Good to read your take on Soper's book, Andrew. If you've not seen it already, you might find John Foster's review essay on this and Giorgos Kallis's Limits an interesting read:
I'm not convinced by the "therapeutic vanguard" idea, but I do think the lens of addiction brings something important to making sense of consumerism and the trouble we're in.
Hi Dougald, Thanks for taking the trouble to send this note. I don’t know that review essay, and I will definitely take a look. I did a bit of work with Bob Costanza recently (I’d not met him before) and his most recent book is also around the idea of capitalism and consumption as a form of addiction. So maybe this is an idea that is taking hold.
The one bit of Soper’s argument—it was in passing—that I was struck by but got squeezed out for length was that it is not socially acceptable (yet?) to criticise people for their unsustainable behaviours, in the way it is to register social disapproval of other antisocial behaviours.
I have been reading the recently published Penguin Modern Classic collection of Rene Girard’s writings:
I am persuaded by his idea that human social behaviour is basically mimetic behaviour, in which case the shift to ‘alternative hedonism’ needs a shift in what was mimetically desirable. One sign of that would be (as above) that it would be OK to disapprove publicly of someone’s high carbon choices.
(His other main idea, that all human societies are deeply embedded culturally with the idea of scapegoating and sacrifice, seems important too. It’s derived from his readings of early religious texts from different cultures. But this takes a bit more thought to work through what it means.)
A general comment, Andrew --just to let you know how much I enjoy your Two Things. It is the highlight of my morning Inbox, the newsletter that I appreciate the most among the many I am subscribed to. I appreciate the topics, the concern for the future, the mix of worry and optimism, and the depth at which you engage with the subjects (deep, ma non troppo). I hope you keep on doing this!
And today I particularly enjoyed your review of Kate Soper's book. I think there's a lot that matters there, in that search for an alternative form of hedonism.
Good to read your take on Soper's book, Andrew. If you've not seen it already, you might find John Foster's review essay on this and Giorgos Kallis's Limits an interesting read:
https://www.greenhousethinktank.org/rethinking-consumerism/
I'm not convinced by the "therapeutic vanguard" idea, but I do think the lens of addiction brings something important to making sense of consumerism and the trouble we're in.
Hi Dougald, Thanks for taking the trouble to send this note. I don’t know that review essay, and I will definitely take a look. I did a bit of work with Bob Costanza recently (I’d not met him before) and his most recent book is also around the idea of capitalism and consumption as a form of addiction. So maybe this is an idea that is taking hold.
The one bit of Soper’s argument—it was in passing—that I was struck by but got squeezed out for length was that it is not socially acceptable (yet?) to criticise people for their unsustainable behaviours, in the way it is to register social disapproval of other antisocial behaviours.
I have been reading the recently published Penguin Modern Classic collection of Rene Girard’s writings:
(https://www.waterstones.com/book/all-desire-is-a-desire-for-being/rene-girard/cynthia-l-haven/9780241543238)
I am persuaded by his idea that human social behaviour is basically mimetic behaviour, in which case the shift to ‘alternative hedonism’ needs a shift in what was mimetically desirable. One sign of that would be (as above) that it would be OK to disapprove publicly of someone’s high carbon choices.
(His other main idea, that all human societies are deeply embedded culturally with the idea of scapegoating and sacrifice, seems important too. It’s derived from his readings of early religious texts from different cultures. But this takes a bit more thought to work through what it means.)
Andrew
A general comment, Andrew --just to let you know how much I enjoy your Two Things. It is the highlight of my morning Inbox, the newsletter that I appreciate the most among the many I am subscribed to. I appreciate the topics, the concern for the future, the mix of worry and optimism, and the depth at which you engage with the subjects (deep, ma non troppo). I hope you keep on doing this!
And today I particularly enjoyed your review of Kate Soper's book. I think there's a lot that matters there, in that search for an alternative form of hedonism.
Thank you.