Shifting Involvements

Winner of the Talcott Parsons Prize, American Academy of Arts and Sciences "Original... Mr. Hirschman, one of our most distinguished economists, is no ordinary writer...even his offhand ruminations have always been interesting. So is this book."--Peter L. Berger, New York Times Book Review "Shifting Involvements can be read over and over again, with each reading disclosing new subtleties, so cunning is its construction and so original its standpoint."--Michael Banton, Times Literary Supplement "This interesting essay contains a wealth of ideas. There is a surprising freshness in the treatment of such a well worn topic as the relation between public and private concerns... Intellectually stimulating."--David Berry, Times Higher Education Supplement "Literate, reflective, and sophisticated... Hirschman's work ... is proof that an economist with a knowledge of and sensitivity for history will avoid the oversimplifications of economic theorists who see the world and human behavior in one dimension."--Eli Ginzberg, Journal of Economic Literature

Albert O. Hirschman is a member of the Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton. He is the author of many books, including Exit, Voice, and Loyalty and The Strategy of Economic Development. Robert H. Frank is Godwin Smith Professor of Economics, Ethics, and Public Policy at Cornell University. He is the author of Luxury Fever (Princeton).

FOREWORD ix PREFACE xv INTRODUCTION: A Private-Public Cycle? 3 Chapter 1. On Disappointment 9 The Role of Disappointment in Preference Change 9 Taking Disappointment Seriously 14 Chapter 2. Varieties of Consumer Disappointment 25 The Privileged Position of Truly Nondurable Goods 27 Consumer Durables 32 Services 39 Chapter 3. The General Hostility Toward New Wealth 46 Historical Evidence from the Eighteenth Century in England and France 46 The Manifold Case against New Goods 53 Chapter 4. From Private Concerns into the Public Arena-I 62 Exit and Voice Reactions to Consumer Disappointment 62 Explaining Changes in Life-Styles: Ideology and Second-Order Volitions 66 Chapter 5. From Private Concerns into the Public Arena-II 77 Collective Action and the Rebound Effect 77 Why Free Rides Are Spurned 82 Chapter 6. The Frustrations of Participation in Public Life-1 92 The Poverty of Our Imagination 93 Overcommitment and Addiction 96 Chapter 7. The Frustrations of Participation in Public Life-II 103 The Underinvolvement of Voting 103 A Historical Digression on the Origins of Universal Suffrage 112 Chapter 8. Privatization 121 Corruption 123 Public Virtue Debunked 125 Attractions of the Private Sphere 128 CONCLUSION 131 INDEX 135