David Wann Books
David Wann es escritor y experto en sostenibilidad.
Known for: Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
Books by David Wann
Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
What if the unease many people feel is not a personal failure, but a social condition? In Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic, John De Graaf, David Wann, and Thomas H. Naylor argue that modern consumer culture has created a destructive pattern of overwork, overconsumption, debt, waste, and dissatisfaction. First published at the turn of the twenty-first century, the book examines how the relentless pursuit of more money, bigger houses, newer products, and higher status has reshaped everyday life in the United States. The result, the authors contend, is not greater well-being but rising stress, inequality, ecological damage, and a persistent sense that nothing is ever enough. Their authority comes from a powerful mix of backgrounds: De Graaf is a documentary filmmaker and social critic, Wann is a writer focused on sustainability and culture, and Naylor was an economist known for challenging mainstream growth assumptions. Together, they offer a diagnosis of a culture that confuses consumption with fulfillment—and a compelling invitation to imagine healthier, more meaningful, and more sustainable ways of living.
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How Consumer Culture Took Over
Affluenza begins with a striking idea: consumerism did not simply happen naturally; it was built, marketed, normalized, and woven into the structure of postwar American life. The authors trace the rise of affluenza to the decades after World War II, when the United States emerged with enormous indus...
From Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
The Symptoms of Never Enough
One of the book’s most memorable insights is that affluenza behaves like a social epidemic, with symptoms that are both personal and collective. The authors describe a culture infected by chronic dissatisfaction, anxiety, debt, time pressure, and status competition. Even materially comfortable peopl...
From Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
Advertising Manufactures Desire and Identity
A powerful theme in Affluenza is that markets do not merely respond to needs; they actively create wants. The authors argue that modern advertising is not just informative but deeply psychological. Its real function is to shape desire, attach products to emotions, and persuade people that consumptio...
From Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
Growth Economy, Debt, and Overwork
The book makes a sharp economic argument: a society organized around endless growth pushes people into a treadmill of work, borrowing, and consumption that can feel rational individually but damaging collectively. The authors criticize the assumption that higher consumption is always evidence of pro...
From Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
Status Competition Deepens Social Inequality
One of the book’s most important insights is that consumer culture does not affect everyone equally. Affluenza thrives in a society where status is publicly displayed through possessions, neighborhoods, schools, clothing, and lifestyle signals. The authors argue that when social worth is tied to vis...
From Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
Consumption Carries Hidden Environmental Costs
Affluenza insists that every purchase has a larger story behind it. What looks like convenience or comfort at the point of sale may involve extraction, pollution, waste, energy use, and labor exploitation elsewhere. The authors connect personal consumption to environmental degradation by showing tha...
From Affluenza: The All-Consuming Epidemic
About David Wann
David Wann es escritor y experto en sostenibilidad.
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David Wann es escritor y experto en sostenibilidad.
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