This book tells the story of how humans from working for surviving to for shopping.
I already know it, but without a systematic view before reading this book. It makes me realize a big problem in modern society is that we are far away from production and waste in our daily life. We buy everything from supermarkets instead of producing them by ourselves. The wastes are throwed into the trash bin and we don’t have a clear picture about how they are processed or what kind of polutions it will produce. For example, fruits sold in Canada may come from Mexico. The prices are low for mid-income families and they can through their fruits away even though they are still eatable but just not in good shape. What they don’t realize is the men labour behind producing this kind of affordable fruit. Farmer workers in Mexico may struggle to earn in living producing the fruits. The same applies to clothes which are made in Asia with cheap labour. In terms of waste, people who throw away plastics probably don’t realize how waste processing is polluting our environment and killing wild animals. Plastics degraded in nature will also come to water and soil and finally come to us by the food chain. It’s serious and real.
Highlights from the Book
这套流程我们已经很熟悉了：一件物品被创造出来，人们迅速沉迷，然后通过越来越便宜的复制技术把它大众化，最后遭到精英阶级的嫌弃。
人们产生了更贴合消费的新心态，不再直接为了生存而工作，而是致力于用他们的劳动赚钱，然后花着转来的钱，通过市场满足自己的需求。人们逐渐逃离了公共秩序，逃离了邻居的监视，进入了城市，在匿名的环境里工作，并被哈利多彩的灯光、图像，娱乐和购物活动包围着。
在法国，在被称为“美好年代”的那段时间反现代主义者却，反现代主义者却认为人们的审美和精神正在走下坡路，认为资产阶级变得越来越庸俗，认为这是衰弱的开始。
行为主义心理学家 Jhon Watson 曾表示：“给我一打健康的婴儿，并在我自己设定的特殊环境中养育他们，那么我愿意担保，可以随便挑选其中的一个婴儿，把他训练成为我所选定的任何一种专家–医生、律师、艺术家、商人，或者乞丐、窃贼。而不管他的才能、嗜好、倾向、能力、天资和他祖先的种族。”
当然，在前资本主义世界的农民社会中，性格分工已经很重要了。男人通常做一些力量型工作, …，女性则承担家务、手艺活，如 …。最重要的事，虽然男女的人物不同，但是这些工作是平等恶毒，因为它们对于集体生活必不可少。
尽管女人和以前一样，完成家中的劳作，但现在她们的地位却大不如前，毕竟，人们会认为花钱的不如赚钱的。