Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
John De Graaf Berrett-KoehlerISBN 1576751511; 2001
Keywords: Economic growth, Debt, Consumerism
De Graaf, producer of the PBS documentaries Affluenza (1996) and Escape from Affluenza (1998); David Wann, a former EPA staffer and expert on sustainable lifestyles; and Thomas H. Naylor, professor emeritus in economics at Duke, have assembled an updated and more in-depth look at the epidemic of overconsumption sweeping the USA and the rest of the world, based on de Graaf's documentaries. They define "affluenza" as "a painful, contagious,socially-transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety, and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more" and examine the spiraling cycle of overconsumption, spending, stress, and broken relationships caused by the USA's obsession with uncontrolled economic growth at any cost.
