Culture of the Slow Social Deceleration in an Accelerated World

Across the world, there has been a polite uprising to the perceived meaninglessness and stress of our accelerated and consumer driven lifestyles. Described simply as the slow phenomenon, this new brand of living entails not simply slowing down, but an embracing of alternative activities that promote meaning, thoughtfulness, engagement and authenticity. Whether it is through different practices of food production and consumption, alternative modes of transportation such as cycling through to our intimate relations with others, this new ethic of living has grown immensely in popularity. In this volume of work, key authors from across the world have been brought together to illustrate these alternative approaches to modern lifestyles by analyzing them empirically and theoretically. Through rigorous debate and insightful commentary, this book presents a compelling case for seeing the slow phenomenon as a significant cultural practice in contemporary society.

Nick Osbaldiston is a Lecturer in Sociology at Monash University, Australia. He has previously published Seeking Authenticity in Place, Culture and Self and is currently an ex-officio member of The Australian Sociological Association Executive and is a co-convener of the Australian Cultural Sociology Thematic Group.

1. The Time of Consumption; Kim Humphery
2. From Fast Fashion to Connected Consumption: Slowing Down the Spending Treadmill; Juliet B. Schor
3. You Eat What You Are: Cultivated Taste and the Pursuit of Authenticity in the Slow Food Movement; Charles Lindholm and Siv B. Lie.
4. Consuming Space Slowly: Reflections on Authenticity, Place and the Self; Nicholas Osbaldiston
5. Alternative Hedonism: The World by Bicycle; Martin Ryle and Kate Soper
6. Downshifting or Conspicuous Consumption? A Sociological Examination of Tree Change as a Manifestation of Slow Culture; Angela Ragusa
7. Sensuality, Sexuality, and the Eroticism of Slowness; Barnaby B. Barratt
8. Creativity Takes Time, Critique Needs Space: Re-Working the Political Investment of the Consumer through Pleasure; Roberta Sassatelli