Extravagance and Misery

Alan Thomas is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of York. Educated at Cambridge, Harvard and Oxford he has held visiting positions at the Australian National University, St. Louis University, Tulane University, and the University of British Columbia. His previous publications include Value and Context and Republic of Equals, both published by Oxford University Press.Alfred Archer is an Associate Professor at Tilburg University. He was educated at the University of Glasgow and the University of Edinburgh. He has worked at the University of Bristol and Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and held a visiting position at Freie Universität Berlin. His previous publications include Honouring and Admiring the Immoral: An Ethical Guide and Why It's OK to be a Sports Fan, both published by Routledge. Bart Engelen is an Associate Professor at Tilburg. After his PhD and postdoctoral research at KU Leuven, he moved to Tilburg University. His research focuses on the bordersbetween ethics, political philosophy and economics. He has published extensively on the ethics of nudging and issues surrounding rationality, autonomy, paternalism, moral education, voting and markets. He is currently the head of research of Tilburg University's Department of Philosophy.

• IntroductionChapter One: The Problem of InequalityPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 The Facts of Inequality2 The Structural Basis of the 'New' Inequality3 Is America an 'Outlier'?4 Inequality and GlobalisationChapter Two: Empirical Data on Inequality and Dual EconomyPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 The Critique of Rent Seeking2 Wage Suppression and the Dual Economy3 Rent Seeking, Resentment and AngrynomicsChapter Three: Addressing Inequality: A Normative FrameworkPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 The Badness of Inequality2 Distinctions of Caste and Class3 Domination, Wealth and Anxiety 4 A Distinction Within EgalitarianismChapter Four: Recruiting the Science of HappinessPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 Problematic Correlations2 A Positive Role for the Science of Happiness?3 Going Beyond the Spirit LevelChapter Five: Emotions, Explanations and Emotional RegimesPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 A General Conception of Emotions2 The Justificatory Role of Emotions3 Emotions in Social Explanations4 Universalism or Constructivism About Emotions?5 Reddy's Conception of Emotional Regimes6 Other Aspects of Emotional Regimes7 The Emotional Appeal of Market FundamentalismChapter Six: Rousseau, Smith and Hegel on the Emotional Regimes of Commercial Society Propositional SummaryIntroduction1 Rousseau's Originating Critique2 From Rousseau to Smith3 From Smith to Hegel4 The New Inequality in a Classical Frame5 Rousseau's, Smith's and Hegel's Emotional RegimesChapter Seven: The Emotional Regimes of Roman Republicanism and Political LiberalismPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 Republicanism's Economy of Esteem2 Political Liberalism's Emotional Regime3 Rawlsian Stability in a Rousseauian FrameChapter Eight: The Promises and Failures of Capitalist Market SocietiesPropositional SummaryIntroduction1: The Continuing Appeal of Smith's Ideal 2 Extending the Model to Financialised Capitalism 3 Veblen: The Engineer versus the Capitalist4 Kalecki: The Disciplinary Role of Unemployment5 The Proliferation of Capitalist Discipline6 Financialisation and the Disciplinary Role of Debt7 Can Smith's Ideal Survive in the Twenty-First Century?Chapter Nine: Positional Goods and Opportunity HoardingPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 Hirsch on Positional Goods 2 Opportunity Hoarding3 Positionality and Cultural Legislation 4 Positionality, De-Marketisation and Public GoodsChapter Ten: The Science of Happiness, Inequality and Well-beingPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 Why (Not) Use Empirical Evidence about Happiness and Well-being?2 General and Specific Conceptions of Well-being3 Our Approach: Ecumenical Yet Committed4 Well-being: Methodological and Normative Issues5 Well-being and Emotional Regimes6 Income, Wealth and Well-being7 Income and Wealth Inequality and Its Relation to Well-being8 Using the Science of HappinessChapter Eleven: Inequality, Shame, Envy and Admiration: A Smithian PerspectivePropositional SummaryIntroduction1 The Inevitability of Shame in Stratified Societies2 The Moral Psychological Impact of the Shame of Poverty3 Shame, Stigmatisation and Rationality 4 Smith and Admiration for the Rich5 Veblen and Emulation for the Rich in Market Societies6 Admiration, Emulation and Envy in Capitalist Market Societies7 Ought We to Disregard Envy and Admiration for the Rich?Chapter Twelve: The False Promise of Meritocracy and Its Emotional RegimePropositional SummaryIntroduction1 A Short History of Meritocracy2 Meritocracy as an Incoherent Ideal3 Meritocracy as an Unrealisable Ideal4 Meritocracy as an Unstable Ideal5 The Falsity of the Meritocratic Explanation of the New Inequality 6 The Functional Role of Meritocratic Beliefs7 Merit's Role in the Emotional Regime of Capitalism8 The Impact of Meritocratic Beliefs on Well-being9 Meritocracy, Oppression and Affective InjusticeChapter Thirteen: Republican and Liberal Emotional Regimes RevisitedPropositional SummaryIntroduction1 Strong and Weak Egalitarianism and Stability2 Self-Respect, Confidence and Mutual Investment 3 Full Employment and the De-Commodification of Labour 4 Realistic Utopianism about Work: Eliminating Bottlenecks5 De-Marketisation, Public Goods and the Commons6 Rawlsian Associationalism: Putting Positionality in Its Place7 A People's Money 8 Priorities Without Prioritarianism ConclusionList of Works Cited