Demise of virtue in virtual America : the moral origins of the great recession

Author/Creator:

Bosworth, David, 1947-

Publication/Creation:

Eugene, OR : Front Porch Republic, [2014]

Resource Type:

Book

More Details

Additional/Related Title Information

Full Title:

Demise of virtue in virtual America : the moral origins of the great recession / David Bosworth

Subjects/Genre

Subjects:

Technology--Social aspects--United States
Recessions--United States
Global Financial Crisis, 2008-2009
Financial crises--United States
National characteristics, American
United States--Civilization--1970-
United States--Moral conditions
United States--Politics and government

Description/Summary

Table of Contents:

Virtual America's convention hall -- The aging of aquarius -- In the mall of virtual America's mind -- In the shrine of virtual America's soul -- The pharmacy of pain dissuasion -- The politics of pain dissuasion -- The masquerade of faux rebellion -- The iron cage of age dissuasion -- Auguries of decadence -- Truth or consequences -- The reprise of American virtue.

Summary:

Although the financial disaster of 2008 proved devastatingly quick, the evolution of the bad faith that drove the collapse is a more gradual story, and one that David Bosworth powerfully narrates in The Demise of Virtue in Virtual America: The Moral Origins of the Great Recession, his sweeping history of the forces driving ethical, political, and economic change over the last sixty years. Here, Bosworth traces how the commercialization of public spaces and electronic information has created a new and enclosed American place. Chapter by chapter, he then shows how the materialist values of this Virtual America have suffused our everyday lives, co-opting the themes of our narratives, the planks of our parties, the practices of our professions, and the most intimate aspects of our personal lives, including our beliefs about God, marriage, and childcare. From Ronald Reagan and Disneyland to modern pharmacology and "prosperity theology" from the phony conservatism of Wall Street to the faux rebellion of "transgressive" art, Bosworth's alternative story of American life since 1950 relentlessly challenges today's dominant narratives -- narratives that, as he reveals, made both the calamitous invasion of Iraq and the economic collapse of 2008 all too likely.

Language:

English

Physical Type/Description:

xi, 243 pages ; 23 cm

Additional Identifiers

Catalog ID (MMSID):

9936982114702486

ISBN:

162564812X
9781625648129

OCLC Number:

890614905

Barcode:

010003135494