Skip to main content
Log in

Patel, Raj and Stephen Moore: A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet

University of California Press, Oakland, California, 2017, 24.95$ soft-cover edition

  • Book Review
  • Published:
Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This work reviews and relates relevant information from the book. A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet. In this book the authors trace how seven essential ‘things” were made cheap by capitalism, pushing the closer to environmental catastrophe. The seven ‘things’ investigated by Patel and Moore are nature, money, work, care, food, energy and lives. The authors examine the history of each ‘cheap’ thing and way capitalism has rendered it a commodity and then cheap. The authors employ the term ‘cheap not in a colloquial sense, by cheap they argue each of the seven items have been devalued and debased by capitalism in order to be exploited.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Moore, J. W. (2010). The end of the road? Agricultural revolutions in the capitalist world-ecology, 1450–2010 (Report). Journal of Agrarian Change, 10, 389.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi, K. (1944). The great transformation. New York: Farrar & Rinehart Inc.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Joseph Eichenlaub.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Eichenlaub, J. Patel, Raj and Stephen Moore: A History of the World in Seven Cheap Things: A Guide to Capitalism, Nature, and the Future of the Planet. J Agric Environ Ethics 32, 669–672 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09788-x

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10806-019-09788-x

Keywords

Navigation