Open AccessBook Review: The Imperial Mode of Living: Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism by Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen
Author(s) -
Jamie Ranger
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
triplec
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.564
H-Index - 21
ISSN - 1726-670X
DOI - 10.31269/triplec.v19i2.1274
Subject(s) - everyday life , capitalism , ecological crisis , standard of living , mode (computer interface) , consumption (sociology) , sociology , environmental ethics , economy , political economy , political science , social science , economics , law , philosophy , politics , computer science , operating system
Jamie Ranger reviews Ulrich Brand and Markus Wissen’s 2021 book The Imperial Mode of Living: Everyday Life and the Ecological Crisis of Capitalism. The book explores the extent to which everyday practices of consumption in the global North rely on the exploitation of resources and labour from ‘somewhere else’ (an intentionally vague reference to the global South) and as such hide the broader paradox at the heart of the expansion of western standards of living across the world: the more globally accessible the standard of living becomes, the more economically exploitative and ecologically unsustainable it is for those not privy to its comforts.