For most people, animals are the most significant aspects of the nonhuman world. They symbolize nature in our imaginations, in popular media and culture, and in campaigns to preserve wilderness, yet scholars habitually treat animals and the environment as mutually exclusive obje…
Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have experienced rising material abundance, but also a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, obesity and addiction. Drawing on the latest cognitive research, Avner Offer presents a detailed and reasoned critique…
"Avner Offer argues that a sense of well-being has lagged behind affluence in these societies because they present an environment in which consistent choices are difficult to achieve and in which the capacity for personal and social commitment is undermined by the flow of novelt…
Since the 1940s Americans and Britons have experienced rising material abundance, but also a range of social and personal disorders, including family breakdown, obesity and addiction. Drawing on the latest cognitive research, Avner Offer presents a detailed and reasoned critique…
"Avner Offer argues that a sense of well-being has lagged behind affluence in these societies because they present an environment in which consistent choices are difficult to achieve and in which the capacity for personal and social commitment is undermined by the flow of novelt…
Advertising, materialism and consumption are central aspects of contemporary Western culture. We are bombarded with idealised images of the perfect body, desirable consumer goods, and affluent lifestyles, yet psychology is only just beginning to take account of the profound inf…
"The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MA)" is the most extensive study of the linkages between the world's ecosystems and human well-being. It is one of the most important conservation initiatives ever undertaken, and the ecosystem services paradigm on which it is based provides…
Loving life -- Valuing happiness -- Betting on virtue -- Authenticity -- Happily self-deceived -- Suffering in happy lives -- Paradoxes of happiness -- Happy to help -- Shared pursuits in love -- Balancing work and leisure -- Simplicity -- Felicity in Frankenstein -- Personal an…
If we know enough to act, what might be the consequences of our actions? Scenarios are an invaluable tool for analyzing complex systems and understanding possible outcomes. This second volume of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment series explores the implications of four differ…
Gamification is the application of game-design elements and game principles to non-game contexts, and has been used to solve problems by applying characteristics of games. Though it has principally been applied in the areas of business and education, this book seeks to expand fo…
"This book provides new analysis of inequality in China, with an emphasis on public policy considerations. Several chapters focus on inequality of income; others analyze poverty and inequality in wealth and wages. Topics covered include migrants, women, the elderly, the relation…