Extravagance and Misery

Auteur
Alan Thomas is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of York. Educated at Cambridge, Harvard and Oxford he has held visiting positions at the Australian National University, St. Louis University, Tulane University, and the University of British Columbia. His previous publications include Value and Context and Republic of Equals, both published by Oxford University Press. Alfred Archer is an Associate Professor at Tilburg University. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh. He has worked at the University of Bristol and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and held a visiting position at Freie Universität Berlin. His previous publications include Honouring and Admiring the Immoral: An Ethical Guide and Why It's OK to be a Sports Fan, both published by Routledge. Bart Engelen is an Associate Professor at Tilburg. After his PhD and postdoctoral research at KU Leuven, he moved to Tilburg University. His research focuses on the borders between ethics, political philosophy and economics. He has published extensively on the ethics of nudging and issues surrounding rationality, autonomy, paternalism, moral education, voting and markets. He is currently the head of research of Tilburg University's Department of Philosophy.

Texte du rabat

Extravagance and Misery discusses the economic inequalities that characterize capitalist societies. What causes these inequalities? Why are they unfair? Do they make us unhappy and, if so, why? Which stories do we tell each other about those inequalities and why do these stories help perpetuate them? What role do emotions, such as shame (amongst the poor) and envy and admiration (for the rich) play? The authors draw on insights from philosophers, economists, psychologists and other scientists to explain the structural mechanisms underlying inequality, and the impact it has on our well-being and happiness. The result is an explanation of the emotional regime that characterizes our capitalist societies and that perpetuates the unfair gap between the extravagance of the rich and the misery of the poor. Finally, Extravagance and Misery proposes how to re-shape this emotional regime in the interests of justice and solidarity.

Résumé
In Extravagance and Misery: The Emotional Regime of Market Societies, Alan Thomas, Alfred Archer, and Bart Engelen investigate the extensive and growing economic inequalities that characterize the affluent market societies of the West. Drawing on insights from political philosophy and the new science of happiness, they show the damaging impact that existing inequalities have on our well-being, and offer an explanation for what went wrong in our highly unequal and frequently unhappy societies. Combining the approaches of philosophy and political economy, the authors expose the economic, social and political mechanisms that create and perpetuate economic inequalities. They employ research from the new science of happiness to assess the impact of those mechanisms on the well-being of the poor, the middle class and the rich. They scrutinize the role of key emotions, such as shame (amongst the poor), envy and admiration (towards and for the rich) as well as discussing which emotional narratives serve to justify and entrench excessive inequalities in income and wealth. The result is an explanation of the emotional regime that characterizes our capitalist societies and that perpetuates the unfair gap between the extravagance of the rich and the misery of the poor. Extravagance and Misery concludes with a proposal of how to re-shape this emotional regime in the interests of justice and solidarity.

Contenu

• Introduction

• Chapter One: The Problem of Inequality

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 The Facts of Inequality

• 2 The Structural Basis of the 'New' Inequality

• 3 Is America an 'Outlier'?

• 4 Inequality and Globalisation

• Chapter Two: Empirical Data on Inequality and Dual Economy

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 The Critique of Rent Seeking

• 2 Wage Suppression and the Dual Economy

• 3 Rent Seeking, Resentment and Angrynomics

• Chapter Three: Addressing Inequality: A Normative Framework

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 The Badness of Inequality

• 2 Distinctions of Caste and Class

• 3 Domination, Wealth and Anxiety

• 4 A Distinction Within Egalitarianism

• Chapter Four: Recruiting the Science of Happiness

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 Problematic Correlations

• 2 A Positive Role for the Science of Happiness?

• 3 Going Beyond the Spirit Level

• Chapter Five: Emotions, Explanations and Emotional Regimes

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 A General Conception of Emotions

• 2 The Justificatory Role of Emotions

• 3 Emotions in Social Explanations

• 4 Universalism or Constructivism About Emotions?

• 5 Reddy's Conception of Emotional Regimes

• 6 Other Aspects of Emotional Regimes

• 7 The Emotional Appeal of Market Fundamentalism

• Chapter Six: Rousseau, Smith and Hegel on the Emotional Regimes of Commercial Society

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 Rousseau's Originating Critique

• 2 From Rousseau to Smith

• 3 From Smith to Hegel

• 4 The New Inequality in a Classical Frame

• 5 Rousseau's, Smith's and Hegel's Emotional Regimes

• Chapter Seven: The Emotional Regimes of Roman Republicanism and Political Liberalism

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 Republicanism's Economy of Esteem

• 2 Political Liberalism's Emotional Regime

• 3 Rawlsian Stability in a Rousseauian Frame

• Chapter Eight: The Promises and Failures of Capitalist Market Societies

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1: The Continuing Appeal of Smith's Ideal

• 2 Extending the Model to Financialised Capitalism

• 3 Veblen: The Engineer versus the Capitalist

• 4 Kalecki: The Disciplinary Role of Unemployment

• 5 The Proliferation of Capitalist Discipline

• 6 Financialisation and the Disciplinary Role of Debt

• 7 Can Smith's Ideal Survive in the Twenty-First Century?

• Chapter Nine: Positional Goods and Opportunity Hoarding

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 Hirsch on Positional Goods

• 2 Opportunity Hoarding

• 3 Positionality and Cultural Legislation

• 4 Positionality, De-Marketisation and Public Goods

• Chapter Ten: The Science of Happiness, Inequality and Well-being

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 Why (Not) Use Empirical Evidence about Happiness and Well-being?

• 2 General and Specific Conceptions of Well-being

• 3 Our Approach: Ecumenical Yet Committed

• 4 Well-being: Methodological and Normative Issues

• 5 Well-being and Emotional Regimes

• 6 Income, Wealth and Well-being

• 7 Income and Wealth Inequality and Its Relation to Well-being

• 8 Using the Science of Happiness

• Chapter Eleven: Inequality, Shame, Envy and Admiration: A Smithian Perspective

• Propositional Summary

• Introduction

• 1 The Inevitability of Shame in Stratified Societies

• 2 The Moral Psychological Impact of the Shame of Poverty

• 3 Shame, Stigmatisation and Rationality

• 4 Smith and Admiration for the Rich

• 5 Veblen and Emulation for the Rich in Market Societies

• 6 Admiration, Emulation and Envy in Capitalist Market Societies

• 7 Ought We to Disregard Envy and Admiration for the Rich?

• Chapter Twelve: The False Promise of Meritocracy and Its Emotional Regime

• Proposit…