WHATS WRONG WITH CONSUMER CAPITALISM - THE JOYLESS-ECONOMY AFTER 20 YEARS

The Joyless Economy seeks to explain the paradox of rising consumption and pervasive dissatifaction, and is thus often cited as a critique o f consumer society. Yet it is rather ambivalent as critique. A less am bivalent critique would be predicated on the existence of biases towar d private consumption as against public consumption, savings, free tim e, and the environment. These biases result from two sources: the impo rtance of social comparison and the non-existence of a market in worki ng hours. Because positional competitions occur far more readily aroun d visible private consumer goods, these take a privileged place in exp enditures. This process is compounded by the fact that employers syste matically deny opportunities to trade income for leisure.