Social change and the coming of post-consumer society: theoretical advances and policy implications

Consumer society is an unquestionably complex social construct.

However, after decades of unremitting dominance there are signs emerging that it is starting to falter, both as a coherent and durable system of social organization and as a strategy for societal advancement.

Debates concerning how we can transition beyond present energy - and materials-intensive consumer society are beginning to gain greater salience.

This title aims to develop more complete appreciation of the relevant processes of social change and to identify effective interventions that could enable a transition to supersede consumer society.

Bringing together leading interdisciplinary experts on social change, the book identifies and analyzes several ongoing small- and modest-scale social experiments.

Possibilities for macro-scale change from the interlinked perspectives of culture, economics, finance, and governance are then explored.