Tag: Gift
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The 3rd Economy: Gift, Market and Plunder [3] | Relationships and Transactions | Hunters and Plunderers
[ Gift, Market and Plunder [1] ] | [ Gift, Market and Plunder [2] ] In the previous two posts I’ve begun reflecting on Thorstein Veblen’s Conspicious Consumption thesis about ‘the leisure class’ – a group of people he identifies who feel that work is somehow below them: ‘The upper (leisure) classes are by custom…
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The 3rd Economy: Gift, Market and Plunder [2] | Individual Ownership and The Root of Warfare
In the previous post I began to set out some further thoughts on gift, springing from my reading of Thorstein Veblen’s 1899 satire Conspicuous Consumption. I want to continue to develop the thoughts outlined there about the ‘leisure class’ that Veblen describes. Essentially, we might now see them as the aristocracy, or celebrities. They are…
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The 3rd Economy: Gift, Market and Plunder [1] | Christian Leadership and the Leisure Class
As some of you may know, I’ve been working on a novel for the past few months, playing with themes, among others, of the links between identity and consumption. One of the books I’ve picked up to feed the furnace has been Thorstein Veblen’s 1899 satire Conspicuous Consumption (an excerpt from his longer work The…
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Seeing Red ¦ The Commodification of Poverty
There’s been a lot of media attention given to Bono’s initiative ‘Brand Red’ recently. The Independent is edited by him today (nice cover by Damien Hirst). And yesterday saw the launch of a Motorola phone which, when bought, gives £10 to development charities, and, when used, gives 5% of call charges too. I have to…
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Generocity
My brother in law, Simon, and his partner Maro are going to be heading out with VSO shortly. They’ve started a blog which I’ve added to my sidebar, and I thoroughly recommend passing by there. The strap-line they’ve come up with is ‘Bringing Global Justice Home’ and what I really like about what they’re doing…
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Via Crucis Grid Blog: The Cross
“ An image which frequently appears among the archetypal configurations of the unconscious is that of the tree or the wonder-working plant.” Carl Jung The Golden Bough, the Burning Bush, the Tree of Life, the Forbidden Fruit, Golden Flower, Ambrosia… The healing plant has a long history, and appears to be ‘rooted’ in our very…