Short Essay (What is Affluenza) Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Short (What is Affluenza) - Essay Example In the book, the authors suggest that affluenza is overemphasis to economic growth based on feelings of unfulfilled lives and characterized by overwork, indebtedness and waste in a bid to fulfill the Australian dream (Hamilton & Denniss, 2005). In explaining what they meant by ‘affluenza’, Professor Clive Hamilton and Richard Denniss begin by citing figures in the Australian economy. According to them, the country’s economy grew by $25 billion. In spite of this growth, there exists gross under-funding of education, health and transport. The two authors point out that Australians are so occupied with posh life that they forget their core role in providing essential services. Actually, they write that ‘Australians today have real incomes three times higher than 1950’ (Hamilton & Denniss, 2005; p. 4). However, although Australians are some of the richest people on earth, they are not willing to pay taxes so that social or public amenities such as education and health could be improved. According to Hamilton and Denniss (2005), ‘Australia does not have a public health funding crisis: it has a flat-screen TV crisis (p. 5). This seems to be the perfect description for affluenza: being occup ied with unnecessary overconsumption at the expense of most important things. There is no doubt that the book expressly challenges capitalism. According to Cowie (2008), capitalism promotes classism. This is well evident in the Australian consumption spirit. The quest for more wealth leads to competition and creation of structures that benefit a few and disadvantage the majority. The rich become richer and the poor become poorer. No one is concerned with the welfare of the other. Instead of co-operating, people compete. This has led to propagation of classism and creation of vicious cycles of poverty in the society (Hart, 2010). Since the poor do not have an opportunity to better themselves, they become poorer. With regard to the rich, ‘as a