New Age Capitalism: Making Money East of Eden

Book Description

The pursuit of health and wellness has become a fundamental and familiar part of everyday life in America. We are surrounded by an enticing world of products, practices, and promotions assuring health and happiness--cereal boxes claim that their contents can reduce the risk of heart disease, bars of aromatherapy soap seek to wash away our stresses, newspapers celebrate the wonders of the latest superfoods and herbal remedies. No longer confined to the domain of Western medicine, suggestions for healthy living often turn to alternatives originating in distant times and places, in cultures very different from our own. Diets from ancient or remote groups are presented as cures for everything from colds to cancer; exercise regimens based on Eastern philosophies are heralded as paths to physical health and spiritual wellbeing.

In New Age Capitalism, Kimberly Lau examines the ideological work that has created this billion-dollar business and allowed "Eastern" and other non-Western traditions to be coopted by Western capitalism. Extending the orientalist logic to the business of health and wellness, American companies have created a lucrative and competitive market for their products, encouraging consumers to believe that they are making the right choices for personal as well as planetary health. In reality, alternative health practices have been commodified for an American public longing not only for health and wellness but also for authenticity, tradition, and a connection to the cultures of an imagined Edenic past. Although consumers might prefer to buy into "authentic" non-Western therapies, New Age Capitalism argues that the market economy makes this goal unattainable.

Customer Reviews:

A snooze.......2001-03-21

This deals with a fascinating subject; unfortunately, the author claims an importance for her approach and analysis that simply can't be justified: she takes a few snippets from theorists of taste, commodification, and trans-cultural exchange, treats them as gospel rather than engaging critically with them, and applies them to material that (in her view) accedes so readily to the theories as to raise no challenging questions at all. Moreoever, the prose is the blue boiler-plate special: jargon-laden and warmed over, with no sense that writing must be digestable.

A tepid polemic.......2001-03-20

This book uses a canon to kill a flea. Sympathetic as I am to the rhetorical and discursive analysis of cultural formations, such a project requires depth and context to be intelligible: this book lacks both. It provides quick parachute drops into various aspects of discursively mediated marketeering strategies touching on discourse touching on the body, and then hurries on to another example or arena without working through the consequences of the argument. Morever, the style is ponderous enough to kill a child with lead poisoning. Since the author never bothers to ask who reads (let alone who is persuaded by) the discursive constructs that she so rapidly catalogues, one wonders why she has devoted all this energy to debunking notions that are probably believed by virtually no one.

An Interesting and Entertaining Read.......2001-03-16

"New Age Capitalism" is an insightful look at a burgeoning part of the economy that has gone overlooked for too long. Lau grabs our attention early on by showing that this cottage industry of Eastern culture is actually hundreds of millions of dollars a year and growing fast. From there she takes us on a fascinating look at not only the historical origins of the most well-known manifestations of Eastern culture (e.g. yoga), but also the particular ways in which they have been adapted and marketed to Western cultures.

The juxtaposition between the two (the purportedly ancient and mystical roots vs. the hard-nosed Western marketing) is stark at first, but the two slowly start to blend together as Lau shows that even the most non-traditional elements of other cultures can be packaged to enforce our existing social norms. The analysis will at times make you laugh, as when Lau highlights the yoga tag line, "Less Inner Thigh, More Inner Piece." At other times it will make you shake your head in frustration, as Lau illustrates how the bastardization of ancient customs is used to promulgate dangerous stereotypes and images.

The common thread throughout her analysis is that we are taught that these products are not only good for us, but good for society and the environment as well. Whether or not this is true is debatable and largely beside the point (I found myself sharing Lau's cynicism). But what is important is the perception that these products are good for society and the environment. Lau concludes with the worrisome thought that if this perception becomes prevalent, then individuals will replace political action and personal responsibility with consumerism. Why do I have to worry about global warming, I only use aromatherapy products.

Perhaps best of all, Lau presents this all in an academically rigorous fashion that is still digestible for the casual reader....or casual macrobiotic consumer.

undertheorized and underanalyzed.......2001-02-10

I was looking forward to reading this book, based on the review on Amazon.com, but was sorely disappointed. It's really nothing more than a cobbling together of a variety of already well-known theories of commoditization, globalization, and the diffusion of cultural meaning. Lau stitches together brief summaries of various stars, adding nothing of her own but merely parroting their views without critique, analysis, or qualification in any way that suggests that she has an original view to contribute. Then she declares that what all these thinkers have failed to consider is the significance of their theories for . . . the body! Not only is this ludicrously wrong, but in fact what she turns out to mean by "the body" is so vague and unconnected to the physical body as to make one wonder why she even uses this term to frame the project. In effect, she means something like "cultural discourse concerning products somehow related to the body." If she provided that definition, it would at least explain her decision to focus on such matters as aromatherapy. But in fact even that characterization gives her more credit than she deserves, since she completely ignores such topics as tattooing, which one would think is vital for the project as she frames it. Finally, even those phenomena she does discuss are subjected to an analysis so blunt, obvious, and thoughtless that again the point of the project is hard to identify. In essence, we are told that various cultural products designed for bodily use are often given mystical, "oriental" genealogies by marketers who hope to appeal to consumers' desire for the same. Hence the book consists in large part of readings of the packaging of such products, inevitably concluding with the news that these products are *not* from the East and are merely imperializing, ethnocentric gestures that condescend to the cultures they purport to preserve. This is news?

The one element that might save the project as an empirical study is also missing: Lau doesn't bother to notice that many people purchase loofahs and other such products without even bothering to look at the packaging. Thus Lau might, at least, have tried to determine what effect the marketers' discourse has on consumers, but instead she takes it for granted that these effects are overwhelming and determinative, rather than making any sort of argument about the subject at all.

Anyone who had spent five minutes contemplating the issue on their own could have come up the with the findings that Lau diligently and laboriously produces, and anyone who spent half an hour thinking about these issues could come up with a few insights that problematize the glib answers provided here. This book should not have been published, and I would urge you to read it at the library, if you must, rather than rewarding the publishers with your money.

The Marketing of Spa Spirituality.......2000-06-28

Lau's analysis of the rhetoric used to sell aromatherapy products and other "new age" phenomena is masterful. It's a fantastic treatment of a timely topic, full of insights. The book has an ironic wit and a refreshing expose-style to it, e.g. the way Lau points out how Aveda products are marketed as ecofriendly commodities, thus assuaging the worries of consumers concerned about the adverse effects of consumerism... consume this and fight the evils of consumerism with every dollar you spend! But it is by no means a sloppy, hastily researched book. It's style is at times heavily academic, of the theory-head variety, but the theory section is one of the strongest, well worth careful perusal.

It seems that equal-opportunity New Age capitalism is trickling down to the masses just about everywhere you look. I just learned that one can purchase "Chinese" meditation bracelets at a chain of local gas station/ice-cream parlors. They used to sell the WWJD bracelets but have decided to try something more multi-culti, I gather.

In my initial reading of _New Age Capitalism_, I was often reminded of the work of sociologists like Robert Bellah (esp. in _Habits of the Heart_) on the privatized nature of much contemporary American religious experience. Bellah traces the roots of our prediliction for pastiche, design-your-own 'spirituality' back to the founding fathers and, ultimately, the Enlightenment thinkers, but nonetheless thinks it's a phenomenon worth watching now more than ever.

One question the book might have entertained is just how much sense of commonality or community spirit a group of consumers of 'spiritual' commodities might be said to have. I'm Durkheimian in my definition of religion as an emphatically social phenomenon, and wonder whether consumer groups can ever be anything more than virtual communities (given that one has to get oneself to a retail outlet to have face-to-face interactions with other consumers of 'spiritual' commodities).

Average customer rating:
The Folklore of Capitalism
Thurman Arnold
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000O6OG3W

Average customer rating:
The Folklore of Capitalism
Thurman W. Arnold
Manufacturer: Blue Ribbon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000OB5ID4

Average customer rating:
The folklore of capitalism. With a new pref
Thurman Wesley Arnold
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Social Psychology & Interactions | Psychology & Counseling | Health, Mind & Body | Subjects | Books
General | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008933E8

Average customer rating:
THE FOLKLORE OF CAPITALISM
Thurman Arnold
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000RB5MCI

Average customer rating:
The Folklore of Capitalism
Thurman W. Arnold
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000NPW5V4

Average customer rating:
The Folklore of Capitalism
Thurman Arnold
Manufacturer: Yale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000PD1592

Average customer rating:
The Folklore of Capitalism

Manufacturer: Blue Ribbon Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000FMP6OS

Average customer rating:
The Folklore of Capitalism

Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000BGL2Z0

Average customer rating:
The Folklore of Capitalism
Thurman W. Arnold
Manufacturer: Yale University Press, New Haven
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Mythology | World Literature | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000H3RF0I

Book Description

Cambodia has recently come to the attention to global strategic planners. This report puts these executives on the fast track. Ten chapters provide: an overview of how to strategically access this important market, a discussion on economic fundamentals, marketing & distribution options, export and direct investment options, and full risk assessments (political, cultural, legal, human resources). Ample statistical benchmarks and comparative graphs are given.

Book Description

Wow! Resumes for High Tech Careers is a practical, comprehensive resume-writing guide designed specifically for high tech professionals. It includes the best resumes for all jobs in the field, including: MIS manager, programmer, software developer, telecommunications technician, LAN manager, systems analyst, programmer systems engineer, technical support specialist, etc. Whether seeking a job as a systems analyst or a computer graphic designer, this idea packed resource is packed with suggestions for each type of resume. Part of our WOW! RESUMES SERIES. Features over 100 sample resumes plus cover letters, each tailored to the requirements of a particular position, to help you organize and present your skills in the best possible light. Each chapter focuses on a particular resume technique and highlights specific strategies you can use to make your resume stand out from the crowd, such as including an endorsement in your resume or turning a perceived weakness to a strength by using select phrases.

Book Description

Management can help schools learn how to minimize duplication and increase accountability. Managers Make the Difference will show you how to use creative problem solving to move from a challenge to creative action. With this book, Leiding delivers practical methods you can immediately apply to help you become more creative and to nurture the creativity in the people who work for you.

Managing Our Differences (Leadership series)

Average customer rating:

Managing Our Differences (Leadership series)
Darlene Andert-Schmidt
Manufacturer: Natl Seminars Pubns
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Organizational Behavior | Business Management | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1558521380

How Can We Work Through Our Differences? (Discovery Series, Church: Managing Conflict)

Average customer rating:

How Can We Work Through Our Differences? (Discovery Series, Church: Managing Conflict)

Manufacturer: Radio Bible Class
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000EBPGFO

Product Description

Can we be true to our convictions without being dangerous to those who disagree with us? How can beign too agreeable set us up for conflict? What can we learn from our anger?

Managers Make the Difference: Managing Vs. Leading in Our Schools (Innovations in Education)

Average customer rating:

Managers Make the Difference: Managing Vs. Leading in Our Schools (Innovations in Education)
Darlene Leiding
Manufacturer: NY
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000MUE0Z4

Book Description

If you are buying this book hoping to make a million dollars, please put it back on the shelf. This book will not help you do so and when you read the chapter, “My Boss is a Sociopath”, you will understand why.

This book helps you increase your annual sales commissions to $100,000, $200,000, $300,000 or more a year while maintaining balance in your life. Please keep your family, friends, and hobbies. You do not have to be a workaholic to earn this kind of money.

I own and operate a small independent insurance agency. So small that it is just one employee and I. Yet we earn more commission income than most insurance agencies operating with 10 employees. Over the last 12 years of operations, I developed a code of sales techniques that worked for me. Some of my “secrets” seem so obvious to me, it is hard to believe salespeople do not do these things out of plain common sense.

I do not care if you are a used car salesman or a medical sales representative for the largest medical supply company in the world. The common sense secrets in this book will help you all.

Download Description

I do not care if you are a used car salesman or a medical sales representative for the largest medical supply company in the world. The common sense secrets in this book will help you all.

Average customer rating:

Great for Mediocre Minds

Oh, come on people....do the research.

Not All MLM/Network Marketing Are a Pyramid !!! Research

Good overview of a hopeless field

It's not the company, it's the people..

False Profits: Seeking Financial and Spiritual Deliverance in Multi-Level Marketing and Pyramid Schemes
Robert L. Fitzpatrick , and Joyce K. Reynolds
Manufacturer: Herald Press (NC)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Multilevel | Marketing | Marketing & Sales | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Similar Items:

Amway Motivational Organizations: Behind the Smoke and Mirrors

Amway: The Cult of Free Enterprise

All That Glitters Is Not God : Breaking Free from the Sweet Deceit of Multi-Level Marketing

You Can't Cheat an Honest Man: How Ponzi Schemes and Pyramid Frauds Work... and Why They're More Common Than Ever

The Dark Side of the Pyramid

ASIN: 0964879514

Book Description

False Profits is an in-depth examination of the multi-level marketing

industry and related illegal pyramid scheme phenomenon which have grown rapidly in the US and abroad in the last 15 years. The examination looks at the MLM field from the perspective of its social, personal and spiritual effects on those enrolled and solicited.

Customer Reviews:

Great for Mediocre Minds.......2006-09-08

Not only is this book OLD, it is the most rediculous and illnatured book on MLM period. It is a great book for those that don't see where the trends are going and the importance of MLM/Network Marketing in our lives. 50% of the products in our society are moved from some form of NM. Ask Donald Trump, Bill Gates, Bill Clinton and Warren Buffet to name just a few...do you think Mr. Fitzpatrick knows more than them??? He wouldn't be writing urban legends if he was...

Get over it.

Be careful what you read, it will not only impact how you think but it will also either improve or downscale your life.

Oh, come on people....do the research........2004-07-02

I agree with a number of the responses here about the spectrum of information and OPINION in this book. The sad thing is that everything is made so generic and stereotyped. There are good and bad examples of most all business models and distribution methods. MLM, Networks Marketing has had more than many others since it is so open to "everyman" to get involved. There are bad examples at the corporate level too - obviously Amway comes to mind as do the many "businesses" that became illegal pyramid schemes. But that's not it!
Network Marketing is, in fact, taught in some business schools now (marketing). Check out the presentation at "Brilliant Money" web site.
Yeah - the name sounds "typical", but it is a good review by Tim Sales and University of Illinois at Chicago Professor of Marketing - Dr. Charles King.

Not All MLM/Network Marketing Are a Pyramid !!! Research.......2004-05-11

Alot of people think that network market is a semi-legal pyramid scheme, but not all network marketing companies are a pyramid. If many of you do your research, you'll see that companies such as life plus, melaleuca, market america, etc. are true network marketing companies they'll really compensate you if you refer people to their company & products. Before anyone pre-judges a network marketing company, do your research on each company, plan, products, etc. The true pyramid schemes are the one's that you get in the mail that ask you to send between a $1 - $5 to each name & address, and in return, you'll make millions within a few months...that's a true pyramid scheme, I know because I've lost money to these pyramids through the mail. I now know how to tell the difference between a pyramid & a real opportunity. These pyramid schemes give real & great network marketing companies a bad reputation. So again, do your research on a company before enrolling or sending out money. There are truly real gold mines out there, so please do your research by reading articles on them, and check the Better Business Bureau (www.bbb.org) . Thank you.

Good overview of a hopeless field.......2003-03-24

Reading "False Profits" was one of the factors that made me decide to quit the MLM job I had been in for a year and a half. It showed me that my MLM job isn't really a fantastic opportunity in which I alone happened to be failing miserably. Failure is universal in MLM. Though the company I was in was never mentioned in the book, every MLM technique described in the book was used in my company. This demonstrates how the recruiting and sales techniques are common to every MLM company out there. I never wanted to get rich. I just wanted another job. This set me up for failure right from the start. Only the greediest, most ruthless and most aggressive people can make it in MLM's. To succeed, you have to be willing to ...as many people as possible into a hopeless, money losing job. The authors drag in lots of talk about spirituality, altruism and worthiness of career goals. They do this to contrast most jobs with MLM jobs. To me, this wasn't necessary, but I can see why they did it. The book lacks real organization and conciseness in its presentation of how MLM's are set up and run. But despite this, the book is one of the very best out there for describing the futility of a career in an MLM. I thank Fitzpatrick and Reynolds for helping to cut short my losses in my MLM job. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is in an MLM or thinking about joining one.

It's not the company, it's the people.........2003-02-05

I truly do not believe that all MLMs are evil and are new age adaptations. I believe Mr. Fitzpatrick and Ms. Reynolds are some what off tangent, although I do agree with some key aspects.

I do believe that there are a lot of unethical MLMers that take advantage of people. I hope their business comes to an end.

But there are a lot of Network Marketing companies that are ethical, neutral businesses. People choose to make these companies look bad or good. The companies themselves are of good reputation and credibility. A lot of people stamp the company based on their independent business owners who act unethical and cult-like.

I am in one and I for one use God's truth in my dealings and my approaches. In our organisation, we teach principles of Godly values, not materialism values.

But let me reitirate one thing here - understanding that the internal affects the external was, never has been and never will be, new age practise. God has mentioned this many time over in His Word. But let me set things straight here - only with God can we become better spiritually and mentally.

It seems that a lot of people, without realising nor knowledge, just tend to believe what others perceive without much research and understanding.

People cannot accept change and new bedazzling things like a thousand people rising up and being estatic about freedom. Why? Most people have given up being free. So when they see this and hear of principles that boggles their minds (which are not new but old with the ancients), they tend to deduce it to cult-like mannerisms.

Book Description

Diane Coyle brings us a book about why the New Economy with its prospect of improved productivity, faster growth, greater riches and full employment is causing an anti-globalization and anti-capitalism revolution. Political consequences of a new technological framework will undermine certain power elites just as the Industrial Revolution undermined the landed aristocracy. Furthermore, and paradoxically, it was the 1990s boom and affluence that led to people's anxiety and insecurity and propelled them to protest. For the first time in nearly 40 years, young people were taking to the streets in mass anti-globalization riots. Local people were stopping projects led by multinationals.

Customer Reviews:

My impression about this book........2004-12-10

I will probably fail miserably if I attempt to make a learned analysis of this book, rather, I will share my impression on this work (purely subjective) with whomever cares to read this review. I found this book by Diane Coyle exquisite. I am no fan of Capitalism, yet, found her arguments very persuasive and full of common sense. I have an already admitted weakness for books of this sort (economic related matters for the layman). Ms. Coyle makes a powerful argument of why the new brand of Capitalism will be good for the masses after a transitional period and why it will remove from power most of these days' entrenched powers that be. This book is worth your time and money. Enjoy it. Somehow related to it is another good book I am reading at this time that is entitled: The Sovereign Individual (James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg)

Highly Recommended!.......2002-01-30

Diane Coyle, a consultant and columnist, presents an in-depth and optimistic look at modern capitalism. Dubbing our current age a transitional period, she predicts that the result of our recent bout of high-tech fueled economic growth will be even more growth and a better society. Coyle refers to historical parallels and many texts to make her case that technology has transformed society in significant ways that even experts are only beginning to understand. We [...] recommend this compelling and authoritative book to executives and managers, and to serious readers and academics, all of whom will enjoy the way it makes sense of today's contradictory financial and social developments.

COyle enters the ranks of the greats.......2002-01-29

Paul Krugman. Bradford De Long. There are few economists able to make complex ideas sing for the general reader. With her latest book The Paradoxes of Prosperity, her follow-up to 1999's The Weightless World, Diane Coyle has entered their ranks.

That the book succeeds so well is a testament to Coyle's ability to keep two conflicting ideas in the reader's head at the same time. Thus the central, unwritten paradox at the heart of the book: she is a whistleblower on the whole global capitalism game while managing at the same time to be its strongest champion.

What makes Coyle so engaging is her fearlessness in grappling with the very biggest concerns of our times: Is free-market economics really the only game in town? What is the role of government? What is the future of the nation state? What do you do about inequality? Inevitably there are no glib answers to these questions, and the core of the book is given over to Coyle's explanation for a series of paradoxes: Wealth generation is good, but relies on change, which people don't like. Why, in a weightless world, have places become more important than ever? Why is it that the technology that permits empowerment and has the potential to boost democratic control is in fact generally felt to be disempowering and facilitating central control? Why do we have a love-hate relationship with government in which we value certain services but vote for tax-cutting platforms? She tackles these issues with huge verve and intelligence.

There are any number of reasons to like Coyle. For one thing, she walks the walk. She argues that new companies must speak to the heart and head (p166) and she does exactly that in her text: how can you not like a heavyweight economist who admits to having been an adolescent cooped up in a darkened room listening to the Clash? She follows her own Just Do It advice by setting up her own company, Enlightenment Economics. She has an exquisite feel for the apposite anecdote and the telling example. So, when arguing that physical assets are not as important for a company as its `network' or licensing assets, as well as the obvious example of Nike she mentions Topsy Tail, a $100 million hair products company which has three employees. And while she can be wonderfully breathy ("The struggle is now on for the distribution of the benefits that will be generated by a surge in prosperity thanks to economic growth driven by the new technologies"), she has a great line in invective: "A lot of management advice is of course complete twaddle. Empty intellectual calories pandering to the hunger for advice of managers aware of the pressures for change".

The Paradoxes of Prosperity is a no-holds-barred riposte to anti-globalists, luddites and those who believe in the need for worldwide economic change but reject capitalism as the engine for doing so. She is quick to point out the obvious paradox that anti-globalisation campaigners are globalisation's biggest beneficiaries, and the less obvious one that globalisation of a product (like sushi) doesn't homogenize it, but grows the franchise. Coyle is profoundly and sometimes hilariously unapologetic in her belief in technology-led `turbo-capitalism'. It's all over this book. "What is it that increases human prosperity?" she asks rhetorically on page 7: "Technological progress seems to be the answer" booms the next line. You can almost feel Naomi Klein flinch. Coyle places herself firmly in the camp of free-market mavens like Luuk van Middelaar and Matt Ridley. "The technology driven capitalist economy is the only reason any of us has a comfortable home, plentiful food....and children who have a good chance of surviving infancy". (p3) In order for the book to succeed, she has to convince us that her basic argument is watertight: That there is such a thing as New Capitalism, that it really is new, and, most controversially, that it really is good for us.

Coyle is on firm ground with the first two. She takes us very effectively through the productivity paradox: why the ICT revolution has surprisingly little to show for itself in growth terms. So far only The US, with its vastly greater computer infrastructure and investment, shows evidence of post 1973 growth due to technical progress. Partly it is to do with measurement difficulties, and partly to do with the fact that technological revolutions are `sleepers' - they don't make their effects felt for some fifty years after their introduction.

And is this the New New Thing? It would appear so. There is mounting evidence (from R&D budgets, patents registrations and so on) that developed economies rely on brains more than brawn. She subscribes to Arnold Harberger's denomination of ICT as a yeast technology, meaning that it seeps into other business areas and catalyses change there. Biotechnology, alternative energy and nanotechnology all get a look-in. She makes excellent examples to make parallels with the past. Especially effective is the reminder that each generation is woefully myopic about the potential for its new technologies - it is hard to believe that the telephone was once envisaged as a broadcasting device, for example.

Inevitably it is where Coyle tries to argue the benefits of all this that she will find her toughest critics. Her argument, which she returns to again and again, is that New Capitalism is great because its raw currency is us, or at least the creative stuff flowing between our ears. We are, as never before, owners of our means of production. And that's not all. Because the cogs of this new economy are oiled by personal trust, healthy open societies will be hewn from bureaucratic or despotic misery by the `human capital' and social context they engender. "It is not going to be possible to build a vigorous modern economy without building a fair society" (xix)

It sounds too good to be true, and not even a book this good can dispel all the doubts. For one thing, Coyle never quite convinces that the New Capitalism is not simply parasitic on the institutions of the bad old capitalism. The fortunes made in the weightless economy depended on the apparatus of capital funding, enlightened credit arrangements and trust. The ultimate beneficiaries of unfettered techno-capitalism are still shareholders, just as they were in the bad old days, so Coyle's talk of 'usurping elites' rings hollow (xvii). The assumption about trickle-down effects is based on a rose-tinted view of the capitalist structures in place in the developing world. The economist Hernando de Soto is just one of those who worry that wealth creation where corruption or nepotism is the norm may be at the expense of the majority, and no amount of faith in `human capital' will change that.

There is also the feeling that, well, no-one seems to be having all that much fun in Coyle's brave new world. Even the supposed winners of all this, the intra-urban uber yuppies, feel insecure and unsettled, as sociologist Richard Sennett has pointed out. She notes that "the US job market might have the right kind of flexibility to make possible large scale switches from one kind of occupation to another". Worker flexibility is the vital ingredient. Middle managers become technologically redundant. Ouch. Coyle tells us that freedom of people to move is the missing link of globalisation. Small wonder that there is such opposition to the whole idea.
Coyle admits there is huge potential for conflict, especially between rich and poor countries (foreign direct investment) and is honest about the shocks of deindustrialisation and downsizing. She is clear about the growing gap between rich and poor, but doesn't apologise for it: in the long run we all benefit from a generally improved standard of living. She marshals Amartya Sen, and says "Those countries excluded from the postwar process of economic liberalisation and trade have plainly fared less well than those engaged in the world economy".

But in the end this is a mesmeric and hugely insightful read. The value of Coyle's work is that it sets out clearly the parameters for intelligent debate on a subject that is clouded with fear and false assumptions. It knocks down the shibboleths of anti-globalisation and yet squares up honestly to the slightly disquieting future that awaits us: Get ready for constant change. Paradoxes of Prosperity is a litany of creepy stuff for conservatives: Institutions built for national industrial societies are inadequate for the global, weightless society; the authority of the professions will be undermined because bodies of knowledge will become common; and it's harder and harder to find effective cultural signifiers of dissent and rebellion, meaning we face a future dominated by nihilistic atrocities by the disenchanted. Coyle's message is that this is still infinitely preferable to pinchbeck bureaucratic control. If global capitalism is the only game in town, a clear understanding of the power balance between technology, markets and governments is vital, and Coyle's contribution is outstanding.

Book Description

The first serious comparative study of two dynamic Asian city-states--Hong Kong and Singapore--that are emerging as key regional--indeed global--cities.

Average customer rating:

China's Transition to a Global Economy

Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Comparative | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Conditions | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Policy & Development | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Economic Conditions | International | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

How has China approached the global economy? Webber, Wang and Zhu attempt to answer this question through analysis of the concepts of globalization, transition and regionalization. China's approach has been experimental, stressing the liberalization of trade and investment flows and the development of a market economy. By these indexes globalization in China has been gradual and uneven. Integrating Western social science and Chinese research, this book assesses the nature and effect of globalization in China and its implications.

Integrating China: Transition into Global Economy (Anthem Studies in Development and Globalization)

Average customer rating:

Integrating China: Transition into Global Economy (Anthem Studies in Development and Globalization)
Peter Nolan
Manufacturer: Anthem Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Development & Growth | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Popular Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 1843312379

China: Transition to a Global Economy (Routledge Studies in China in Transition)

Average customer rating:

China: Transition to a Global Economy (Routledge Studies in China in Transition)
Michael Webber , Maark Yaolin Wang , and Ying Zhu
Manufacturer: Routledge
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

International | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Theory | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Book Description

The reintegration of the Chinese economy into the world economy, culminating in the recent accession of China into the WTO has been one of the most significant global events in recent decades. This work examines the political and economic geography of China since the reform process started in the late 1970s.

Book Description

This yearbook contains basic information on export-import, investment and business opportunities in the respected country. Provides information on government structure, economy, business climate, regulations, and more... Includes basic statistics, information on the most important business contacts and business travel. Updated annually.

Ghana Business and Investment Opportunities Yearbook (World Business and Investment Opportunities Library)

Average customer rating:

Ghana Business and Investment Opportunities Yearbook (World Business and Investment Opportunities Library)

Manufacturer: Intl Business Pubns USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Exports & Imports | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Investing | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0739776401

Ghana Investment & Business Opportunities Yearbook (World Investment & Business Opportunities Library)

Average customer rating:

Ghana Investment & Business Opportunities Yearbook (World Investment & Business Opportunities Library)
USA International Business Publications
Manufacturer: International Business Publications, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0739712640

Book Description

This yearbook contains information on investment business opportunities, international economic projects, tenders, government projects, marketing and export-import opportunities information.

Average customer rating:

Ghana Business and Investment Opportunities Yearbook (World Business and Investment Opportunities Library)
Igor Oleynik
Manufacturer: International Business Publications USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Online Books | Books & Reading | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books

International Business Publications | By Publisher | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B00005R53O
Release Date: 2006-01-01

Book Description

Major investment, export-import and other Strategic business opportunities and contacts, basic info for conducting business in the country

Download Description

Major investment, export-import and other strategic business opportunities and contacts, basic information for conducting business in the country

Books:

Books Index

Books Home

Recommended Books