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Joseph Pearce
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Small is Still Beautiful: Economics as if Families Mattered Paperback – December 12, 2006

by Joseph Pearce (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 13 ratings
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A third of a century ago, E. F. Schumacher rang out a timely warning against the idolatry of giantism with his book Small Is Beautiful. Schumacher, a highly respected economist and adviser to third-world governments, broke ranks with the accepted wisdom of his peers to warn of impending calamity if rampant consumerism, technological dynamism, and economic expansionism were not checked by human and environmental considerations.

Joseph Pearce revisits Schumacher’s arguments and examines the multifarious ways in which Schumacher’s ideas themselves still matter. Faced though we are with fearful new technological possibilities and the continued centralization of power in large governmental and economic structures, there is still the possibility of pursuing a saner and more sustainable vision for humanity. Bigger is not always best, Pearce reminds us, and small is still beautiful.

Humanity was lurching blindly in the wrong direction, argued Schumacher. Its obsessive pursuit of wealth would not, as so many believed, ultimately lead to utopia but more probably to catastrophe. Schumacher's greatest achievement was the fusion of ancient wisdom and modern economics in a language that encapsulated contemporary doubts and fears about the industrialized world. The wisdom of the ages, the perennial truths that have guided humanity throughout its history, serves as a constant reminder to each new generation of the limits to human ambition.

But if this wisdom is a warning, it is also a battle cry. Schumacher saw that we needed to relearn the beauty of smallness, of human-scale technology and environments.
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  1. Print length
    350 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    ISI Books
  4. Publication date
    December 12, 2006
  5. Dimensions
    5.25 x 0.9 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1933859059
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1933859057
  8. See all details
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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
13 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Katrina
5.0 out of 5 stars A book for our times...
Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2014
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With the divide growing ever larger between the rich and middle class , this book helps to get a perspective on what is really important . Though not meant entirely for the United States, for me it began my American Dream Detox. I am slowly beginning to wean myself from the industrialized consumerist mentality prevalent in the culture and seek a more peaceful existence .
5 people found this helpful
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Careful Shopper
5.0 out of 5 stars Important
Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2014
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Everything I've read by Joseph Pearce challenges, informs, educates and inspires. If I could, I would mail a copy to all our legislators.
One person found this helpful
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Rocky Raccoon
4.0 out of 5 stars "Finest Worksong"
Reviewed in the United States on July 13, 2008
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"What we want, and what we need, have been confused, been confused."
--"Finest Worksong,"-R.E.M.

Joseph Pearce's "Small Is Still Beautiful" is a reflective book, drawing upon E. F. Schumacher's influential treatise "Small Is Beautiful". Touching upon many topics, Pearce provides several themes:

1.) Corporate greed and hording are leaving third world nations bereft and in a despairing cycle of debt.

2.) Both big business and big government are undermining each man's individual rights for fulfillment and prospering. Local concerns and small businesses should thrive because they provide greater distributive justice and more individual freedom(s).

3.) Given the ramifications of the first two prospects, greed is swallowing up our natural resources and destroying the earth's soil, while man continues to poison himself and his environment with too much pollution and pesticide.

Given the nature of dwindling resources, Pearce offers (but not exclusively) the following antidotes:

1.) Allowing small businesses to thrive creates variety and equanimity.

2.) Co-Ops are successful and create a rewarding environment for employees who are drawn to initiative and a part of the decision making process.

3.) Organic farming is a growing alternative that keeps soil thriving and people healthy.

Prime Examples of Persuasion (or to offer some PEP):

1.) Four British friends, discontent with the bland homogenization of their country's beer, decide during a holiday in Ireland to form their own tasty brew. From their efforts to form CAMRA (or The Campaign for Real Ale) in 1971, they not only launched a successful local brewery, but also started a microbrewery movement with ramifications on both sides of the Atlantic.

2.) Whatever merits and demerits can be said for the EU (European Union), Pearce gives startling examples of how their centralized power hurts local businesses. One account tells how the EU threatened to close West Country meat business because EU officials wanted everyone to wear new grey uniforms for "safety" reasons.

3.) Pearce documents the thriving organic food market and demonstrates how it rejuvenates the soil as well as people's spirits.

The problem, however, goes to the heart of darkness. Pearce faults a consumer society where it is hard to be satisfied by all the new goods and products. As long as the wealthy remain unsatisfied, there will be less resources for those who are most in need.

Sources: Besides persuasive arguments and ample examples, Pearce relies partly on...

1.) British author, G.K. Chesterton's "Distributivism"
2.) Soviet Nobel Prize winning author, Alexander Solzhenitsyn's "Peril of Progress"
3.) Catholic scholar Dorothy Sayer's reflections, including her "Seven Deadly Sins" of Consumption balanced by Schumacher's "Seven Life Giving Virtues".

Mostly a smooth and engaging read, Pearce makes a solid if not alarming case to "cooperate and prosper" for our future survival.

Personal Reflection (or PR): With oil prices up and alarming reports of food shortages (from rice to dwindling fishing resources), it isn't hard to find Pearce's book a practical and convincing argument for changing our world. I was recently delighted to watch Pixar's 'WALL-E' where all the major themes are illustrated so well in an animated movie.

And, finally, a quote from the book of G.K. Chesterton that succinctly solidifies our purpose: "That which is large enough for the rich to covet...is large enough for the poor to defend."
39 people found this helpful
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Holdahl
3.0 out of 5 stars Good Background, but little new to offer over the original
Reviewed in the United States on April 26, 2007
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I had hoped that this really filled in a lot of gaps from the original Schumacher book, "Small is Beautiful". Still, it is clearly written with enough basic economic information that you will still get Schumacher's main points with some updated references. I would definately recommend reading Schumacher's book first, then "Whatever happened to penny candy" or if you are more studious, you will be well rewarded for reading Griffin's "The creature from Jekyll Island" explaining the origins of our current lawless state of economics that has profited the wealthy bankers and put our nation into a perpetual state of indebtedness, which has now infected the congress, senate, and corporations to epidemic levels.
16 people found this helpful
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Tony
4.0 out of 5 stars More Can Be Better!
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2007
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Schumacher's Small Is Beautiful is a classic, a prophetic voice for today's generation. His socio-economic arguments are profound and written with a crisp language animated by wit and humor. Much of Pearce's update, Small Is Still Beautiful, maintains the integrity of the original in clear, consise language that passionately attacks the greed of multi-national corporations, the incompetence of governments, and the hedonistic demands of consumers.

Pearce has incorporated much of Schumacher's work as the fabric, then adorned it with current facts, figures and events. His chapter (Small Beer: A Case Study) on English micro-breweries provides a good example of trends favoring a small sustainable industry. He could have also included the upsurge of American micro-breweries and small, family owned wineries.

Unfortunately, Pearce has applied the "small is beautiful" principle to the contents of his 313 page book. Excluded are today's movements which are gaining momentum in sustainability, fair trade, micro-credit, slow food, recycling and conservation. Bigger is better when it contributes to a humane response against a culture of greed and avarice.
20 people found this helpful
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C. Gill
3.0 out of 5 stars An amazingly wonderful writer disappoints
Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2014
Joseph Pearce is one of my favorite writers. He has produced some magnificent biographies of great 20th century writers as well as saints. Consequently, I had high hopes when I opened this book. I have to say upon finishing it, that this is not Mr. Pearce's best work. Certainly there is wonderful writing within but he spends too much time worried about the ecological impact of multinational corporations and not enough time discussing the impact to families and individuals. The subtitle made me think this would be the primary slant of the book... but instead many pages were devoted to the pollution of big companies (which of course is terrible and does effect the family... but most of us already understand that bit). Maybe it is just me, but the spiritual damage done to the family by huge corporations and the positive approach of distributism is what I had hoped to read about in this book.
Please do yourself a favor and read any of the other books by Joseph Pearce... just not this one.
6 people found this helpful
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Jonathan
4.0 out of 5 stars A much needed revistiation of Schumacher
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2018
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Pearce's book represents a much needed revisitation of Schumacher's "Small is Beautiful." His selections, and explorations of Schumacher's prophetic work are both insightful and relevant, with many contemporary references showing the validity of the argument for economics on a human scale. The mixture of theology, economics, and morality is a rallying cry for those fed up with the excesses of capitalism and the abject failure of socialism.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Jean Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellentio!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 9, 2023
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Good book, good delivery, good price, good condition.
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