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Title: The Impulse Society
Subtitle: America in the Age of Instant Gratification
Author: Paul Roberts
Narrator: Edoardo Ballerini
Format: Unabridged
Length: 9 hrs and 43 mins
Language: English
Release date: 09-02-14
Publisher: Audible Studios for Bloomsbury
Ratings: 4 of 5 out of 45 votes
Genres: Nonfiction, Social Sciences
Publisher's Summary:
In every facet of postindustrial society - the way we eat, the way we communicate and entertain, the way we work, the way we court lovers and raise children, educate and govern - technology and affluence now let us reach our goals with a speed and efficiency unimaginable even a generation ago. But the result, Paul Roberts warns, is not all milk, honey, and gold. Companies now reflexively maximize short-term gain at the expense of long-term success. Politicians resort with ever-greater speed to nasty campaign tactics, and can count on their damaging claims to spread before the facts catch up with them. Consumers engage in serial over-indulgence in a self-tailored bubble. And the costs are substantial: financial volatility, health epidemics, environmental exhaustion and political paralysis, to say nothing of a growing, gnawing dissatisfaction.
Over 30 years ago, Christopher Lasch published his landmark book, The Culture of Narcissism, which struck a chord and became a runaway best seller. Laschs analysis was largely cultural, but the real story has always been an economic one, and the conditions that led to increasing selfishness and the breakdown of society have only gotten worse. Paul Robert digs down to the economic roots of the problem, shows how it has metastisized to affect every facet of our lives and our ability to navigate the future. In clear, cogent prose that mixes illuminating analysis and vibrant reporting, Roberts not only tells the fascinating story of how the impulse society came to be, but shows how, perhaps, a healthier society may still be possible.
Editorial Reviews:
Editors Select, September 2014 - Despite being a millennial or member of "Generation Me", I was still aware of the dangers of our culture's dependency on near-instant fulfillment (I'll let this app count my calories!). But the greatness of Paul Roberts' The Impulse Society is that it shows - using the latest in psychological, political and economic research - how our pursuit for short-term gratification is symptomatic of a larger socioeconomic problem in which myopic corporations look for the fastest returns, and political leaders opt for the quick fix instead of tackling issues that foster true progress. As a result, our self-identities have all but merged with the marketplace. Edoardo Ballerini's steady narration brings this eye-opener together with Roberts issuing a final call to action that makes The Impulse Society a must-listen.
Critic Reviews:
In The Impulse Society, Paul Roberts has written a passionate, keenly observant argument that modern life has become rewired around indulgence. This is a book that taps into a sense that we're all adrift -- and finds that technological, economic, and social change has caused us to lose the community that had anchored us. A society that tries to give (and sell) each of us everything we want, Roberts writes, is a society nobody wants. Roberts harkens back to the greatest critics of American individualism - Tocqueville, Dewey, Nisbet, Lasch, Putnam - and finds a call for community as urgent as ever. (Evan Soltas, economics columnist, Bloomberg View)
Paul Roberts has written eloquently on very big topics before--but maybe never quite as eloquently, on quite as central a predicament.
