Penguin economics
2 total works
The author's response to the political and economic condition of the West today, this book traces the growth of a new, stultifying contentment in our society. Galbraith contrasts the condition of the underclass to that of the self-serving, politically dominant classes. He looks at the causes and by-products of the current politico-economic stasis, such as short-term thinking and investment, and draws parallels between the crippling denial of trouble in Eastern Europe and that in our own backyard. The author also wrote "The Affluent Society" and "The New Industrialist State".
With searing wit and incisive commentary, John Kenneth Galbraith redefined America's perception of itself in The New Industrial State, one of his landmark works. The United States is no longer a free-enterprise society, Galbraith argues, but a structured state controlled by the largest companies. Advertising is the means by which these companies manage demand and create consumer "need" where none previously existed. Multinational corporations are the continuation of this power system on an international level. The goal of these companies is not the betterment of society, but immortality through an uninterrupted stream of earnings. First published in 1967, The New Industrial State continues to resonate today.