Complicated Lives: the malaise of modernity
By Michael Willmott and William Nelson. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, England 2005. 225 pages. RRP: $35.95 (pb). ISBN: 0 470 01263 3.
In today’s world, most of us wake up in the morning and brace ourselves for another long, hard and grinding day. There is never enough time, we have to run hard to stay in the same place, we aspire to acquire too many goods and services, and we are drowning in choice. Is there light at the end of this tunnel?
The answer lies within us and the lifestyle choices that we make. This is the gist of Michael Willmot and William Nelson’s quirkily titled book, Complicated Lives: The Malaise of Modernity . Willmott and Nelson predominantly use the British landscape as the setting for their book, so for older Australian readers it may appeal through nostalgia.
For the younger generations, it will be useful to compare themselves with the complications that are evident in British society and increasingly in Australian society.
The main strength of this book is that it dispels several myths and misconceptions. One such myth is that parents spend less time with their children today; in fact, the authors assert and prove that parents today spend more time with their children. The book’s weakness is that it focuses on the middle-class concerns of one or two countries. In this age of globalisation, that gives it a problem with generalisability.
Complicated Lives leads the reader on a journey of understanding into why lives are so much more complicated today, and the different aspects of society that are causing the complexity. Chapter 9, on the challenges of parenting, is my favourite. I could not help but nod at the several foibles that I have committed as a parent that have caused additional stress.
For marketers, chapter 7, ‘Drowning in choice’, is of interest, because the authors tackle the agenda of big businesses and the vast array of choice that perversely tends to confuse and dissatisfy consumers.
Willmott and Nelson’s book is easy to read. It is mostly free of jargon and the figures, whenever presented, add great value to the material and provide an authentic, empirical justification for the claims that are made.
The authors also debunk several beliefs as media myths. One classic example is the fall in rates of crime despite the greater reporting of crime. In fact, throughout the book there is a positive undercurrent rather than gloomy predictions about the rapidly changing world and its consequences.
Complicated Lives works for me because it is written with academic rigour and practitioner candour. It made me appreciate the different types of behaviour that I encounter in different settings and my personal reactions to those behaviours could be put into a wider context.
The book clicked for me at a personal level, and probably will for anyone experiencing the monotony of daily routines and workloads. I recommend the book particularly to marketers who strive to understand their customers and who use market research to gauge the changing needs of consumers.
I also recommend it to non-marketers who strive to find ways to release the valve in their pressure-cooker lifestyles. It is a refreshing book and definitely worth reading.
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