The Logic of Sufficiency

Thomas Princen (University of Michigan)

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English

MIT Press
30 September 2005

The environment

Series: The MIT Press

What if modern society put a priority on the material security of its citizens and the ecological integrity of its resource base? What if it took ecological constraint as a given, not a hindrance but a source of long-term economic security? How would it organize itself, structure its industry, shape its consumption?

Across time and across cultures, people actually have adapted to ecological constraint. They have changed behavior; they have built institutions. And they have developed norms and principles for their time. Today's environmental challenges-at once global, technological, and commercial-require new behaviors, new institutions, and new principles.

In this highly original work, Thomas Princen builds one such principle- sufficiency. Sufficiency is not about denial, not about sacrifice or doing without. Rather, when resource depletion and overconsumption are real, sufficiency is about doing well. It is about good work and good governance; it is about goods that are good only to a point.

With examples ranging from timbering and fishing to automobility and meat production, Princen shows that sufficiency is perfectly sensible and yet absolutely contrary to modern society's dominant principle, efficiency. He argues that seeking enough when more is possible is both intuitive and rational-personally, organizationally and ecologically rational. And under global ecological constraint, it is ethical. Over the long term, an economy-indeed a society-cannot operate as if there's never enough and never too much.

By: Thomas Princen (University of Michigan)
Imprint: MIT Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 178mm, Spine: 20mm
Weight: 658g
ISBN: 9780262661904
ISBN 10: 026266190X
Series: The MIT Press
Pages: 424
Publication Date: 30 September 2005
Recommended Age: From 18
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Thomas Princen explores ecological and economic sustainability at the University of Michigan. He is the author of Treading Softly- Paths to Ecological Order and The Logic of Sufficiency (both published by the MIT Press).

Reviews for The Logic of Sufficiency

[A] detailed and engaging history of the efficiency principle and its role in supporting the paradigm of unlimited economic growth. -Nature ...an admirable and timely book... a first-rate effort at breaking new ground in the consumption debate. -Science