any one read this?
I'm slowly making my way through it now - good book, preaching to the converted in my case, but still worth a read.
Full Version: Affluenza
I haven't read the book, but, I'm still happy to give my $.02 worth. First of all, hasn't "affluenza" been around for ages? cf. Ecclesiastes. Maybe that's part of his argument, but it certainly isn't some new "condition".
Second, I don't rate OJ as a psychologist, particularly. He's a bit too anti-biological psychiatry for his own good.
Like the new avatar FP!
Second, I don't rate OJ as a psychologist, particularly. He's a bit too anti-biological psychiatry for his own good.
Like the new avatar FP!
I nearly bought that book today from Borders Bookshop, looks like a new release- not sure you are talking the same book RichM. The book does look like a good read although i fear that we are all aware of the situation with consumerism - in a sense we are all already converted, its just that most of us dont do anything about it.
QUOTE(Rikk03 @ Mar 17 2007, 02:59 AM) [snapback]580457[/snapback]
I nearly bought that book today from Borders Bookshop, looks like a new release- not sure you are talking the same book RichM. The book does look like a good read although i fear that we are all aware of the situation with consumerism - in a sense we are all already converted, its just that most of us dont do anything about it.
Hi Rikk,
From amazon.co.uk:
QUOTE
Synopsis
There is currently an epidemic of 'affluenza' throughout the world - an obsessive, envious, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses - that has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions. Over a nine-month period, bestselling author Oliver James travelled around the world to try and find out why. He discovered how, despite very different cultures and levels of wealth, affluenza is spreading. Cities he visited include Sydney, Singapore, Moscow, Copenhagen, New York and Shanghai, and in each place he interviewed several groups of people in the hope of finding out not only why this is happening, but also how one can increase the strength of one's emotional immune system. He asks: why do so many more people want what they haven't got and want to be someone they're not, despite being richer and freer from traditional restraints? And, in so doing, uncovers the answer to how to reconnect with what really matters and learn to value what you've already got. In other words, how to be successful and stay sane.
From the Publisher
World-renowned psychologist, Oliver James, tours the minds of the affluent middle classes, in search of an answer to the question: is it possible to be successful and stay sane?
There is currently an epidemic of 'affluenza' throughout the world - an obsessive, envious, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses - that has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions. Over a nine-month period, bestselling author Oliver James travelled around the world to try and find out why. He discovered how, despite very different cultures and levels of wealth, affluenza is spreading. Cities he visited include Sydney, Singapore, Moscow, Copenhagen, New York and Shanghai, and in each place he interviewed several groups of people in the hope of finding out not only why this is happening, but also how one can increase the strength of one's emotional immune system. He asks: why do so many more people want what they haven't got and want to be someone they're not, despite being richer and freer from traditional restraints? And, in so doing, uncovers the answer to how to reconnect with what really matters and learn to value what you've already got. In other words, how to be successful and stay sane.
From the Publisher
World-renowned psychologist, Oliver James, tours the minds of the affluent middle classes, in search of an answer to the question: is it possible to be successful and stay sane?
I don't see how this is a new "condition", though the particular book maybe very new! People have been rich and unfulfilled since time immemorial. If you haven't read Ecclesiastes then you might know Petronius' Satyricon, and the excesses of the bored Roman super-rich he describes.
There's certainly more people in this camp today, as we're more materially rich. I have no problem with psychologists helping the "affluent middle classes", but I see no point in pathologising what is essentially a philosophical/existential matter rather than a "mental illness". Surely this is really the domain of politicians, theologians, and philosophers? Maybe people who are very well off should feel down at times! Feeling bad because you can't "keep up with the Joneses" might just be plain selfish self-obsession.
QUOTE(RichM @ Mar 19 2007, 01:37 AM) [snapback]581730[/snapback]
Hi Rikk,
From amazon.co.uk:
I don't see how this is a new "condition", though the particular book maybe very new! People have been rich and unfulfilled since time immemorial. If you haven't read Ecclesiastes then you might know Petronius' Satyricon, and the excesses of the bored Roman super-rich he describes.
There's certainly more people in this camp today, as we're more materially rich. I have no problem with psychologists helping the "affluent middle classes", but I see no point in pathologising what is essentially a philosophical/existential matter rather than a "mental illness". Surely this is really the domain of politicians, theologians, and philosophers? Maybe people who are very well off should feel down at times! Feeling bad because you can't "keep up with the Joneses" might just be plain selfish self-obsession.
From amazon.co.uk:
I don't see how this is a new "condition", though the particular book maybe very new! People have been rich and unfulfilled since time immemorial. If you haven't read Ecclesiastes then you might know Petronius' Satyricon, and the excesses of the bored Roman super-rich he describes.
There's certainly more people in this camp today, as we're more materially rich. I have no problem with psychologists helping the "affluent middle classes", but I see no point in pathologising what is essentially a philosophical/existential matter rather than a "mental illness". Surely this is really the domain of politicians, theologians, and philosophers? Maybe people who are very well off should feel down at times! Feeling bad because you can't "keep up with the Joneses" might just be plain selfish self-obsession.
always pleased to read a professional's comments Rich
you are probably right, but it doesn't change the underlying power of the message - that lusting for wealth is like throwing your soul into a bottomless pit of unhappiness. The only way to liberate yourself is to see the illusion for what it is. No doubt James is just putting new clothes on an old body, but its a message which is probably more relevant and necessary today than it ever has been before.
One thing the church did tell people, traditionally, was to accept their humility. In throwing off the power of the clergy, we have liberated ourselves through faith in the redemptive power of material wealth. This can now be seen at "modern" churches throughout London where it seems that the message is "God can make you a millionaire (please give generously)"...
QUOTE(Fancypants @ Mar 21 2007, 10:07 AM) [snapback]584201[/snapback]
One thing the church did tell people, traditionally, was to accept their humility. In throwing off the power of the clergy, we have liberated ourselves through faith in the redemptive power of material wealth. This can now be seen at "modern" churches throughout London where it seems that the message is "God can make you a millionaire (please give generously)"...
....we also have sackloads of latter-day Savonarolas, in the shape of "deep greens", ALFers, crank-diet fetishists, 'alternative' medicine quacks (like Alexei Sayle's definition of an 'alternative' comedian) and countless flavours of eco-fascists and other anti-humanists, all urging us peasants to cremate our possessions in the piazza, in order to save the world, as its rulers are concerned that we're cacking the place up too much for them and their progeny to enjoy it.
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