive Hamilton argues that, far from being the answer to our problems, growth fetishism and the marketing society lie at the heart of our social ills. They have corrupted our social priorities and political structures, and have created a profound sense of alienation among young and old.
Growth Fetish is the first serious attempt at a politics of change for rich countries dominated by the sicknesses of affluence, where the real yearning is not for more money but for authentic identity, and where the future lies in a new relationship with the natural environment.
Contents
Introduction
1. Growth fetishism
The growth fetish
Economists on wellbeing
The great contradiction
Political implications
2. Growth and wellbeing
Income
Personal happiness
Values and meaning
Alternative measures
3. Identity
Having and wanting
Consumption and the modern self
Marketing
Overconsumption
4. Progress
The idea of progress
Oppression and liberation
Globalisation
5. Politics
The Third Way
The power of economic ideas
Power and equality
6. Work
Rethinking work
The new labour market
In praise of housework
Work in a post-growth world
7. Environment
The voraciousness of growth
The conquering spirit
A philosophical transition
Environmentalism and social democracy
8. The post-growth society
Eudemonism: the politics of happiness
The economy
Power and social structure
Political downshifting
Notes
Index
Growth Fetish Reviews
It is a long time since I have read a radicalbook like Growth Fetish. I had forgotten how energizing it could be.
(Anne Manne, The Age, 11 April 2003)
Australia’s most amazing economist... you will find [Growth Fetish] either exhilarating or deeply threatening.
(Ross Gittens, Sydney Morning Herald, June 4, 2003)
Of all the books I've read, Growth Fetish gives the most lucid, penetrating, comprehensive and clearly articulated analysis of our present human predicament and of the pathologies that underlie it. It also gives the most realistic and rounded view of the vital "post-growth" economy we need to create for the future.
(John Bunzl, author of The Simultaneous Policy (New European Publications) and Director, International Simultaneous Policy Organisation (ISPO))
Hamilton makes a significant contribution to the literature on happiness… [but] one gets the impression that he is beating up a straw man…
Growth Fetish has a capacity to ‘stir the pot’ in a way that few of us can emulate. Whether one agrees with its key themes or not, it is an infuriatingly exhilarating read.
(Fred Argy, The Drawing Board)
http://www.econ.usyd.edu.au/drawingboard/index.html
[Clive Hamilton is] The thinking person’s anti-capitalist.
http://catallaxyfiles.blogspot.com/2003_04_20_catallaxyfiles_archive.html#200197734
Growth Fetish… is a powerful attack on conventional economics and its rarely examined assumption that unending growth in the consumption of goods and services is what makes us happy.
(Ross Gittens, Sydney Morning Herald, June 7, 2003)
Growth Fetish is a provocative, perhaps revolutionary, and certainly very timely book. … I can already hear Mark Latham and fellow Third-Way Warriors within the Australian Labour Party darkly muttering ‘green-lefty piffle’... [But] Hamilton is no piffler, and this book is a must-read.
(Natasha Cica, Online Opinion)
http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=322
Growth Fetish is an important book if for no other reason than it will effect [sic] your livelihood…
Without marketing, advertising and product differentiation we’d still be driving variants of the black Model T Ford. …If Dr Hamilton plays tennis, I can’t help but imagine he’d still be wearing Dunlop Volleys onto the court.
(Market Research Society of Australia website)
http://www.mrsa.com.au/index.cfm?a=detail&id=1207&eid=91
Clive Hamilton’s work is just silly, dangerous, left-wing crap.
(Michael Egan, NSW Treasurer)
… provides a penetrating analysis… [and] a take-off point…to think about the fundamentals of our society.
(Robin Gollan, Canberra Times, July 5, 2003)
Clive Hamilton has written a thorough, passionately but carefully argued critique of the dominant myth of contemporary capitalism.
(Change Management Monitor website)
http://www.change-management-monitor.com/fullreviews/030401Hamilton
Hamilton writes with a clarity and pace that are not usually found in books dealing with economics… Growth Fetish contains the seeds for a coherent response to rationalist economics.
(Godfrey Moase, Eureka Street)
Clive Hamilton’s views manage to alienate big business, the Howard Government, the Australian Labour Party right and the socialist left…It is not every day an economist rejects economic growth as a God-given good.
(Adele Horin, Sydney Morning Herald, April 12-13 2003)
An incisive critique of how the global economic and political systems have turned us into the miserable rich…Whatever you choose to do and wherever you go, you will benefit from keeping as copy of Growth Fetish tucked up your sleeve.
(Tim Flannery, Sydney Morning Herald, 12 April 2003)
Growth Fetish is not for the faint-hearted… If you are very concerned with the question of just how humanity is going to progress sustainably into the next century and how we can ameliorat[e] the intense disappointment most people experience in their work, leisure and lives generally, there is no better place to start than with Growth Fetish.
(Matthew McDonald, Australian Journal of Career Development)
It is a broadside against the underlying values of contemporary consumer capitalism… [and] bound to trigger major controversy.
(Journal of Australian Political Economy)
A broad-ranging book, deeply thought-provoking.
(Peter Westmore, News Weekly, 17 May 2003)