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THE Selfish Capitalist blends elements of psychology, cultural studies and sociology with political-economic ideas to successfully illustrate the difference between what the author terms the selfish capitalism of Britain and the US and the unselfish capitalism of western Europe and Japan.
James suggests that, in Britain, the top 1 per cent of earners doubled their share of the national income from 6.5 per cent to 13 per cent since 1982, but, at the same time, real wages, adjusted for inflation, have remain static since the 1970s - much like the US.
The author, who is a clinical child psychologist, also links his selfish capitalist concepts to issues of mental health. Consider James's conclusion that materialists - the author uses this term in reference to in consumerism and the love of material possessions, not in the Marxist sense of historical materialism - are more likely than non-materialists to have low self-esteem, a greater chance of being starved of love in their childhood and having parents that are divorced.
Throughout, the author strengthens his thesis using a wide variety of academic research and theoretical concepts.
Most pertinent of all is a quote from Erich Fromm, a German Marxist whose words are as relevant today as they were in 1955.
"Boredom comes from the fact that man has become purely an instrument, that he cultivates no initiative, that he feels like a little cog in a machine that someone could replace with another at any time. He tries to compensate for it through consumption."
JACK JOHNSON