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Small became cool but only as part of a branding strategy which masked the ongoing concentration of political and economic power. The power of the global multinational and the financial institutions was beginning to become apparent in the early 70s, but it has grown exponentially since, unaccountable to national governments.
Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered [E. F. Schumacher] on If this book was presented to me when I was studying economics I may have. Small Is Beautiful: A Study of Economics As If People Mattered is a collection of essays by German born British economist E. F. Schumacher. The phrase "Small.
Schumacher warned that a city's population should not rise above ,, but we are now living in an era of the megapolis and several cities around the world are heading towards 20m. Schumacher would be weeping over his herbal tea at the fate of his big idea. However, small is beautiful is an idea that keeps reappearing — the latest incarnations are farmers' markets, and local cafes baking homemade cup cakes — because it incorporates such a fundamental insight into the human experience of modernity.
We yearn for economic systems within our control, within our comprehension and that once again provide space for human interaction — and yet we are constantly overwhelmed by finding ourselves trapped into vast global economic systems that are corrupting and corrupt. Many of the issues Schumacher raises we are still wrestling with. He questioned the shibboleth of economic growth as the central preoccupation of politics; he talked of resource constraints on economic development.
Above all, he insisted again and again that human happiness would not be achieved through material wealth. He had a vision of human need that would strike a 21st-century reader as oddly puritanical, and his frequent references to Burma as a model jar badly. But his point is still valid as the wellbeing debate today demonstrates; despite our increased wealth since the 70s, we are no happier. Schumacher warned against exactly the issues we are now dealing with as levels of mental illness — depression, anxiety, panic attacks, stress — rise and the World Health Organisation predicts that depression will be the second most common health problem in western developed nations by This was what Schumacher feared, and his answer was "small is beautiful".
Part III discusses the gap between the center of the World System and the developing world as it existed then, with a focus on village culture and unemployment in India. Part IV presents a sketch of a Theory of Large Scale Organization, refutes and exposes some commonplace and false platitudes about Capitalism as a social order and discusses alternatives. Chapter 3 of this part concludes with advice to Socialists who presumably are at the Commanding Heights:. If they can do this, they have the future in their hands. If they cannot, they have nothing to offer that is worthy of the sweat of free-born men.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Small Is Beautiful Cover. A very interesting book. View all 5 comments. Sep 27, Yogeeswar rated it really liked it Shelves: This is a very dry book on economics based on metaphysics. It questions modern motives and provides some insightfull answers to them.
A great read altogether. Aug 25, Titus L rated it it was amazing. Although a bit dated which is apparent when he refers to specific details, Schumacher's book Small Is Beautiful; Economics As If People Mattered is a wonderful starters introduction to Economics and how the preoccupation with profit and materialism has begun to undermine the deeper and higher values upon which human society might be built. Schumacher provides a series of simple to understand perspectives on how the world businesses might practice a more inclusive and compassionate set of val Although a bit dated which is apparent when he refers to specific details, Schumacher's book Small Is Beautiful; Economics As If People Mattered is a wonderful starters introduction to Economics and how the preoccupation with profit and materialism has begun to undermine the deeper and higher values upon which human society might be built.
Schumacher provides a series of simple to understand perspectives on how the world businesses might practice a more inclusive and compassionate set of values, which would paradoxically serve themselves; their employees and societies and the earth-eco and biosphere's in the longer run would flourish for all. For any who find these views to be a bit whimsical or lacking in fiber, I gladly refer them to read Naomi Klein's groundbreaking book "The Shock Doctrine; Rise of Disaster Capitalism" NOT for the faint hearted which portrays the unbelievably malicious destructive and distopian forces of economic exploitation for short term gain by the few in the name of 'freedom' that has been visited upon the earth and her peoples since the former was written.
To read this book in these turbulent times is a call to reconsider Schumacher's suggestions. May 24, Ian Russell rated it liked it Recommends it for: In an ideal world - as we are talking about ideal worlds, I suppose - I would give Small Is Beautiful five stars: So, for the ideas, five stars! Unfortunately however, there are different ways to review a book and as a work of literature I found it slightly disappointing. Obviously Schumacher was a great economist-thinker of his day and, I imagine, a charismatic speaker, but this doesn't convince me writing was another of his strong suits.
Some In an ideal world - as we are talking about ideal worlds, I suppose - I would give Small Is Beautiful five stars: Some essays I was glad to get to the end, not because I disagreed but because I wanted him to get to the point! Or, at least, give me something to think about until he did. One or two were out-of-date, like the case for relatively harmless coal fired power stations. Hence three stars sure, I liked it - but that's all.
Schumacher also makes no attempt to explain away obvious criticisms of his "small is beautiful" thesis. Tell us more about what you like to read so we can send you the best offers and opportunities. All is not lost, but there needs to be awareness of these losses and adjustments made. The economic system was similarly dehumanising, making decisions on the basis of profitability rather than human need: EFS argues that the main measure of interest is happiness per unit of consumption, and that the right way to maximize this is in ways that minimize the denominator while holding the numerator constant. Schumacher discourses on economics, through the prism of an ethics of care and respect for human dignity.
The other difficulty I had was the overall style but which was probably down to its age. About the time he was writing it, I was moving up to ''big school'' and being handed those awful, dry-prose things known in our time as ''text books''. This reminded me a lot of those old text books, in contrast to the more conversational, less overly didactic style of today's specialist, non-fiction writers. But that's hardly Schumacher's fault for accidentally being of his own time. One to borrow, not buy. Also, treat the chapters as separate essays - which, I gather, they are - skip the ones that are too unreadable, but don't give up on the book - yet!
Jul 08, Sai Pitre rated it really liked it. I would classify E. Schumacher as an economic philosopher. Schumacher is a Gandhian at heart. Nowhere is his writing pure theorising. There are practical application to problems in fields as diverse as you can imagine. The economics we learn in school seems very biased and this book presents a different way to look at I would classify E.
The economics we learn in school seems very biased and this book presents a different way to look at it all. It is amazing how a book written in the s is just as relevant now as it was then. In a way it suggests we haven't really made any progress in the past 30 years. Nations are made up of people and not the sum of their incomes.
Greed and envy cannot consume the human race. Schumacher writes passionately and drives his point home. I wish I could ask him his thoughts on modern day breakthroughs like microfinance and corporate social responsibility. Would he see them as steps in the right direction? Alas we'll never know. I can only draw my conclusions from the writing in this fantastic book. Feb 13, Manuel Alfonseca rated it really liked it. Although I don't agree with everything he says, this small book by Schumacher contains extremely interesting ideas.
I liked especially his chapters about education which he calls The Greatest Resource and about the prediction of future. I intend to use these ideas in several future posts in my blog: This book has been a part of my mental image of how the world ought to be for as long as I can remember. While the book was published in I think I had the notions in my mind even before that. Economic success should not be based on the largest size or the largest profits but the largest benefit to people.
But I had never actually read the book as amazing as that seems. Now I have finally read it as it approaches its 50th anniversary. The book has a few too many biblical references for my lik This book has been a part of my mental image of how the world ought to be for as long as I can remember. The book has a few too many biblical references for my liking. But it also has a bit of Buddhism to balance things off apparently in the spiritual realm.
I have edited out quite a few paragraphs for you to pursue on your own. Here's one of my favorites: The cultivation and expansion of needs is the antithesis of wisdom. It is also the antithesis of freedom and peace, Every increase of needs tends to increase one's dependence on outside forces over which one cannot have control, and therefore increases existential fear. Only by a reduction of needs can one promote a genuine reduction in those tensions which are the ultimate causes of strife and war. Schumacher discourses on economics, through the prism of an ethics of care and respect for human dignity.
These include the absurdity of treating non-renewable resources as income instead of capital, the central importance of fulfilling work to human well-being and the need for Schumacher discourses on economics, through the prism of an ethics of care and respect for human dignity.
These include the absurdity of treating non-renewable resources as income instead of capital, the central importance of fulfilling work to human well-being and the need for an 'intermediate technology' to facilitate securing full employment. The language is clear, free from jargon and meant to be understood by the lay person, so I'd recommend this to students and general readers "There are no 'final solutions' to this type of problem [corporate ownership and organisation, which should depend on size and circumstances]. There is only a livings solution achieved day by day on a basis of a clear recognition that both opposites are valid.
Dec 13, Ian rated it it was ok Shelves: Corporations and capitalism are evil. More simplistic garbage drenched in Eastern mythology. I appreciate the attempt of the author to save the world from consuming itself into its grave, but such an effort deserves far more academic rigor than that exemplified by this book. This was assigned to me in class long ago. Mar 06, Alexis rated it really liked it. It's amazing how old this idea is and yet how little we really take to heart. Jan 23, Shaun rated it really liked it Shelves: Dated, Still Relevant The last great finical debacle, the one in , is still affecting people the world over, but the affect is still heavy in American.
I was personally affected, my wife and I both lost jobs. We have yet to recover from that. There was a snow storm a few weeks back. The company I work for is dependent upon trucks from Chicago based warehouses to fulfill the retail st Dated, Still Relevant The last great finical debacle, the one in , is still affecting people the world over, but the affect is still heavy in American. The company I work for is dependent upon trucks from Chicago based warehouses to fulfill the retail stores needs.
So, when the snow kept trucks from arriving here in Kansas City, we as a store were limited as to what we could offer our customers. This, like the economic crash, got me thinking about how well connected everything is. Wall Street was too big to fail so money was thrown at it, given to those who caused the problems in the first place.
What if they had failed? Could America have survived? What if this snow storm had been worse? Would food have stopped coming in to Kansas City altogether?
Just how fragile is our system of life, and should it really stay that way? The amount of waste we produce. Also, the consumer culture that drives us to make and purchase these cheap trinkets. What does living and working like this doing to us? From my view of history, we have never lived like this. The few times people of the past have gotten anywhere near we are now it was chaos, it was disaster.
I can only think that disaster and chaos are all that is meant for our future, we have yet to see any of the dangers of living out of balance with the earth. Thinking such thoughts will lead a person to want to find some comfort. One of the ways to do that is find people who have been working on the problems at hand and see if they have some potential solutions drawn up.
These types of people publish books to share their findings and thoughts. There are many books out there talking about our ills and sometimes a few seem to keep surfacing. This makes them tempting to read even if they are dated. One of these books is Small is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered by E. It was one of the early books that served as a warning against our insatiable appetite for earths resources and our over blown sense of self-importance.
Schumacher makes an argument we current day folks are somewhat familiar with. Nature can only take some much pollution before it becomes toxic for all life on earth.
Handing out technology and first world ways of doing things to developing third world economies will solve nothing. It is these first world economies that have it wrong in the first place. He speaks on how the fast paced economics of the modern world dehumanizes us. He talks about compassion, being caretakers, rather than profit makers, and he waxes on about quaint ways of life.
I will simple say, you should read this book. This book has become such a staple for the environmental front and eco-warriors, and so many others. However, there are reasons to read this book. I was shocked to compare the data that Schumacher used with the current data we have now.