Progress or Collapse

Human progress is heading toward collapse. There are converging ecological crises looming on horizon: climate change, peak oil, water shortages, fish depletion and food scarcities. The world is on a collision course against limits of ecosystem. Modern societies are consuming, polluting and growing as if there is no tomorrow. Indeed, there may not be one. In Progress or Collapse, Roberto De Vogli guides us through multiple converging global crises of economic progress. He explores connections between environmental crisis and psychological, social, cultural, political and economic emergencies affecting modern societies. It is not a coincidence, author argues, that global ecological destruction is occurring in tandem with other crises: rising mental disorders, mindless consumerism, rampant conformism, status competition, civic disengagement, startling social inequalities, global financial instability, and widespread political impasse. In this hard-hitting analysis, Roberto De Vogli identifies root cause of all these symptoms of societal breakdown: neoliberalism, defined as market greed. He argues that in recent decades, modern societies have been dominated by a suicidal economic doctrine based on two articles of faith: greed creed and market God. The greed creed states that people are nothing but selfish profiteers in a perpetual search for status and wealth. The market God is belief that all societal and human affairs are best regulated as market exchanges. What is to be done? Can we stop progress toward collapse? Given current distribution of power and wealth, and state of psychological and political inertia in which we are trapped, our chances of redefining progress around alternative values and embracing a new philosophy of life are slim. Yet, history of human emancipation has often been shaped by giant leaps forward. In past, civic struggles have overcome the limits of possible. Whether this will happen again in future is central question of our time. This book will be of interest to researchers and students of ecology, psychology, public health, epidemiology, human development, political philosophy, economics, sociology and politics

Development economics · Economic collapse · Economics · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Prosperity · Global Energy and Sustainability Research · Innovation, Sustainability, Human-Machine Systems · Law · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction