Wealth Addiction

by Philip Slater

Reviewing the true purpose of money in a healthy society, Slater shows how the American addiction to money precipitates economic crises--inflation stands as a prime example--and erodes the quality of our personal lives

Genres: Nonfiction, Psychology, Money

210 pages, Paperback

First published March 27, 1980

About the author

Philip Slater was an author, actor, playwright, and sociologist. He taught sociology at Harvard, Brandeis, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. He obtained a doctorate from Harvard.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/30/boo...

Reviews

[Geri Gorgon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slater had unique insight into how psychology, sociology, and systemic forces influence, alter, and reinforce each other. His writing style is logical, approachable, and clear, which some misread as simplistic. Slater notoriously eschewed academic peacocking, hence those of us not versed in the jargon of sociologists get the benefit of his discernment.

Wealth Addiction is fairly repetitive, but it's still worth reading every word. Despite being written in 1980, it describes the fundamental sickness that has driven and shaped America since its birth. It's for those who sense a wrongness in our social incentives, and also those who think everything's hunky-dory. This book provides the evidence to see American culture clearly through a different lens than we get from parents, neighbors, teachers, politicians, and the media.

[Maeleë Vingon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In 2019, I read this book, published in 80s . It is still extremely relevant, ready to apprehend, and immensely validating, for those of us who are not of the Cult of Mammon.

[Al'xae · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Money is like the fairies in Peter Pan; if you stop believing in it, it sickens and dies."p4