'Voluntary Simplicity' is a response to the consumer culture and an alternative to it, combining the freedom of modernity with certain comforts and virtues from the past. This volume brings together a number of thinkers who examine the what, why and how of voluntary simplicity.
In the past fifty years, the standard of living in most industrialized nations has risen dramatically, but the number of people describing themselves as content has remained steady or fallen. The result has been a growing desire to regain some of the virtues of simpler times, whether by forgoing luxuries, switching careers, or returning to nature. These essays reflect on the different facets of 'voluntary simplicity' and consumer culture, providing an historic view of the movement as well as a social-scientific analysis of its causes and effects.
