ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the premise that socialism lost a central part of its democratic appeal as it became committed to a theory of virtue based on the moderation of consumer demand – thereby leaving the promise of renewal through abundance to capitalism. Domestically, material equality remains on the Green political agenda, but only to the extent that limiting luxury consumption is necessary to make self-restraint politically acceptable to the masses. The difficulty of formulating a morally-relevant distinction between addiction and satisfaction is even more apparent at the level of social and political philosophy. The difficulty of formulating a morally-relevant distinction between addiction and satisfaction is even more apparent at the level of social and political philosophy. The socialist tradition conceives exploitation and domination to be conceptually separate phenomena – distinct ‘circuits’ of power that are especially objectionable when they flow, as they usually do, in the same direction.
