Greed: A treatise in two essays [Paperback]

Julian Edney (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 23, 2005

This is an immensely wealthy society but it is not a humane society. Greed has become a force creating precipitous inequalities, and divisions in this society now approach a kind of wealth apartheid, but greed is rarely seen as a moral wrong.

This is not the first time the nation has produced huge economic inequalities. Today, as the free market continues its global advance, the values of democracy are being torn. Two ideologies popular in the era of robber barons appear to be rising again: laissez-faire and Social Darwinism.

Freedom, coercion, debt, credit cards, meritocracy, sociopaths, environment and corporations are all examined.

Is exploitation wrong? The free market conceals a cultural contradiction: the everyday workplace vs. democracy. How can we hope to export democracy if we don’t have it?

Our economic theory is antiquated and we need to step a little closer to modern reality. What motivates people in today’s society: is it the pursuit of happiness, or is it surviving in an endless round of work-and-debt? Or is it the avoidance of fear?

Remedies and how you can make a difference.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Julian Edney was born in Uganda of British parents. He was raised in Birmingham, England. He attended the University of California, and holds a Ph.D. in psychology from Yale University. He has subsequently worked in many occupations including professor, laborer, real estate agent and inner-city night school teacher, he also works a trade as a locksmith. He lives in Los Angeles where he writes and teaches college. He can be contacted at [e-mail]

Product Details

• Paperback: 92 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse, Inc. (June 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0595360009
• ISBN-13: 978-0595360000
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,857,952 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 63 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Honest View of the Price Society Pays for Prosperity, September 12, 2005

By 

A. Druetta "Somewhere Over the Condo" (Destin, Florida) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greed: A treatise in two essays (Paperback)

This is the most honest and intelligently written piece that you will ever read about greed. It focuses on bottom line issues and is a short read for those interested in American culture and Socio Economics. It is not a liberal appeal from the left, it comes straight from the middle, giving you the chance to discern and develop your own opinion.

Mr. Edney uses a a purely informative, non-judgmental approach, to outline the role of politics, corporations, social Darwinism, sociopathic behaviors and the evident decline of the middle class.

Are you willing to ask yourself some tough questions? Do you care about the greater good? You will be able to easily comprehend the degree of your own role in a greedy society, if you dare.

American society has bought into the prosperity craze so heavily that many of us have filed emotional bankruptcy in order to maintain a particular lifestyle, no matter the cost to our future and our children.

This essay helped me examine my individual role and how I sometimes condone greed as long as it helps me. That's hard to admit for many of us. If you live in America and you still care enough to have a conscience, you should read this.

28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Timely, November 27, 2006

By 

Douglas Doepke (Claremont, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Greed: A treatise in two essays (Paperback)

Critics may dismiss the work as a superficial treatment of wide ranging topics, that include market economics, ethics, socio-biology, social psychology, et. al. After all, the booklet is only 72 pages, so a lot does get compressed. Then too, the many section headings with their widely spaced margins pad the remaining text. The booklet functions best as an entry in the long and honorable tradition of pamphleteering, raising critical issues of the day for public consumption and action. But, unlike typical pamphlets, Edney's text is neither preachy nor heated. Instead, the author lays out the case against our real national religion. Namely, the belief that it's the unfettered marketplace that produces the most, lifts the highest, and provides the broadest freedom for all. Against these Chamber of Commerce platitudes, Edney marshals wide-ranging evidence that the only guaranteed outcome is rampant greed and pervasive inequality. Moreover, recent statistics show these dysfunctions are growing. In that sense, the booklet functions as a crisp rejoinder to currently fashionable Libertarian claims. Perhaps just as importantly, the author would like to reinstate greed as a moral evil, which it was until replaced by the economics of rampant self-interest. Thus any economic system that runs on a variety of Social Darwinism, such as laissez-faire capitalism, would be condemned as immoral by revived moral standards. He's got a point here, judging from today's newspaper report that 35 million Americans are "food insecure", meaning they don't know where their next meal is coming from-- and this from the world's largest food exporting country! So much then for the market's capacity to humanely distribute its product. Anyway, the prose is elegant, the topic well-chosen, while the booklet as a whole offers a lot of the proverbial food-for-thought.

22 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tiny tears, January 8, 2006

By 

Oswald Mosely (Victoria, BC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Greed: A treatise in two essays (Paperback)

This is a topic both timely and essential. It is not for the faint of heart but should be required reading for those with open eyes and open heart. On the surface we are presented with a searing analysis of american (and by extension global) economics). This is an onion that is being peeled with increasing frequency yet Julian Edney states his case with a lucidity and eloquence that manages to avoids the apocalyptic hyperbole currently in vogue.