The next four chapters begin to tackle the heart of the issues we face today – including the all-important return to Citizenship, in the face of an unhappy and over-consuming society.
We consider not only how Consumerism is on the wane, but also how the marketers of today are awakening to the implications of past actions and what a lower consumption world will mean for them and their industry. We go on to discuss the relevance (or not) of GDP as an adequate economic measure and the redressing of the balance between Wants, Needs and Means. We call this Wellbeing Economics – driven by ecological economics, not GDP, and based, fundamentally, on planetary ‘Means’ (the ecologically safe level of human use of resources like fish, atmosphere and water) and societal Needs, rather than selfish human Wants. Finally, we look at what Corporate Social Responsibility will look like within a new Capitalist model (Capitalism 3.0) – and how this plays out for both politics and business. Case Studies are used to illustrate the arguments and to bring some of the thinking to life.
