New essay collection on the deadly sins in our time
What role do the deadly sins play in our time? Rhetoric researcher Maria Wolrath Söderberg has tackled this question along with seven other scholars, and she describes our contemporary over-consumption as a form of gluttony. The researchers’ ideas have been collected in an essay collection, The Deadly Sins in Our Time External link., published by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond.
You have to treat yourself, don’t you? This is the question that Wolrath Söderberg uses to approach the issue of gluttony External link.. However, instead of overeating, her focus on is over-consumption. Using her research into how people justify actions that damage the climate, she examines why we find it so hard to restrain ourselves when it comes to anything from new mobile phones to flying.
Recently, she was participated in a radio series based upon the essay collection; in an episode on "Greed and Gluttony External link." (in Swedish), she talks to Robert Östling, a professor of economics from the Stockholm School of Economics. Is greed a sin or an important motivator? And can our self-interest be utilised for the good of society? Are our high levels of consumption an expression of sinful gluttony that is depleting planetary resources?
Interested in Maria’s thoughts on the climate and her research? Listen to her radio feature on Sommar i P1 External link. (in Swedish).
Page updated
06-11-2023