The Affluent Society Revisited

Mike Berry is Emeritus Professor at RMIT University, Melbourne Australia, where he was for many years Professor of Urban Studies and Public Policy. He is a frequent adviser to state and federal governments in Australia and has had visiting positions at a number of international institutions, including Rutgers University, Lund University, the University of Cambridge, and the University Sussex. He was Foundation Executive Director of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, the largest and longest continuing collaborative research facility in Australian social and policy sciences. He has taught, and published widely, in the areas of housing, urban planning, environmental policy, and political economy. He is a director of one of Australia's largest non-profit housing associations. Part of the research for this book was carried out whilst he was a visiting fellow at the Rockefeller Foundation Center, Bellagio.

Students of economic history will find this a particularly useful volume as it is written in an exceptionally readable manner.This volume makes an important contribution to the literature on the economic history of advanced capitalism and its effects on the distribution of wealth within Western democracies. I have no hesitation in recommending this text to anyone, whether or not they are familiar with economics, with an interest in recent economic history and/or in the effects of changing economic policies on the structure of societies. Furthermore, anyone seeking an overview of the causes and consequences of the GFC will find The Affluent Society Revisited a useful reference.

• Preface ; 1. Why Revisit The Affluent Society? ; 2. The Power of Ideas: Reflections on the Conventional Wisdom ; 3. The Central Tradition ; 4. Inequality ; 5. Economic Security ; 6. The Ambiguities of Production ; 7. The Dethroned Consumer ; 8. Inflation ; 9. Debt ; 10. The Theory of Social Balance ; 11. Switching Tracks ; 12. The Idea of Power ; 13. The Moral Order ; 14. Concluding Thoughts ; A Reader's Guide