FOLLOW-UP TO "ESCAPE FROM AFFLUENZA" & AFTER THE BREAK

Notes on "Escape From Affluenza":

First of all, let me say that there is much to admire about the personal stories of those who have embraced "voluntary simplicity." I was especially impressed by a few of these stories. Dick Roy, former corporate lawyer and now director of the Northwest Earth Institute, and his wife are real models of simple living. It is hard to imagine that they are able to "reduce, re-use, and recycle" to such an extent that they produce only one can of garbage a year! Most of us throw out at least that much garbage every week. You also have to admire Ron Simmons, former Microsoft engineer, who abandoned a promising career in computers to become an actor and also do a whole range of volunteer activities. And then there is Ming Chen and his family, but it was noted that their teenage daughter was rebelling against their frugal lifestyle. Calvin DeWitt, the University of Wisconsin environmentalist, made a very good point about how our social and economic activities are so incompatible with natural systems, like wetlands, that recycle everything naturally.

But for all these inspiring personal stories, there was LITTLE ATTENTION TO BROADER INSTITUTIONAL CHANGE. For example, the "tight-wad" couple in Holland talked about reducing the number of cars you own and drive to zero, instead of just scaling back to one vehicle and driving it less. That, of course, is easier to do in Holland because of the wide availability of public transportation and support for other alternatives such as bicycling. It is tough, if not impossible, for people in America to give up their automobiles because of little public support for such a move. The bulk of transportation dollars go to road and highway construction and maintenance. And our whole pattern of urban and especially suburban development is largely based on the private automobile as the main means of transportation. Also, from an economic standpoint, more money can be made selling cars rather than expanding public transportation, so maybe we are going to have to change such incentives significantly.

I was particularly impressed with Alan Durning's (of the Worldwatch Institute) account of all the things that made possible him having a cup of coffee in the morning. Remember the point I made earlier about INSTITUTIONS BEING THE REAL ACTORS IN MODERN SOCIETY -- that his act of making coffee was the act of that agricultural system in Colombia, the act of a shipping industry, the act of power companies to roast the coffee beans, etc., etc., etc.... So, if you want to change any aspect of that system -- say reduce coffee consumption -- you are going to have to take into account the impact on those other interconnected institutions.

Finally, I really appreciated the quick overview of American history. Ms. Urbanska noted the deep roots of "simple living" in our history. But significantly, after almost two decades of economic depression and war in the 1930s and 40s, we were ready to produce and spend and consume, that is, "grow the economy." A growing economy, higher and higher GDP, more stuff, became the overriding goal of our society. But, of course, this has not made us any happier and perhaps we are overdue to consider scaling back, emphasizing QUALITY of life over QUANTITY of things. In this context, I believe it is significant that overwhelmingly people who choose a simpler, less-cluttered life are happier, even in the context of our materialist, consumer society.

PLEASE INCORPORATE THESE COMMENTS IN YOUR NOTES. ANY QUESTION I MAY ASK ON THE FINAL EXAM ABOUT THIS VIDEO WILL COME FROM THE ABOVE COMMENTS.
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After the break:

***I will hand back your midterm exams, of course, during our first class after the break. And we will go over it question-by-question.

***I will also have a write-up of our next essay assignment, which will involve that xerox handout you already have, "A Slowdown That May Slow Us Down."

***We will wrap up "Affluenza," at long last, and move on to "Consuming Kids."

***Finally, by APRIL 8TH (THURS.), I want to hear from each of you about what social problem you plan to write about for you paper.

Have a good and safe break. See you in April.

Family Questions for the Midterm Exam

Below are the questions I accepted from each family which will appear on the midterm exam on Tuesday, 3/23. In several cases I did some editing of both the questions and answers.

BLACK FAMILY: (Sami, Cindy, Katie, Cameron) 5pts

1. Briefly describe the "conservative contradiction," which is discussed at the end of Chapter 6, Family convulsions. (2)

ANSWER: Conservatives tend to be strong supporters of free-market capitalism, yet they also recognize how it undermines families and communities in its drive for profits above all else.

2. In Chapter 5, The stress of excess, how did Swedish economist, Staffan Linder, explain why we would become a "harried leisure class?" (2)

ANSWER: He predicted that with economic growth we would have less time, rather than more leisure time. He noted that as we produced more and consumed more, the increasing amount of stuff we would have would take more of our time to take care of, repair, etc..

3. Why did I suggest work is so important for individuals and the larger society? (1)

ANSWER: Because work is "an organizing principle of life," providing routine and meaning to our lives and, as such, crucial to a stable social order.


YELLOW FAMILY: (Carolina, Brandon, Natalie, Lacie) 5pts

1. Identify any TWO consequences of "shopping fever." (2)

ANSWER: Any 2 of the following: (a) debt, (b) divorce, (c) crime.

2. The xerox handout, "Utopian Thinking," stressed (as I also did in presenting a conception of a healthy society) that the real contribution of "utopia" derives from which ONE of its two meanings? (1)

ANSWER: As "good place"; that utopia represents an implicit criticism of the existing society.

3. I was going to use your question #5, but it was so poorly worded and the answer was not accurate. So, let me just say there will be a question dealing with the doctor/medical analogy on the exam, but not the one you proposed.


BLUE FAMILY: (Holly, Hannah, LeLand, Kariesha) 5pts (plus 1 bonus point -- although I only accepted three of your questions, those questions and answers were very good, so I am giving you a bonus point)

1. What is the "value-free" approach to defining social problems? What is the biggest issue with this approach? (2)

ANSWER: The "value-free" approach to defining social problems revolves around the idea that sociologists use polls and other means of gauging public opinion to determine what social problems are. It is considered value-free because the sociologists do not tell the people what the problems are, rather, they leave it up to the people. But public opinion is often not informed opinion and it may be biased, which means public opinion is NOT an adequate basis for determining social problems.

2. When we were discussing the concept of "keeping up with the Joneses," we talked about who the Joneses are today and why this is an issue. To whom are we referring when we use this expression in our society today, and why is this a problem? (2)

ANSWER: We compare ourselves today not to our neighbors but to celebrities and the rich and famous, like Bill Gates. This is a huge problem because this gives people unrealistic expectations of what they need, increasing consumerism and stress on consumers to keep up, especially because most people cannot afford to keep up with the more rich and famous "Joneses."

3. What did cereal tycoon W.K. Kellogg prove by shortening the work week to 30 hours? (1)

ANSWER: That workers produced just as much as they did working 40 hours/week, and it gave them more leisure time which they could use for hobbies, family time, and community involvement.
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That's all folks. See you Tuesday.

Reminders and More Lecture Notes

REMINDERS: Don't forget to check out the previous blog post for the details of the family activity on making up midterm exam questions. We began that process today and will continue that on Thursday in class. Remember, I want each family's 5 questions and answers BY 3PM ON THURSDAY, so I can make my selections and then post the questions that will appear on the midterm by Friday. As I mentioned today, you should finish reading Affluenza, even if we might not get to the end in class on Thursday. I will set aside some time for review on Thursday for the midterm exam, which is scheduled for TUESDAY, 3/23.
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MORE LECTURE NOTES:

Chapter 19: The age of affluenza

A. This chapter is mainly about the title of the first section, "ADFLUENZA."
"That advertising's prime purpose is to promote affluenza is hardly a secret,..." (p. 154). Then, they quote the former marketing director for the Chicago Tribune, Pierre Martineau who underscores this point about advertising. (See the rest of that paragraph on p. 154.)

B. The costs of ads are phenomenal -- a typical 30-second national TV commercial costs nearly $300,000 to produce -- that's $10,000 a second! Advertising is a $217 billion-a-year industry. And its everywhere, as we know -- billboards, school buses, product placement in films, even outer space has been considered.

C. We live in an era of hypercommercialism. Advertising encourages us to meet nonmaterial needs (love, etc.) through material ends. Buy this product and we'll be loved and accepted. It's all about image.

D. The table on p. 158 exaggerates the upward "consumption spike," which is not to say it has not been significant. (this is the same problem I raised about the species extinction graph on p. 98.)

E. They close this chapter with some critical thoughts from a conservative economist, Wilhelm Ropke, who decries the spread of commercialism in all aspects of our lives. (See his comments, p. 159)


Chapter 20: Is there a (real) doctor in the house?

A. That is, a real doctor in contrast to a "spin doctor," which is what this chapter is mainly about.

B. But the authors begin by, again, making use of the doctor/medical analogy. Though there is all sorts of evidence (or symptoms) of the spread of affluenza, as we've seen, we tend to look the other way -- "told over and over again (by the spin doctors) that the market will provide. But will it?"

1. "How many millions of Americans are wheezing with affluenza, yet remain stubbornly in denial?" (p. 161)

C. Although we may be aware of how pervasive advertising has become, "few people really understand the other dimension of marketing -- an undercover public relations (PR) industry that creates and perpetuates our commercial culture." (p. 161) They go on to give numerous examples of how powerful this PR campaign is:

1. Actually working behind the scenes to sabotage a book critical of some aspect of business.

2. Funding "front groups" which have the appearance of being reputable -- eg., American Council on Health and Science, but note its funders!! (see p. 163)

3. Note successful earlier campaigns to defend cigarettes and leaded gas.

4. PR firms which have sought to sow doubt regarding the global warming problem -- suggest it may actually be good for us -- video entitled, "Greening of the Earth," emphasizing all the crops we'll be able to grow, ignoring the spread of tropical diseases, droughts, floods, hurricanes, rising sea levels, economic disruption.

5. PR has infiltrated the news media -- significant percentage of news stories generated by "spin doctor" PR journalists.

D. The consequences may be dire given the speed we seem to be travelling at: "Our 'pedal to the metal' economy is based on beliefs that resource supplies are limitless and that the earth can continually bounce back from abuse. These beliefs are in part scripted by public relations and advertising experts, just doing their jobs. What the heck, no harm done, right? Not exactly. Because of low-quality, incomplete information, we may be overlooking an obvious, and ominous concept: The car will still achieve racecar speeds as always, even if the tank is almost empty." (p. 170)
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REMEMBER TO INCORPORATE THE ABOVE NOTES IN YOUR CLASS NOTES. THAT BRINGS US UP TO PART III: TREATMENT (P. 171), WHICH IS WHERE I WILL START ON THURSDAY.

FAMILY ACTIVITY: MAKING UP QUESTIONS FOR THE MIDTERM EXAM

For this next family exercise I want each of the families (which I list at the bottom of this post in case you forgot which family you are a member of) to come up with FIVE short-answer questions (and answers) from anything we've covered in class, in the reading, and on the blog from the beginning of the term. Remember, as I noted in class, by short-answer I do NOT mean true-false or multiple-choice, but fill-in-the-blank is ok. This is an exercise designed to put yourself in my shoes and ask yourself what important points you would ask about on this midterm exam if you were teaching this class. I will give the families some time to confer about this on both Tuesday, March 16th and Thursday, March 18th, next week. I would then like a representative from each family to submit your family's FIVE questions (and answers) to me via email or drop off a hard copy NO LATER THAN 3PM THURSDAY, MARCH 18TH. I will then read through them and select at least THREE questions from each family. For each additional question I select, that family will earn a bonus point, so it is possible you may earn up to two bonus points for this exercise. I will, then, post the questions and answers I selected on this blog BY 2PM FRIDAY, MARCH 19TH, so you will have them to study from for the midterm exam which is scheduled for Tuesday, March 23rd. This exercise is worth 5 activity points, with bonus points possible, for all PARTICIPATING family members.

LET ME UNDERSCORE ONE MORE TIME THAT I WILL NEED THOSE QUESTIONS (AND ANSWERS) NO LATER THAN 3PM ON THURSDAY, THE 18TH.

FAMILIES:

Black Family: Sami, Cindy, Katie, Cameron

Blue Family: Holly, LeLand, Kariesha, Hannah

Yellow Family: Carolina, Natalie, Brandon, Lacie

Lecture Notes

Due to my continuing inability to make sufficient progress in commenting on our book, "Affluenza," in class, I am going to post some more lecture notes. As in the past, please be sure to copy these notes or print them out.

Chapter 10: Social scars

A. The authors open by reminding us of some costs of the age of affluenza: for example, in Thailand where hundreds of women died in a factory fire where plastic toys were made for American children.

B. No question that our economic system delivers the consumer goods in abundance and relatively cheaply, yet it also reinforces inequality. (See top 3 paragraphs, p. 82)

C. "The rising tide of American affluence hasn't lifted all boats, but it has drowned a lot of dreams. A titanic gulf now separates rich and poor in America." (p. 82)

1. The authors go on to recite several statistical indicators of growing economic inequality. For example, that at one time Bill Gates had assets worth $90 billion, more than the bottom half of the American population and more than the GNP of 119 nations. (Today he is worth only about half that, but it is still huge.)

2. Most telling in this regard is the gap between CEO salaries and ordinary workers. (See top paragraph, p. 84)

D. The poor also tend to live in communities where pollution is more widespread.

E. Finally, they draw a connection between affluenza and the social scar of crime. The sense of deprivation, especially among young people in poor communities, is intense and often leads to crime. Trend spotter, Gerald Celente (interviewed in the video), discovered this interviewing youthful gang members. (This actually relates to a major theory of crime and deviance -- Merton's "Anomie Theory": basically, people blocked from legitimate means to material success will often resort to illegitimate means.)

F. They also briefly address the "Global infection" -- how social scars left by affluenza are being replicated throughout the entire world (thanks to "globalization"), as more and more cultures copy the American lifestyle.

1. David Korten (of Harvard Business School, briefly interviewed in the video) got tired of promoting our high consumption lifestyle abroad.

2. Inequalities are extreme.

3. I wholeheartedly agree with their final recommendation -- "It is critical that we begin to set another example for the world and quickly." (p. 88) but I don't see much evidence that we've moved in that direction.


Chapter 11: Resource exhaustion

A. Did any of you pick up on the fact that the opening story from Washington, D.C. (from the "Onion") about an EPA study was SATIRE. As you read into this chapter, it certainly seems plausible.

B. I would characterize this chapter generally as providing several compelling examples of resource exhaustion stemming from everyday activities we take for granted. Generally speaking, I believe we all have a tendency to be ignorant of or even consciously ignore the effects of our everyday consumption patterns.

1. For starters, see middle two paragraphs, p. 90, from the book, "Natural Capitalism."

C. In the context of the story about a backpack trip to Vancouver Island, an important point is made. That: "You don't need as much stuff when you genuinely appreciate the value of what's already here." (p. 92)

D. Out of Mind (perhaps this section should be: "Out of Sight, Out of Mind")

1. Most of us are oblivious to the environmental impacts of production processes and what happens when we throw stuff away. For example, our computers (p. 93) and our cars, collectively, (p. 95).

E. The fact is, is that if everyone tried to emulate the typical American lifestyle, we'd need 5 MORE PLANETS' WORTH OF LAND AND RESOURCES.

F. Another serious aspect of resource exhaustion is the extinction of species due largely to pollution and habitat destruction. The graph on p. 98 captures the magnitude of this trend which is not just a tragedy for other species but will have adverse consequences for the human species. (BUT I WOULD TAKE ISSUE WITH THE WAY THIS TREND IS GRAPHED -- IT CLEARLY EXAGGERATES THAT UPWARD TREND. NEED SMALLER INCREMENTS OF YEARS TO GET A MORE REALISTIC VIEW OF WHAT IS HAPPENING.)


Chapter 12: Industrial diarrhea

A. Like the previous chapters, the title of this one is quite apt, especially when you consider the concluding point about the problem of pig waste, as we've converted hog raising into a mass production industry.

B. I would also say there is a lot of similarity with the previous chapter's emphasis on "out of sight, out of mind" -- only here what is mainly out of sight, out of mind are all the chemicals we have created, most of them never have been tested and are all around us: even our homes being a fairly toxic environment in many cases.

C. Generally, we have allowed industry to bring forth new products and only when "dead bodies" begin to show up do we respond and impose restrictions. But by that time it may be too late as the chemicals involved may already be prevalent in the environment.

1. What were once considered wonder products like DDT and dioxin have been banned, but not before they did serious environmental damage which may be long-term. And for what? -- to have cheap food, among other things.

D. The creation of "Dead Zones" in the Gulf of Mexico and elsewhere is a testament to "out of sight, out of mind." All sorts of hazardous substances find their way into the Mississippi and are then dumped in the Gulf. This is exacerbated by luxury cruise ships which are allowed to dump a lot of the waste they generate. (see, bottom, p. 105)
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That brings us up to Chapter 13, which is where I will pick up on Thursday. This should allow me to get into Part II, which is where you should be in terms of your reading. See everyone Thursday.

Looking Ahead

Although I have been in a quandry all weekend about whether or not to post more lecture notes, I have decided not to do so. We left off last Thursday (3/4) at the beginning of Chapter 8: Community chills, which is well behind where I'd like to be and I am sure well behind where all of you should be in terms of reading. Nonetheless, Chapters 8 & 9 have some important points which I'd like to bring out in class, and I will try again to pick up the pace. Remember, that the reading assignment for this week is Chapters 15-20 or Part Two: Causes, which I am sure we will get into by Thursday.

TOMORROW IS ALSO THE DUE DATE FOR YOUR FIRST ESSAY, SO PLEASE TRY TO HAVE THOSE READY TO TURN IN BY CLASS TIME. BUT IF YOU MIGHT NEED A BIT MORE TIME, YOU CAN TURN IT IN LATER IN THE DAY.

I did put together a description of our paper assignment (which will be due toward the end of the semester). I will hand out a hard copy of this tomorrow. It will not require any real work at this point, just some thought as to what topic you might want to write on.

Finally, probably by the end of this week, I will announce a date for our midterm exam, which will fall sometime during the week before Spring break. This means that I will be calling on the families to start making up midterm exam questions as early as next week.

See you tomorrow.

Reminders & Some Lecture Notes

First, let me remind you that tomorrow I want to hear (briefly) from each of the families regarding what you concluded was the symptom of "affluenza" from the video program we saw that has the worst consequences for our health and well-being. Also, do not forget to post your conclusions on the blog where I first described this exercise.
Second, given the fact that I did not make much progress in the book, "Affluenza," last time, and because the convocation tomorrow will cut short our class by ten minutes or so, I am going to post some lecture notes (as I did with my remarks on what constitutes a healthy or well-ordered society). MAKE SURE TO COPY OR PRINT OUT THESE NOTES AND PUT THEM ALONG WITH YOUR OTHER NOTES.
Finally, I have put together a topic for our first out-of-class essay exercise. I will hand that out tomorrow and you will have a week to complete it.
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LECTURE NOTES: We left off last Thursday, having just gotten into the Introduction and defined "affluenza," commented on Al Gore's 1992 book, and the fact that he does not appear to have come out in favor of scaling back economic growth. Then --

C. The authors then go on to outline the rest of the book, which treats affluenza as a real disease focusing on symptoms and cures.

1. In speaking of cures, the authors note a fairly recent poll in which significant percentages of individual Americans appear to be taking steps to cure themselves and they appear to recognize a need to. (Yet there clearly seems to be a disconnect between such awareness -- high percentages who see a problem -- and our willingness to DO something about it. To me, this underscores the need to address this problem at the broader INSTITUTIONAL level, rather than to merely preach to individuals about changing their lifesyles.) See top, p.6.

D. They want to start a genuine dialogue about this, not just brainwash people to their way of thinking. In this context, they make a valuable point about information and our "Information Age." Basically, the problem is not new information or more information, but "how to make sense of what we already know." (p. 8)


PART ONE: SYMPTOMS

Chapter 1: Shopping fever

A. The chapter opens with fictional 8-yr.-old Jason Jones making out his Christmas list and then being taken to the mall the day after Thanksgiving, which is a scenario that is quite common, not at all far-fetched. Shopping has become a common family activity -- the mall represents a safe, protected, climate-controlled environment compared to the neighborhood playground (if there is one at all).

B. The authors note (again) how some 70% of Americans say they want less emphasis on holiday spending, yet don't follow through.

C. They present some incredible figures on how much we spend on consumer goods compared to other important things like education. Eg. "...we spend more on shoes, jewelry and watches ($100 billion) than on higher education ($99 billion)." p. 13

1. Or, there are twice as many shopping centers as high schools.

2. "One poll found that 93 percent of teenage girls rate shopping as their favorite activity." p. 15

D. Some malls have become huge, like theme parks: The Mall of America in Bloomington, MN covers 100 acres (size of 7 Yankee Stadiums). (And I understand there a couple malls in China that are even bigger.)

E. Of course, more recently we've seen significant growth in home shopping and cybershopping (ebay).

F. Finally, in an ad for Potomac Mills Mall (shown in the video), talks about shopping as therapy (for boredom or depression, I assume). Also, the ad proclaims that the more you buy, the more you can save -- called "SPAVING" -- spend and save which is impossible. (although it is not completely illogical because in order to save on certain products you do have to buy them -- of course, you'd save a lot more by not buying them at all.)


Chapter 2: A rash of bankruptcies

A. We are indeed a "plastic nation" these days, and many Americans get into financial trouble because of it, because as one credit counselor observed, "The whole availability and ease of credit makes it hard for people to remember that they're dealing with real money." (p. 19)

1. Average American possesses 6.5 credit cards, for a nationwide total of some 1.2 billion! According to the "Guiness Book of World Records," one American now has a whopping 1,497 credit cards!

B. Credit card companies push INSTANT GRATIFICATION: buy now; don't worry, you can pay it off later, although if you make minimum payments you may end up paying double or more the price of the thing you bought.

1. Average American household carries $9,000 in credit card debt (2002). Credit card debt tripled during the 90s.

C. This has led to a lot of bankuptcies, current rates of bankruptcy exceeding those experienced during the Great Depression (AND THIS WAS BEFORE THE SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE & FINANCIAL CRISIS OF THE LAST TWO YEARS).

1. And it is not the poor, but middle class Americans who make up the vast majority of those filing for bankruptcy (92%). In addition to reckless spending, sudden and expensive medical bills due to lack of health insurance or job loss are also big culprits.

D. Even as incomes went up during the 90s, the savings rate went down. In 1977, Americans were saving around 4% of their income, now (early 2000s) the national savings rate is near zero. Europeans around 12%; Japanese 16%, and even poor Chinese, Indians, around 25% (of course, that is based on very small incomes, but still it is significant).

So why all this spending?
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That leaves us at the beginning of Chapter 3, where I will pick up in class tomorrow.