Shopomania Our Obsession With Possession Paul Berton by Paul Berton 9781771623353, 9781771623346, 1771623357, 1771623349 instant download after payment.

Sassy & satirical, Shopomania is an economic, environmental & social study. This light-hearted, dark-souled dictionary of coined words, or “shoponyms,” takes readers on a roller-coaster ride of avaricious antics & outrageous profligacy.

Shopping in one form or another has existed for millennia but, aside from a few slumps, each generation has outdone the previousone. In the past fifty years, shopping—& its associated carbon footprint—has grown exponentially.

Berton argues that if we invented today’s consumer culture, then we can invent something to replace it. We can do a better job of making the cycle of stuff truly circular rather than linear. We can be more environmentally, socially & politically conscious of what we buy & how it comes to us—& where it will go after we are finished with it. A species that has made shopping ubiquitous can figure all these things out with little more than co-operation & creativity, & by asking if it is really necessary to “own it now” as we have been told—endlessly—since childhood. Must we possess a thing to enjoy it? Do we really need all that stuff?