The Wire

Affluenza is a word for our times – it is defined as the bloated sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from a life of shopping and consumerism – chasing the Australian dream in fact. Australia Institute Director Clive Hamilton reckons it’s something we’ew all suffering from, even those happy shoppers out buying the flat screen telly on the ever flexible credit card. He spoke to Annie Hastwell about his book “Affluenza”, a wake-up call that it’s time to slow down the shopping and look for more meaning in life.