The Challenge of Affluence: Self-Control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950

— —

Avner Offer (, Chichele Professor of Economic History, University of Oxford, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and Fellow of the British Academy)

The Challenge of Affluence

Name: The Challenge of Affluence
Price: 112.95 AUD
Availability: OutOfStock
ISBN: 9780199216628

Self-Control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950

Avner Offer (, Chichele Professor of Economic History, University of Oxford, Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and Fellow of the British Academy)

$112.95

Paperback

Not in-store but you can order this
How long will it take?

Availability Information

We source books from suppliers in Australia and overseas. For books we don't currently have in stock, the time it takes to get them from our suppliers can vary widely - from a few days to a few months - so we check each book with each supplier to determine the expected time it will take to be supplied to us.

We will update you on expected arrival time to us. If this delay is too long, please let us know within 2 business days and we can give you options regarding cancelling or adjusting your order. More details on cancelling your order can be found in our Terms of Trade.

To find out the anticipated arrival time for specific items prior to ordering, please contact us by phone or email:

Phone +61 2 9264 3111, or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 4 26657) if outside Sydney:
option 1 Abbey's Bookshop (Crime, History, Science, Kids & more) • info@abbeys.com.au
option 2 Language Book Centre (ESL & Foreign Languages) • language@abbeys.com.au
option 3 Galaxy Bookshop (Sci-fi, Fantasy, Romance, Graphic Novels) • sf@galaxybooks.com.au

QTY:

English

Oxford University Press
25 October 2007

History; Society & culture: general; Consumerism; Sociology & anthropology; Sociology: family & relationships; Politics & government; Economic theory & philosophy; Economic history

Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have come to enjoy an era of rising material abundance. Yet this has been accompanied by a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, addiction, mental instability, crime, obesity, inequality, economic insecurity, and declining trust. Avner Offer argues that well-being has lagged behind affluence in these societies, because they present an environment in which consistent choices are difficult to achieve over different time ranges and in which the capacity for personal and social commitment is undermined by the flow of novelty. His approach draws on economics and social science, makes use of the latest cognitive research, and provides a detailed and reasoned critique of modern consumer society, especially the assumption that freedom of choice necessarily maximizes individual and social well-being. The book falls into three parts. Part one analyses the ways in which economic resources map on to human welfare, why choice is so intractable, and how commitment to people and institutions is sustained. It argues that choice is constrained by prior obligation and reciprocity. The second section then applies these conceptual arguments to comparative empirical studies of advertising, of eating and obesity, and of the production and acquisition of appliances and automobiles. Finally, in part three, Offer investigates social and personal relations in the USA and Britain, including inter-personal regard, the rewards and reversals of status, the social and psychological costs of inequality, and the challenges posed to heterosexual love and to parenthood by the rise of affluence.

By: Avner Offer ( Chichele Professor of Economic History University of Oxford Fellow of All Souls College Oxford and Fellow of the British Academy)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 233mm, Width: 155mm, Spine: 24mm
Weight: 687g
ISBN: 9780199216628
ISBN 10: 0199216622
Publication Date: 25 October 2007
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active

Reviews for The Challenge of Affluence: Self-Control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950

"`Offer makes many compelling and interesting arguments that are backed by a wealth of data and analysis' Charles Kenny, Business History Review `Avner Offer's latest sparkling and intellectually pugnacious contribution to his protean bibliography represents a tour de force of scholarship and provocative argument...this is an enormously rich and highly penetrating and stimulating study, based on vast and perceptive reading and research. It is also novel in its substance and approach.' The English Historical Review `Offer's narrative of a complex and difficult topic is masterful' Barnaby Marsh, Economic and Human Biology `An intriguing book...one of Britain's most subtle thinkers about how we live now' Will Hutton, The Observer `...always fascinating and thought provoking. Offer's range of reference is remarkably broad. He travels confidently across the social-science spectrum.' Howard Davies, THES `In the 1960s and 1970s, economists started worrying about environmental and social limits to growth. Avner Offer has added a weighty new critique to this tradition.' The Economist `The book is an invaluable source of information on changing attitudes and practices in the US and Britain since the end of the second world war.' Samuel Brittan, Financial Times `...an uncompromising work of scholarship' Martin Vander Weyer, The Spectator `...diligently and readably exposes the extent to which the past 25 years have forced people in the English-speaking world to believe that there is no alternative to dual-income workaholic consumerism, the ""hedonic treadmill"".' Oliver James, The Guardian `...[a] fascinating new tome' Christina Patterson, Independent `Sceptics who want some political muscle behind the diagnosis of our discontents will enjoy Avner Offer's account of why more means worse...' Boyd Tonkin and Christina Patterson, The Independent `Professor Offer presents some fascinating case studies' Economist, `...an essential survival guide both for academics and non-academics who must face the challenges thrown up by economic growth and material plenty, and the material sacrifices needed to further wider goals in the twenty-first century.' Shinobu Majima, Business History"