Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Unavailable
    The Waste Makers
    Unavailable
    The Waste Makers
    Unavailable
    The Waste Makers
    Ebook379 pages8 hours

    The Waste Makers

    By Vance Packard and Bill McKibben

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    An exposé of "the systematic attempt of business to make us wasteful, debt-ridden, permanently discontented individuals," The Waste Makers is Vance Packard's pioneering 1960 work on how the rapid growth of disposable consumer goods was degrading the environmental, financial, and spiritual character of American society.

    The Waste Makers was the first book to probe the increasing commercialization of American life—the development of consumption for consumption's sake. Packard outlines the ways manufacturers and advertisers persuade consumers to buy things they don't need and didn't know they wanted, including the two-of-a-kind of everything syndrome—"two refrigerators in every home"—and appeals to purchase something because it is more expensive, or because it is painted in a new color. The book also brought attention to the concept of planned obsolescence, in which a "death date" is built into products so that they wear out quickly and need to be replaced. By manipulating the public into mindless consumerism, Packard believed that business was making us "more wasteful, imprudent, and carefree in our consuming habits," which was using up our natural resources at an alarming rate.

    A prescient book that predicted the rise of American consumer culture, this all new edition of The Waste Makers features an introduction by best-selling author Bill McKibben.

    Vance Packard (1914-1996) was an American journalist, social critic, and best-selling author. Among his other books were The Hidden Persuaders, about how advertisers use psychological methods to get people to buy the products they sell; The Status Seekers, which describes American social stratification and behavior; and The Naked Society, about the threats to privacy posed by new technologies.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherIg Publishing
    Release dateOct 4, 2011
    ISBN9781935439387
    Unavailable
    The Waste Makers

    Related to The Waste Makers

    Related ebooks

    Public Policy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Far-Right Misinformation Is Thriving On Facebook. A New Study Shows Just How Much

      Mar 6, 2021

      Research from New York University found that far-right accounts known for spreading misinformation drive engagement at higher rates than other news sources.

      2 min read

    • Article

      Excerpt: 'Monica' From Ken Starr's Forthcoming Memoir 'Contempt'

      Sep 2, 2018

      Ken Starr offers his first detailed public reflections of the independent counsel probe of President Clinton, 20 years later. Here you can read the first published excerpt — a chapter titled "Monica."

      6 min read

    • Article

      Supreme Court Halts Execution Of 'Texas 7' Inmate Denied Buddhist Spiritual Adviser

      Mar 29, 2019

      Patrick Murphy, who escaped from prison and participated in a robbery that led to a murder, was scheduled to be executed Thursday. The Court said he had the right to a spiritual adviser of his choice.

      4 min read

    • Article

      Merit On The Ropes

      Sep 23, 2020

      Merit On The Ropes
      3 min read

    • Article

      The Amber Heard–Johnny Depp Trial Is Not a Joke

      May 26, 2022

      The first time it happened, she said, she thought it was a joke. On the stand in her defamation trial a few weeks ago, the actor Amber Heard shared her account of the first time her now-ex-husband, Johnny Depp, allegedly hit her. She’d asked him abou

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Socialite Network

      Dec 6, 2019

      The Socialite Network
      5 min read

    • Article

      A Lawsuit Charges That LaCroix's Natural Water Is Full Of Synthetic Ingredients. But The Lawsuit Looks Like A Crock

      Oct 9, 2018

      The LaCroix brand of fizzy water came seemingly out of nowhere in the last few years, propelling its parent company to nearly $1 billion in annual sales and tripling its profits to $149.8 million since 2015. So perhaps it's natural that the brand wou

      4 min read

    • Article

      QAnon's 'Collateral Damage': Families Struggle To Pull Loved Ones Back From The Brink

      Mar 22, 2021

      LOS ANGELES — Jenny Beltran was always close to her half sister — until her sibling moved to Florida with an alt-right boyfriend and started posting conspiracy theories about COVID-19 and pedophilia. The breaking point came last summer when Beltran a

      6 min read

    • Article

      DIVIDED STATES of AMERICA

      Jan 17, 2021

      DIVIDED STATES of AMERICA
      13 min read

    • Article

      The 1918 Flu Pandemic

      Sep 1, 2018

      The 1918 Flu Pandemic
      4 min read

    • Article

      Remembrance Of Things Passing

      Sep 1, 2022

      Remembrance Of Things Passing
      2 min read

    • Article

      Letter From The Founder

      Jun 11, 2020

      In a recent conversation with a man I admire a lot, Jean-Claude Biver, he highlighted something that really resonated with me. He said: “The problem today is that we are in the third millennium. But the third millennium is still being run by old men

      4 min read

    Reviews for The Waste Makers

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words