Elena’s Reviews > Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist > Status Update

Upton Sinclair: ‘It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.’

Taylor Mali: ‘changing your mind is of one of the best ways of finding out whether or not you still have one’

Merely mentioning market roles can crowd out our intrinsic motivation. One online survey asked participants to imagine themselves as one among four households facing a water shortage due to a drought affecting their shared well. Crucially, the survey described the whole scenario in terms of ‘consumers’ to one half of the participants, and in terms of ‘individuals’ to the other half. …

… ‘good is up’ and ‘good is forward’ are deeply embedded in Western culture, shaping the way we think and speak. … no wonder we have so willingly accepted that economic success must also lie in an ever-rising national income. It fits with the deep belief … that ‘ even if more material goods are not themselves most important, nevertheless, a society is happier when it is moving forward.’