ABSTRACT
As the death knell of postmodernism sounds, the future looks gloomy. Theorists are rightly worried about the impact upon people’s health and well-being in a context of consumer capitalism. Instead of the promised future of leisure and meaningful work, technological innovation has ensured we are fed a steady stream of sensationalised clickbait headlines. We have been sold the idea of ‘living our dream’ and ‘pursuing our passion’, ensuring work is a way of life, occupying our time and energy 24/7, to the detriment of family and ‘work-life balance’. As greed and corporate growth overwhelms the individual, governments are responding to the needs of industry rather than those of the worker, the domestic space, or the environment. These concerns must be taken seriously as the future survival of humanity is at stake in a warming world in which displaced persons will seek new homes and livelihoods (Singer, 2002), small groups of religious fanatics are seeking to incite terror and anxiety (Nussbaum, 2012), and we cannot avoid the negative reports and images constantly reminding us about the dangers of the world we live in (Klein, 2014). Yet, while taking these problems seriously, we must also be optimistic about finding solutions to the issues we face.
