Addicted to Profit: Reclaiming Our Lives from the Free Market

by Stuart Sim

Overview

Will our addiction to profit destroy the world we live in? The profit motive now exercises an effective tyranny over our lives: in the private as well as the public sector, nowhere seems immune from its reach. International tycoons, economists and politicians are obsessed with economic growth. Yet, as Stuart Sim shows, the pursuit of excessive profit brought the world to the brink of economic chaos in the recent credit crisis and threatens us with environmental disaster as well. Despite this, neoliberalism still sets the agenda for economic policy in the West. Sim suggests various 'act up' strategies so that we might resist becoming slaves to personal gain and, in doing so, he demonstrates that life needn't be all about profit.Key Features:* Analyses the psychology behind our fetishization of profit* Demonstrates the threat that neoliberalism poses to our public services - healthcare and education in particular* Explores the debate of altruism versus self-interest through the neuroscientific literature* Argues the case for a return to a more socialistic consciousness to combat neoliberalism

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780748646715
Publisher:	Edinburgh University Press
Publication date:	04/17/2012
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Stuart Sim is retired Professor of Critical Theory at Northumbria University. He has published widely on critical theory, and is a Fellow of the English Association. Amongst his recent publications are The Lyotard Dictionary (2011), Addicted to Profit: Reclaiming Our Lives from the Free Market (2012), Fifty Key Postmodern Thinkers (2013), and, with Brett Wilson and Barbara Hawkins (eds) Art, Science & Cultural Understanding (2014).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

1 Introduction: It's All About Profit 1

2 The Tyranny of Profit: Confronting an Addiction and a Fetish 7

3 'What Shall It Profit a Man?': Profitless Activities 33

4 Life Before Profit, Life Minus Profit 43

5 Profit in the Genes? 55

6 Neoliberalism, Financial Crisis, and Profit 70

7 Global Warming and Profit 95

8 Healthcare and Profit 109

9 Education and Profit: The World of Pay-as-You-Learn 126

10 The Arts, the Media Industries, and Profit 143

11 Conclusion: It Needn't All Be About Profit 155

Notes 168

Bibliography 185

Index 195