A movement to resist the spectacle of affluence and engage in the simplicity of festive living (see Affluenza - In The News). 3 more Definitions:
Af-flu-en-za n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by dogged pursuit of the American Dream. 3. An unsustainable addiction to economic growth. 4. A television program that could change your life.
Affluenza An extreme form of materialism in which consumers overwork and accumulate high levels of debt in order to purchase more goods (affluence + influenza).
Affluenza is a dysfunctional relationship with money/wealth, or the pursuit of it. Individual and cultural symptoms are: an inability to delay gratification and tolerate frustration; a false sense of entitlement; loss of future motivation; low self-esteem; loss of self-confidence; low self-worth; preoccupation with externals. Sudden wealth syndrome and sudden poverty syndrome are both parts of the greater "dis-ease" of affluenza (Jessie H. O'Neill, MA, CET II).
Affluenza - In The News Features
Shopaholic, workaholic, stressaholic, and stuffaholic: All are symptoms of an addiction sweeping the globe and threatening your family, community, and planet! It's Affluenza.
Stay away from the shopping malls.
We champion the most extravagant lifestyle the world has ever known.
Do you suffer from Affluenza? Take the AFFLUENZA TEST
Learn History
of AFFLUENZA e.g. U.S. colonists were mostly people who
rejected the
materialism of the countries they fled; a simple living
movement was started by
the leaders of the American Revolution to reduce our
dependence on trade with the mother country.
Voluntary Simplicity How much do you need? by Roger J. Wendell
Photo from Disease World
Adbusters - Postcards Buy Nothing Day -- Adbusters: 'Buy Nothings' Discover a Cure for Affluenza
AFFLUENZA: A MORAL VIRUS OR A NATURAL AMERICAN BIRTHRIGHT? Dr. Khoren Arisian September 17, 2000
"Wealth consists not in having great possessions but in having few wants." -Epicurus (341-270 B.C.E.)
The
Call to Simplicity Cheshire Frager July 31, 2000