"The Overspent American"

Paper Summary:

This paper examines the book "The Overspent American" by Juliet Schor which takes on the American consumer discusses why "we" make and spend money. It looks at the main ideas in her book, which is divided into six chapters and how in some respects, this book can be considered a companion piece to her 1992 research exercise called "The Overworked American" when she revealed to the world that Americans were working too hard.

Outline
Brief Synopsis
Opinion
Quality of Writing
Effectiveness of the Arguments
Critical Response to the Book
Comments

From the Paper:

"Perhaps this approach to the opening was to obscure the fact that the author is an economist, and wants to establish right away that she is "one of us?" Later in the preface she clarifies who she is writing the book for. "...this book is mainly about middle-class and upper middle-class consumers...spending patterns are strongly differentiated by class, and the system of competitive spending I describe is driven by those with discretionary income." This simple sentence is fraught with terms that need defining or, at least, clarification, such as "middle class," "upper middle class" "competitive spending" and "discretionary income." Granted, these are all terms in the preface, and are indexed with referents, but even in those presentations, the arguments are circuitous."

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