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Care is the foundation of organic life. But its fate in the economy is precarious and uncertain. The labour of care is arduous and underpaid. Yet without it health and vitality are impossible. Care itself ends up leading a curious dual life. In our hearts it's honoured as an irreducible good. But in the market it's treated as a second class citizen - barely recognised in the relentless rush for productivity and wealth.
How did we arrive in this dysfunctional place? And what can we do to change things? What would it mean to take health seriously as a societal goal? What would it take to adopt care as an organising principle in the economy?
Renowned ecological economist Tim Jackson sets out to tackle these questions in this timely and deeply personal book. His journey travels through the history of medicine, the economics of capitalism and the philosophical underpinnings of health. He unpacks the gender politics of care, revisits the birthplace of a universal dream and confronts the demons that prevent us from realising it.
Irreverent, insightful and profoundly inquisitive,
The Care Economy offers a bold and accessible manifesto for a healthier and more humane society.
Also available as an audiobook, narrated by the author.
List of contents
Prologue 1 The Road to Hell
2 Euphoria
3 Vital Signs
4 The Myth of Care
5 No Good Deed
6 Passerelle
7 Shoot the Messenger
8 The Lost Generation
9 Care in the Time of Cholera
10 Pathogenesis
11 Death and the Maiden
12 Fuck the Patriarchy
13 Land's End
14 Jenga
15 The Red Pill
Acknowledgements Notes References
About the author
Tim Jackson is Director of the Centre for the Understanding of Sustainable Prosperity (CUSP) and Professor of Sustainable Development at the University of Surrey in the UK. For over three decades, he has pioneered research on the moral, economic and social dimensions of prosperity on a finite planet. His landmark book
Prosperity without Growth (2009/2017) was a
Financial Times book of the year, and UnHerd's book of the decade. It appeared in 17 foreign language editions worldwide. In 2016, he was awarded the Hillary Laureate for exceptional international leadership in sustainability. In addition to his academic work, Tim is an award-winning dramatist with numerous radio-writing credits for the BBC.
