Brief Description
Examines middle Australia and how it is coping with the changes of economic reform.
Learn More about the Book
Four hundred Australians across the country shared their experiences of work, family, parenting and study for this book, creating a striking picture of Australian society as a new millennium begins. Meticulously researched, the volume presents a counter-argument to the regime of economic reform. Michael Pusey's sequel is as controversial as his best-selling Economic Rationalism in Canberra.
About the Author
Michael Pusey was educated in England, France, Australia and the United States, where he took his doctorate at Harvard. He is the author of the best-selling Economic Rationalism in Canberra and is presently Honorary Visiting Professor at the University of New South Wales.
Review Quotes
1. "If the doctrine that 'markets know best' is an empirical thesis, not merely fundamentalist dogma, then a variety of questions at once arise. The great value of this book is that it poses some of the most important of these: in particular, the crucial question of 'how people experience the economy.' The answers are instructive, in some respects chilling, and should become a central component of public debate on the radical reconstruction of Australian society that has been imposed on the basis of principles that are far from self-justifying." Noam Chomsky
2. 'We should applaud Michael Pusey for reminding us that our proper study is not the bottom line but the way we live and relate with each other, and that the quest for constant growth ignores the need for harmony and balance in the finite world that we inhabit.' Elizabeth Evatt
3. 'Commentators talk about Middle Australia. In this humane and scholarly book, Michael Pusey talks with Middle Australians instead, to find out what they think is happening to their world. The result is fascinating. One of the most important contributions to Australian self-understanding of recent years.' Robert Manne
4. 'If the doctrine that 'markets know best' is an empirical thesis, not merely fundamentalist dogma, then a variety of questions at onc arise The great value of this book is that it poses some of the most important of these: in particular, the crucial question of 'how people experience the economy'. The answers are instructive, in some respects chilling, and should become a central component of public debate on the radical reconstruction of Australian society that has been imposed on the basis of principles that are far from self-justifying.' Noam Chomsky
5. "Middle Australia wants other riches than money. It has a lurking suspicion that economic reform involves highway robbery of human values. Michael Pusey and his team have unveiled a fascinating insight into the hidden Middle Earth of Australian thinking." Bob Brown
6. "We should applaud Michael Pusey for reminding us that our proper study is not the bottom line but the way we live and relate with each other, and that the quest for constant growth ignores the need for harmony and balance in the finite world that we inhabit." Elizabeth Evatt
7. "Ten years ago Michael Pusey's research told us how we were landed with 'market rule' without much chance to vote about it. Now in a fair sample of middle Australia he has found a landslide majority for a fairer, fully employed, less unequal and more sustainable economy than small government has ever given us." Hugh Stretton
8. Pusey's provocative and important book is a challenge to contemporary orthodoxies. Society, he warns, will bite back if we choose to build our civilisation solely around the concern of business to operate with as little constraint as possible. He deserves to be read--and heeded." Will Hutton, author, The State We're In and The World We're In
