No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart

In No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart, Tom Slee unpacks what it means to believe in the power of choice. Pointing out that individual choice has become the lynchpin of a neo-conservative ideology he calls MarketThink, Slee urges us to re-examine popular assumptions. He draws on game theory to argue that individual choice is not inherently bad. Nor is it the panacea that corporations and governments claim it to be.

Tom Slee is a writer, researcher, activist, and software professional. He lives in Waterloo, Canada

List of Figures

ix

Acknowledgements

xi

A World of Choice

1

(16)

A Short Modern History of Choice

MarketThink

Wanted: A Better Way of Thinking about Choices

Jack Shops at WalMart

Good Choices and Bad Outcomes

17

(17)

Jack and Jill's Ugly Divorce

The Prisoner's Dilemma

Choosing the Right Words

Choosing the Right Starting Point

Private Choices and Public Failures

34

(31)

Jill Drops a Coffee Cup

Choosing Our Environment

Choosing Our Cities

Choosing Where to Shop

The Kind of Problem a City Is

Arms Races and Red Queens

65

(12)

Jack Keeps up with the Joneses

A Selection of Arms Races

Choosing to Be Cool

From Commodity to Status Symbol

Co-operation and Its Limits

77

(24)

Enduring Love

Choosing to Reciprocate

Choosing Not to Compete

Choosing in Groups and Crowds

Choosing Temptation

Divide and Conquer

101

(13)

Choosing Not to Vote

Companies and Individual Choice

The Market as a Public Good

That Obscure Object of Desire

114

(12)

Buying Sneakers at Whimsley Mall

Identifying the Real Choice

Game Theory: What Is It Good For?

Join or Get Run Over

126

(36)

Choosing a Nightclub in Whimsley

A Selection of Herd Choices

Choosing Our Schools

Choosing Our Technologies

Fooled by Randomness

The Devil You Know

162

(29)

Jack Goes to the Movies

Choosing Our Fashions

Choosing Our Culture

Jill Buys a Lemon

A Basket of Lemons

Choosing Where to Eat

Squeezing the Lemons

Free to Choose, but Exploited

191

(12)

Power, Relationships, and Context

Choosing Stability

Choosing to Be Exploited

Beyond Whimsley

203

(16)

The Ultimatum Game

Jill Hits the Ceiling

Choosing to Reject

A Backward Glance

Notes

219

(6)

Bibliography

225

(6)

Index

231

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No One Makes You Shop at Wal-Mart

Summary

Author Biography

Table of Contents

Supplemental Materials