Synopses & Reviews
What could middle-class German supermarket shoppers buying eggs and impoverished Maya farmers in Guatemala harvesting coffee possibly have in common? Both groups are using the market in pursuit of the "good life." But what exactly is the good life? How do we define wellbeing beyond the material standards of living? While we may all want to live the good life, we differ widely on just what that entails. In
The Good Life, Edward Fischer examines wellbeing by exploring very different cultural contexts in an attempt to tease out universal notions of the good life and how best to achieve it.
Building on the work of his earlier best-selling Stanford Press book, Broccoli and Desire, Fischer seeks to bind his subjects together in webs of desire and material production. Drawing from his research in both Guatemala and Germany, this book is a richly layered attempt to better understand the key elements of the good life, which include aspiration, opportunity, dignity, and purpose. The Good Life provides readers with fascinating on-the-ground narratives of Germans' choices regarding the purchase of eggs and cars, and Guatemalans' production of coffee and cocainethings to which people attach their aspirations and desires for a good life, both extraordinary and mundane.
Review
"In this excellent book, Ted Fischer introduces us to Guatemalan farmers and German consumers and shows us how culturally-held values enter into economic decision-making, exposing the similarities that exist even while investigating separate corners of the world. An important contribution to economic anthropology that will be of interest to anyone concerned with the ethical dimensions of economic life."Jens Beckert, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies
Review
"Homo economicus, the representative rational actor assumed in economists' models, is a social moron. Fischer's keen eye for social detail reveals how markets populated by actual people often behave very differently from those portrayed in economics textbooks. This delightful book helps explain why policy makers around the world are increasingly attentive to the important distinction between well-being and per-capita income."Robert H. Frank, Cornell University
Review
"In the burgeoning literature on markets and moralities, The Good Life is a benchmark exercise in reconciling well-being, rationalities and in balancing the study of economic externalities with ethical internalities. It will be of great interest to ethnographers of the economy and to all thinkers concerned with the value of values."Arjun Appadurai, New York University
Review
"A fine anthropological addition to the growing interdisciplinary project of happiness and well-being studies . . . Highly recommended."B. Weston, Choice
About the Author
Edward F. Fischer is Professor of Anthropology and Director of the Center for Latin American Studies at Vanderbilt University. His books include Global Economies: Maya Identity in Thought and Practice (Texas 2001, a Choice Outstanding Academic Title), Tecpán Guatemala: A Modern Maya Town in Local and Global Context (Westview 2002, w/Carol Hendrickson), and Broccoli and Desire: Global Connections and Maya Struggles in Postwar Guatemala (w/Peter Benson, SUP, 2006).