47 pages • 1 hour read
John de Graaf, David Wann, Thomas NaylorAffluenza
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2001A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Symbols & Motifs
Disease and Health
By construing overconsumption as affluenza—that is, a special kind of disease or virus—the authors open the door to a number of metaphors linked to sickness and health. They claim that there is a certain educational value in this: framing overconsumption as a disease makes the problem easier to understand. Like all illnesses, affluenza has clear causes, symptoms, and cures. The book attempts to provide a comprehensive study of the affluenza virus in order to give each of us the power to begin to counteract its increasingly dangerous effects and restore our figurative health.
Besides the resonance with the actual health effects of affluenza detailed in Chapters 3 and 4, the notion of overconsumption as a virus connotes images of fever and contagion. Like an epidemic, affluenza has spread across the globe and infected every nation on earth, imposing a uniform way of life modeled on the American Dream. Moreover, as the title of Chapter 1, “Feverish Expectations,” indicates, affluenza is marked by a kind of mania for more and more, a rapidity of life that moves from one thing to the next without adequately considering the bigger picture.
In our collective sprint towards economic growth and the accumulation of material possessions, other, quieter values have been neglected or sacrificed, such as internal spiritual fulfillment or a meaningful engagement with nature. One of the key pieces of practical advice from the book, particularly throughout Part 3, is that consuming less allows us to appreciate aspects of life irreducible to a disposable product or thirty second advertisement. Breaking the affluenza fever is not just about a more sustainable future for our planet; it is also a state of moral and spiritual “health” that the authors believe will lead to greater happiness for each of us.
Keeping up with the Joneses
The phrase “keeping up with the Joneses” derives from a Chevrolet ad from the 1950s (22). The Joneses, the typical American nuclear family, are pulling ahead of the prospective consumer in the race for happiness, and the best way to catch up is to buy a new car, just as they have. As the authors argue, the idea that people are happier because of something they have bought is a central pillar of the psychology of advertising. In a society infected with affluenza, all of us are told to keep chasing the Joneses by making that next purchase, which will bring us a little a bit closer to fulfillment. The trouble, of course, is that complete fulfillment never comes, and one marketing campaign quickly succeeds the previous one, promising more happiness in exchange for dollars.
The motif of the Joneses recurs at the beginning of Chapter 17. Once they realize the actual consequences of a life controlled by affluenza—overwork, debt, stress, a lack of free time—the Joneses wave the white flag of surrender and decide to change course; they cannot, it seems, keep up with the feverish pace of consumption mandated by our society. According to the authors, each of us is indoctrinated into the view that consumption holds happiness and meaning. We need not bottom out like Joneses before we realize that a better path is available to us.
The Road Not Taken
As explained at the opening of Chapter 13, “The Road Not Taken” refers to the famous,1916 Robert Frost poem about facing two divergent paths, only one of which can be chosen (23). In this case, the authors use the literary metaphor to refer to a possible and as-yet-unrealized course of American history.
Drawing on both philosophical responses to early capitalism and the labor movement, the authors argue that campaigns for a society focused less on work and consumption are an important part of American intellectual and political history. Laws mandating an eight-hour work day, hourly minimum wage, and other worker’s rights were not freely bestowed upon Americans, and only came to be through opposition and agitation to the status quo. More recently, other developed nations like Holland and Denmark have translated the achievements of their domestic labor movements into shorter working weeks and generous social welfare programs. The examples of both past and present struggles show that a cultural, political, and economic framework that ameliorates the worst consequences of affluenza is within reach. We need only strike out on the road not taken to seize these possibilities for our future.
