Challenging Choices: Ideology, Consumerism and Policy

ISBN-13: 9781847423986 / Angielski / Twarda / 2010 / 224 str.

Clarke, Michael

Opis

Choice pervades our society, and for good reason: we live in a society founded on political rights to choose, along with an economy based on market choices and consumerism. But we have now reached a position in which choice is extended almost everywhere. Choice has become an ideology: more is invariably seen as beneficial, and it is often used as a solution to challenging policy issues. But choice is not the panacea we are led to believe. There are areas in life which would be much simpler if we simply had good quality provision enabling us to focus on the more challenging choices that we face across the life course. Challenging Choices presents an academic argument about the potential pitfalls of choice across a wide range of social and public policy issues. The book is written in an accessible, polemic style, and it will stimulate debate, adding a sociological dimension to the arguments developed by Barry Schwartz in the best-selling The Paradox of Choice (Harper Perennial). It shows

Spis treści

Introduction; Part One: Choice and consumerism: What is choice?; Making choices: just fun?; Choice and the consumer society; When choice does not work; Some wider problems with choice; Part Two: Choice and the life cycle: Introduction: choice and the life cycle; Jobs and careers; Lovers, partners, spouses; Fertility and family; Retirement; Death; Part three: Conclusions: Choice and meaning; Conclusion.