Five years after the Great Recession, we must confront an unhappy truth: a high-tech, high-speed, consumer economy engineered to provide maximum power to individuals is destroying our capacity to move forward as a society. Even as rapidly advancing personal technologies let consumers gratify an ever-broader array of desires, a similar pattern of instant gratification in the worlds of business and politics is splitting our economy and undermining our most important social institutions—family, community, collective action.
The result is a massive and ongoing fragmentation. Corporate executives now maximize returns without regard for social consequences. Political leaders score quick points while destroying common ground. Consumers cover their growing economic insecurity by retreating into personalized world that render collective social action all but impossible.The consequences: financial volatility, health epidemics, environmental degradation, and political paralysis, to say nothing of a deep and growing dissatisfaction. All reflect a society whose pursuit of self-interest grows more intense and less enlightened every year.文章源自：力哥爱英语（ienglish521.com）力哥爱英语-https://ienglish521.com/2452.html
More than thirty years ago, Christopher Lasch published his landmark book, The Culture of Narcissism. Since then, the conditions he described have only gotten worse. And while Lasch’s analysis was largely cultural, the real story has always been an economic one. Paul Roberts digs down to the economic roots of the problem, showing how it has metastasized over the last three decades. In clear, cogent prose that mixes vibrant reporting and illuminating analysis, Roberts tells the fascinating story of how the impulse society came to be—and shows how, perhaps, a healthier society may still be possible.文章源自：力哥爱英语（ienglish521.com）力哥爱英语-https://ienglish521.com/2452.html
如果说我们生活在一个荒诞的年代，可能很多人不会反对。在我们所能想到的所有方面：经济、政治、文化，甚至我们每个人的精神世界中,我们都面临着越来越多的裂痕。文章源自：力哥爱英语（ienglish521.com）力哥爱英语-https://ienglish521.com/2452.html
美国著名记者保罗·罗伯茨一语击中：我们的整个社会经济体系成为一个巨大的引擎，它为个人、CEO们和政客们自私且短视的冲动服务，却忽略了社会紧迫的、长远的需求。文章源自：力哥爱英语（ienglish521.com）力哥爱英语-https://ienglish521.com/2452.html
保罗·罗伯茨在这本书中带我们畅游了美国的社会、经济、战争以及医疗等一系列广泛的领域，全方位地阐明了我们如何变得沉迷于“最大化利润”，并为之不择手段。公司高管们只求厚利而全然不考虑社会影响；政治领导者不惜牺牲公众利益来获取迅速回报；消费者沉浸在个人化的世界中，使得集体行动几乎不可能……这一切所导致的最终结果就是：金融危机、医疗体系崩溃、环境恶化、政治瘫痪以及深刻且不断增长的全社会的不满情绪。文章源自：力哥爱英语（ienglish521.com）力哥爱英语-https://ienglish521.com/2452.html
这一切背后的原因是：我们想要的东西并不是我们需要的东西。《冲动的社会》对美国社会的现状进行了广泛而深入的描绘：美国已经完全屈服于“市场永远正确”的意识形态。我们相信自己生活在一个被理性自由选择所塑造的社会中，实际上，文化早已成为个人化冲动的傀儡，对合作、耐心以及自我牺牲的漠视让我们的未来毫无希望。文章源自：力哥爱英语（ienglish521.com）力哥爱英语-https://ienglish521.com/2452.html
罗伯茨不仅思考经济、政治和社会之间的相互作用，而且还告诉我们如何应该重新掌握对我们的生活、国家以及未来的主动权。在讨论社会问题的各种著作中,本书是最为平衡，也最为尖锐的批评声音之一。文章源自：力哥爱英语（ienglish521.com）力哥爱英语-https://ienglish521.com/2452.html
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