Work, Consumerism and the New Poor

From one of today's most eminent thinkers--a piercing examination of poverty in the modern age

If "being poor" once derived its meaning from the condition of being unemployed, today it draws its meaning primarily from the plight of a flawed consumer. This distinction truly makes a difference in the way poverty is experienced and in the chances to redeem its misery.

This absorbing book traces this change, and makes an inventory of its social consequences. It also considers ways of fighting b...