Greed

Beschreibung

'Greed' is a visceral insult. It jabs below the belt, evokingguilty sensations of gluttony and lust. It taunts the rich andpowerful, penetrating the cover of modern ideologies andinstitutions. Today, old-fashioned accusations of greed drag thelarger-than-life corporate fat cats down to human bodilyproportions, accusing them of gain without genuine growth. This lively new book is a wide-ranging inquiry into how greed worksin our lives and in the world at large. Western philosophy hasintellectualized human passions, explaining and justifying ourexpansive desires as 'rational self-interest'. However, anexamination of the visceral power of greed tells us something aboutthe apathy of modern theory. It shows us how confused we havebecome about the meanings of growth, creating false and morallyhazardous distinctions between biology on the one hand, and historyon the other. With greed as a guide, this book considers how theintegrity of these meanings may be restored. This remarkable book will be of interest to anyone concerned aboutthe morality of economic behavior in the modern world. It will bean important text for students in the social sciences, especiallyin anthropology, sociology, development studies, and businessstudies.

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A. F. Robertson

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Anthropologie Anthropology Menschenkunde

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'Robertson's subject is the human catastrophe of a modern societybuilt on separation and division, especially of the mind and thebody. His method is to use a focus on greed as a means ofconceptually reuniting meaning and feeling. Greed is in turn linkedto the reality and metaphor of growth on which so much in modernsociety depends. This is not just imaginative; it is unique.'Keith Hart, King's College, Aberdeen 'Robertson daringly goes to the heart of the private andcollective body in search of the dark forces of social andecological destruction. This is no ordinary work, but an ambitiousreach across discourses and vast time spans. He challenges us tothink in fundamental ways about "growth", and how the very conceptonce misapplied leads to malignant outcomes.'Harvey Molotch, NewYork University "The book is a compelling and timely read -fast paced, at timesquite playful, and decidedly passionate- in which the authordevelops a critique of anthropological theory, as well as ofcapitalism, by using greed as the analytical focal point...This isa finely crafted book that will readers much to consider throughits provocative advocacy of a new moral economics" James H.McDonald, Anthropogical Theory Although it is fluent, engaged, and ocassionally funny, this isnot an easy book. THat is because Robertson asks us to make asignificant change in the ways that we as academics think about theworld. It is worth the effort, though. The rewards are great."James G. Carrier, The Journal of The Royal AnthropologicalInstitute
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