The Economic Horror (Paperback)

by Viviane Forrester (Author) "We are living the midst of a masterly deception, in a world gone forever, although we stubbornly insist on denying it, and while artificial policies..." (more)
Key Phrases: poor suburbs, United States, World Bank, Madame Bovary (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"People have found many scapegoats to explain the rise of unemployment and the inability to combat it - globalization, multinationals, neo-liberalism, even the end of history. Viviane Forrester goes beyond these concepts. Her book sets the terms of a real debate at last. Others will say whether her analyses are relevant, her concepts sound and her facts accurate - in short, whether she is right or wrong. But the reader of Economic Horror will undoubtedly be persuaded of one thing: what she says is just." Le Monde

"Economic Horror also comes to us as a European publishing sensation ... she does have a vision of contemporary capitalism which focuses almost exclusively on its destructive, disorientating side. And which does so in a passionate, pulsing style, clearly attuned to the everyday fears of its predominantly middle-class readership, but not asking them to think too theoretically about the sources of their angst ... Powerful stuff" Sunday Herald (Glasgow)

"Amid so many contemporary arguments about "Third Ways" and the inevitability...of capitalism, it is refreshing to read such an impassioned account of its essential malignance. Some may feel that the case is overstated by the lack of qualification of claims about globalisation and the lack of differentiation between nations, classes, ethnicities, genders. But this is partly deliberate, in order to present starkly that which is usually masked in qualification, to hold onto the wider picture, to refuse to set different sections of the population against each other."Ruth Levitas, Work, Employment and Society.

'Viviane Forrester's The Economic Horror, a bestseller in her native France, is full of passion for the destructive nature of employment. While governments advocate the "sanctity" of work, the unemployed are made to feel excluded, worthless, detached from the mainstream of society. With the razzmatazz of new Labour's New Deal fast fading, Forrester's arguments have a knowing persistence that upsets the conventional wisdoms of even the most modernised politics.' Mark Perriman, New Statesman


Review
"People have found many scapegoats to explain the rise of unemployment and the inability to combat it - globalization, multinationals, neo-liberalism, even the end of history. Viviane Forrester goes beyond these concepts. Her book sets the terms of a real debate at last. Others will say whether her analyses are relevant, her concepts sound and her facts accurate - in short, whether she is right or wrong. But the reader of Economic Horror will undoubtedly be persuaded of one thing: what she says is just." Le Monde

"Economic Horror also comes to us as a European publishing sensation ... she does have a vision of contemporary capitalism which focuses almost exclusively on its destructive, disorientating side. And which does so in a passionate, pulsing style, clearly attuned to the everyday fears of its predominantly middle-class readership, but not asking them to think too theoretically about the sources of their angst ... Powerful stuff" Sunday Herald (Glasgow)

"Amid so many contemporary arguments about "Third Ways" and the inevitability...of capitalism, it is refreshing to read such an impassioned account of its essential malignance. Some may feel that the case is overstated by the lack of qualification of claims about globalisation and the lack of differentiation between nations, classes, ethnicities, genders. But this is partly deliberate, in order to present starkly that which is usually masked in qualification, to hold onto the wider picture, to refuse to set different sections of the population against each other."Ruth Levitas, Work, Employment and Society.

'Viviane Forrester's The Economic Horror, a bestseller in her native France, is full of passion for the destructive nature of employment. While governments advocate the "sanctity" of work, the unemployed are made to feel excluded, worthless, detached from the mainstream of society. With the razzmatazz of new Labour's New Deal fast fading, Forrester's arguments have a knowing persistence that upsets the conventional wisdoms of even the most modernised politics.' Mark Perriman, New Statesman
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Polity (June 9, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745619940
• ISBN-13: 978-0745619941
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,196,351 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The end of work, May 9, 2000

By	Walter Grant (Boston, MA, USA) - See all my reviews

What happens to society as more and more technology makes work less and less necessary? Viviane Forrester, in her book "The Economic Horror" brilliantly and passionately discusses this question. Her basic thesis is that the benefits and profits from this change accrue to a tiny oligarchy, while the mass of people worldwide essentially become surplus, dispensable trash. She mercilessly cuts through the subterfuges and band aids which have no purpose other than to conceal the impending economic horror for as long as possible, while behind the curtain of lies the politicians collude with business to bring it about as quickly as possible. She shows how racism, xenophobia, class divisions, indeed the whole institutional structure play into the grand scheme of rendering the human person, even human life itself, superfluous. Does she hold out any hope? Yes and no. No hope of a resurrection of work and economic productivity as the measure of worth and dignity. But understanding and acknowledging this truth is in itself a powerful shield for preserving one's worth and dignity. And once the truth is fully understood, there is hope for "organizing society precisely from the absence of work" and trying "to make life decent and viable by other means, and doing it today." Perhaps in another book she will suggest how this could be done.

The translation generally succeeds in maintaining the serious and passionate tone; but occasionally it interjects inappropriate or flippant colloquialisms, and sometimes it is simply unintelligible. But these are minor flaws, and they do not really detract from the power of this work.

If there is one book that can open one's eyes to the world being constructed by the corporate, financial and political powers, this is the book. Read and see.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars French intellectual flop, July 31, 2001

By	William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This book is a `post-modernist' contribution to the debate about unemployment. It starts from the facts that the present economic system prevents full employment, and that the working class as a whole is becoming surplus to requirements. There are now 18 million unemployed people in the EU alone. It is increasingly a world in which workers have no place at all, especially our young people. An OECD Jobs Study openly recommended raising unemployment to cut wages. The World Bank openly recommended cutting benefits to force workers into low-paid jobs, and said that "wage cuts and redundancies [are] essential."

Unfortunately, Ms Forrester argues that we must accept ever-growing unemployment. Instead of working out ways to end mass unemployment, she proposes, in characteristic post-modernist style, to end the `culture' of employment. She writes that our terms of work and unemployment `created such reality', so if we stop using the terms, we change the reality! She calls for "organising society starting precisely from the absence of work." According to her, unemployed people do not need work; they need instead to free themselves from the very idea of work.

She seems unaware of the paradox that she has produced a book - which is work - calling for everyone to recognise the end of work! Not surprisingly, she never mentions the words `manufacturing' or industry': the idea that things are made and need making never seems to strike her.

But of course there is an alternative. We can change our ideology to change the world. Workers do have the right to work; we must organise to reclaim that right. We need to rebuild our industry, in order to rebuild our society. Work needs to be done: improving the environment and our transport services, building homes, schools and hospitals, developing education and culture. How can society survive without work? Jobs need doing, and people need to work. So let's put the two together!