Consumption

We present four interviews on American consumerism, with Leigh Eric Schmidt, David Lyon, Thomas Frank, and Sam Van Eman. (46 minutes)

FEATURED GUESTS: William Cavanaugh, Kent Burreson, Beth Hoeltke, Jeffrey Barbeau, Jason Baxter, John Betz, and Bruce Herman

FROM VOL. 44 David Myers and Robert Frank discuss the tenuous relationship between wealth and happiness. (22 minutes)

FROM VOL. 68 Murray Milner, Jr., explores how the current structure of schools and education leads almost inevitably to a culture of consumption among teenagers. (19 minutes)

FROM VOL. 113 Theologian Norman Wirzba examines the relationship between food and faith. (24 minutes)

FROM VOL. 114 Historian Brad Gregory discusses the unintended consequences of the Reformation, consequences which continue to trouble us. (26 minutes)

Thomas Frank argues that the anti-establishment ethos of the counterculture was not a new phenomenon in the 1960s but was already present in corporate America long before the Beatles showed up. (23 minutes)

James Twitchell discusses a few of the themes in his book about the confusing state of the evolution of shame and shamelessness. (20 minutes)

Zygmunt Bauman on being a consumer in a consumer society

The commodification of everything is a problem, not an opportunity.

FEATURED GUESTS: Murray Milner, Jr., Steven C. Vryhof, Douglas J. Schuurman, Robert Gagnon, Richard Stivers, and Quentin Schultze

The order of Creation, says Wendell Berry, is closer to that of a drama than that of a market. That quality should inform how we imagine economic life to be well-ordered.

FEATURED GUESTS: Jon Butler, Gary Cross, Zygmunt Bauman, Pico Iyer, Richard Stivers, Larry Woiwode, Alan Jacobs, and James Trott

FEATURED GUESTS: James Davison Hunter, Brian C. Robertson, David Myers, Robert Frank, Gayle Brandow Samuels, Thomas Hine, Thomas Hibbs, and Robin Leaver

FEATURED GUESTS: Jedediah Purdy, Lendol Calder, John Nelson, George Arasimowicz, James Calvin Schaap, Frederick Buechner, Kay Hymowitz, and Calvin Stapert