Insatiable: The Rise and Rise of the Greedocracy
Hurling our financial markets through tempests of speculation, driving our businesses into practices of simultaneous austerity (for those on the bottom) and lavish expenditure (for those on the top), and flying high as a banner for outspoken bankers, brokers, and politicians alike has been a prevailing ethos: greed is good. In this book, Stuart Sim calls for an end to this madness, exposing the massively damaging effects that greed has had on both public and private life and showing how the actions of a socially irresponsible “greedocracy” have systematically undermined our democratic institutions.

Ranging across politics, economic theory, finance, healthcare, the food industry, sports, religion, and the arts, Sim demonstrates how deeply embedded the greed imperative is in human psychology. As he shows, all of us as individuals are capable of greed—usually in small and insignificant ways—but some embrace it to the extreme, and moreover it has thrived as a powerful force in our wider culture and institutions, asserting itself everywhere we go. The food industry encourages us to overeat. The medical industry has increasingly been driven by profits rather than well-being. Corporations hypocritically claim fiscal responsibility, driving down workers’ wages while paying executives—even those who drive the business into the ground—record sums. Looking at larger phenomena such as the increasing wealth gap and exponential population growth, Sim also proffers various ways we can deal with greed in our day-to-day lives.

And as he shows, we must deal with it. Insatiable is a wakeup call to recognize the horrible effects that greed is having on our relationships, institutions, cultures, environment—even on our own bodies—and that we must resist it wherever we can.
 
1124670890
Insatiable: The Rise and Rise of the Greedocracy
Hurling our financial markets through tempests of speculation, driving our businesses into practices of simultaneous austerity (for those on the bottom) and lavish expenditure (for those on the top), and flying high as a banner for outspoken bankers, brokers, and politicians alike has been a prevailing ethos: greed is good. In this book, Stuart Sim calls for an end to this madness, exposing the massively damaging effects that greed has had on both public and private life and showing how the actions of a socially irresponsible “greedocracy” have systematically undermined our democratic institutions.

Ranging across politics, economic theory, finance, healthcare, the food industry, sports, religion, and the arts, Sim demonstrates how deeply embedded the greed imperative is in human psychology. As he shows, all of us as individuals are capable of greed—usually in small and insignificant ways—but some embrace it to the extreme, and moreover it has thrived as a powerful force in our wider culture and institutions, asserting itself everywhere we go. The food industry encourages us to overeat. The medical industry has increasingly been driven by profits rather than well-being. Corporations hypocritically claim fiscal responsibility, driving down workers’ wages while paying executives—even those who drive the business into the ground—record sums. Looking at larger phenomena such as the increasing wealth gap and exponential population growth, Sim also proffers various ways we can deal with greed in our day-to-day lives.

And as he shows, we must deal with it. Insatiable is a wakeup call to recognize the horrible effects that greed is having on our relationships, institutions, cultures, environment—even on our own bodies—and that we must resist it wherever we can.
 
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Insatiable: The Rise and Rise of the Greedocracy

Insatiable: The Rise and Rise of the Greedocracy

by Stuart Sim
Insatiable: The Rise and Rise of the Greedocracy

Insatiable: The Rise and Rise of the Greedocracy

by Stuart Sim

Hardcover

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Overview

Hurling our financial markets through tempests of speculation, driving our businesses into practices of simultaneous austerity (for those on the bottom) and lavish expenditure (for those on the top), and flying high as a banner for outspoken bankers, brokers, and politicians alike has been a prevailing ethos: greed is good. In this book, Stuart Sim calls for an end to this madness, exposing the massively damaging effects that greed has had on both public and private life and showing how the actions of a socially irresponsible “greedocracy” have systematically undermined our democratic institutions.

Ranging across politics, economic theory, finance, healthcare, the food industry, sports, religion, and the arts, Sim demonstrates how deeply embedded the greed imperative is in human psychology. As he shows, all of us as individuals are capable of greed—usually in small and insignificant ways—but some embrace it to the extreme, and moreover it has thrived as a powerful force in our wider culture and institutions, asserting itself everywhere we go. The food industry encourages us to overeat. The medical industry has increasingly been driven by profits rather than well-being. Corporations hypocritically claim fiscal responsibility, driving down workers’ wages while paying executives—even those who drive the business into the ground—record sums. Looking at larger phenomena such as the increasing wealth gap and exponential population growth, Sim also proffers various ways we can deal with greed in our day-to-day lives.

And as he shows, we must deal with it. Insatiable is a wakeup call to recognize the horrible effects that greed is having on our relationships, institutions, cultures, environment—even on our own bodies—and that we must resist it wherever we can.
 

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781780237343
Publisher: Reaktion Books, Limited
Publication date: 06/15/2017
Pages: 224
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Stuart Sim is former professor of critical theory at Northumbria University, Newcastle, and a fellow of the English Association. He is the author of many books, including A Philosophy of Pessimism, also published by Reaktion Books.
 

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Introduction: Why is Greed an Issue? 10

1 To Defend or Not to Defend Greed? 19

2 Whatever You Desire? The Psychology of Creed 19

3 In the Red Corner, Karl Marx; in the Blue, Adam Smith: The Economics of Greed 43

4 A World Fit for Shareholders: Greed and the Financial Industry 65

5 Food, Greed and Consequences 79

6 A Bitter Pill? Healthcare and Greed 96

7 From Colonialism to Neocolonialism: The Politics and Geopolitics of Greed 111

8 International Sport and the Greed for Fame and Success 129

9 The Art of Greed 135

Conclusion: Living with Greed 167

References 175

Bibliography 184

Acknowledgements 188

Index 189

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