
The Vice of Luxury
Economic Excess in a Consumer Age, Moral Traditions Series
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $24.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Michael Morehead
-
By:
-
David Cloutier
About this listen
Luxury! The word alone conjures up visions of attractive, desirable lifestyle choices, yet luxury also faces criticism as a moral vice, harmful to both the self and society. Engaging ideas from business, marketing, and economics, The Vice of Luxury takes on the challenging task of naming how much is too much in today's consumer-oriented society.
David Cloutier's critique goes to the heart of a fundamental contradiction. Though overconsumption and materialism make us uneasy, they also seem inevitable in advanced economies. Current studies of economic ethics focus on the structural problems of poverty, of international trade, of workers' rights, but rarely, if ever, do such studies speak directly to the excesses of the wealthy, including the middle classes of advanced economies. Cloutier proposes a new approach to economic ethics that focuses attention on our everyday economic choices. He shows why luxury is a problem, explains how to identify what counts as the vice of luxury today, and develops an ethic of consumption that is grounded in Christian moral convictions.
This audiobook is published by Georgetown University Press.
"David Cloutier's insightful treatment of luxury is creative and prophetic, without the oversimplifications prevalent in much prophetic discourse today. Drawing on philosophy, economics, and theology, he traces the history of ideas about luxury in a manner both scholarly and accessible to a wide audience. A truly excellent volume that will challenge how most of us think about our own lives." (Daniel Rush Finn, St. John's University)
©2015 Georgetown University Press (P)2019 Redwood AudiobooksListeners also enjoyed...
-
Jesus and the Disinherited
- By: Howard Thurman, Dr. Kelly Douglas Rev.
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic theological treatise, the acclaimed theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1900-1981) demonstrates how the gospel may be read as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised. Jesus is a partner in the pain of the oppressed and the example of His life offers a solution to ending the descent into moral nihilism. Hatred does not empower—it decays. Only through self-love and love of one another can God's justice prevail.
-
-
The Architecture for All Liberation Theology
- By salemowalk on 10-27-22
By: Howard Thurman, and others
-
Read This to Get Smarter
- About Race, Class, Gender, Disability, and More
- By: Blair Imani
- Narrated by: Blair Imani
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An approachable guide to being an informed, compassionate, and socially conscious person today - from discussions of race, gender, and sexual orientation to disability, class, and beyond - from critically acclaimed historian, educator, and author Blair Imani.
-
-
Top Tier
- By Lashauna Lumsden on 10-24-23
By: Blair Imani
-
How Much is Enough?
- Money and the Good Life
- By: Edward Skidelsky
- Narrated by: Clay Teunis
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What constitutes the good life? What is the true value of money? Why do we work such long hours merely to acquire greater wealth? These are some of the questions that many asked themselves when the financial system crashed in 2008. This book tackles such questions head-on.The authors begin with the great economist John Maynard Keynes. In 1930 Keynes predicted that, within a century, per capita income would steadily rise, people’s basic needs would be met, and no one would have to work more than fifteen hours a week.
-
-
Not what I expected at all!
- By Brad and Chi on 05-22-23
By: Edward Skidelsky
-
The Sovereign Individual
- Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
- By: James Dale Davidson, Peter Thiel - preface, William Rees-Mogg
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the best seller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.
-
-
Unfortunately distopian for mosty of humanity
- By Phil on 09-29-20
By: James Dale Davidson, and others
-
Every Good Endeavor
- Connecting Your Work to God's Work
- By: Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a work world that is increasingly competitive and insecure, people often have nagging questions: Why am I doing this work? Why is it so hard? And is there anything I can do about it? Tim Keller, pastor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times best-selling author of The Reason for God, has taught and counseled students, young professionals, and senior leaders on the subject of work and calling for more than 20 years.
-
-
Great Book - lots of mistakes in the Audio version
- By Virginia on 01-19-15
By: Timothy Keller
-
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Jim Vann
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is Hans Hoppe's first treatise in English - actually his first book in English - and the one that put him on the map as a social thinker and economist to watch. He argued that there are only two possible archetypes in economic affairs: socialism and capitalism. All systems are combinations of those two types. The capitalist model he defines as pure protection of private property, free association, and exchange - no exceptions. All deviations from that ideal are species of socialism, with public ownership and interference with trade.
-
-
covenant vs syndicate
- By Taylor Britton on 05-16-20
-
Jesus and the Disinherited
- By: Howard Thurman, Dr. Kelly Douglas Rev.
- Narrated by: Leon Nixon
- Length: 3 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this classic theological treatise, the acclaimed theologian and religious leader Howard Thurman (1900-1981) demonstrates how the gospel may be read as a manual of resistance for the poor and disenfranchised. Jesus is a partner in the pain of the oppressed and the example of His life offers a solution to ending the descent into moral nihilism. Hatred does not empower—it decays. Only through self-love and love of one another can God's justice prevail.
-
-
The Architecture for All Liberation Theology
- By salemowalk on 10-27-22
By: Howard Thurman, and others
-
Read This to Get Smarter
- About Race, Class, Gender, Disability, and More
- By: Blair Imani
- Narrated by: Blair Imani
- Length: 5 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
An approachable guide to being an informed, compassionate, and socially conscious person today - from discussions of race, gender, and sexual orientation to disability, class, and beyond - from critically acclaimed historian, educator, and author Blair Imani.
-
-
Top Tier
- By Lashauna Lumsden on 10-24-23
By: Blair Imani
-
How Much is Enough?
- Money and the Good Life
- By: Edward Skidelsky
- Narrated by: Clay Teunis
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
What constitutes the good life? What is the true value of money? Why do we work such long hours merely to acquire greater wealth? These are some of the questions that many asked themselves when the financial system crashed in 2008. This book tackles such questions head-on.The authors begin with the great economist John Maynard Keynes. In 1930 Keynes predicted that, within a century, per capita income would steadily rise, people’s basic needs would be met, and no one would have to work more than fifteen hours a week.
-
-
Not what I expected at all!
- By Brad and Chi on 05-22-23
By: Edward Skidelsky
-
The Sovereign Individual
- Mastering the Transition to the Information Age
- By: James Dale Davidson, Peter Thiel - preface, William Rees-Mogg
- Narrated by: Michael David Axtell
- Length: 19 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the best seller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization.
-
-
Unfortunately distopian for mosty of humanity
- By Phil on 09-29-20
By: James Dale Davidson, and others
-
Every Good Endeavor
- Connecting Your Work to God's Work
- By: Timothy Keller
- Narrated by: Lloyd James
- Length: 7 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a work world that is increasingly competitive and insecure, people often have nagging questions: Why am I doing this work? Why is it so hard? And is there anything I can do about it? Tim Keller, pastor of New York's Redeemer Presbyterian Church and New York Times best-selling author of The Reason for God, has taught and counseled students, young professionals, and senior leaders on the subject of work and calling for more than 20 years.
-
-
Great Book - lots of mistakes in the Audio version
- By Virginia on 01-19-15
By: Timothy Keller
-
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Jim Vann
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is Hans Hoppe's first treatise in English - actually his first book in English - and the one that put him on the map as a social thinker and economist to watch. He argued that there are only two possible archetypes in economic affairs: socialism and capitalism. All systems are combinations of those two types. The capitalist model he defines as pure protection of private property, free association, and exchange - no exceptions. All deviations from that ideal are species of socialism, with public ownership and interference with trade.
-
-
covenant vs syndicate
- By Taylor Britton on 05-16-20
-
The Wisdom of Frugality
- Why Less Is More - More or Less
- By: Emrys Westacott
- Narrated by: Michael Healy
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this book, Emrys Westacott examines why, for more than two millennia, so many philosophers and people with a reputation for wisdom have been advocating frugality and simple living as the key to the good life. He also looks at why most people have ignored them, but argues that, in a world facing environmental crisis, it may finally be time to listen to the advocates of a simpler way of life.
-
-
Mixed Review
- By beef on 07-15-17
By: Emrys Westacott
-
Morality
- Restoring the Common Good in Divided Times
- By: Jonathan Sacks
- Narrated by: Jonathan Sacks
- Length: 14 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With liberal democracy embattled, public discourse grown toxic, family life breaking down, and drug abuse and depression on the rise, many fear what the future holds. In Morality, respected faith leader and public intellectual Jonathan Sacks traces today's crisis to our loss of a strong, shared moral code and our elevation of self-interest over the common good.
-
-
The world needs to read this!
- By Isaac W on 02-11-21
By: Jonathan Sacks
-
Bourgeois Equality
- How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World
- By: Deirdre N. McCloskey
- Narrated by: Marguerite Gavin
- Length: 29 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Few economists or historians write like McCloskey - her ability to invest the facts of economic history with the urgency of a novel, or of a leading case at law, is unmatched. She summarizes modern economics and modern economic history with verve and lucidity yet sees through to the really big scientific conclusion. Not matter, but ideas. Big books don't come any more ambitious or captivating than Bourgeois Equality.
-
-
How the world got rich
- By Andrew Cooper-Sansone on 01-26-23
-
A Conflict of Visions
- Ideological Origins of Political Struggles
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Michael Edwards
- Length: 7 hrs and 8 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this book, which the author calls a "culmination of 30 years of work in the history of ideas", Sowell attempts to explain the ideological difference between liberals and conservatives as a disagreement over the moral potential inherent in nature. Those who see that potential as limited prefer to constrain governmental authority, he argues. They feel that reform is difficult and often dangerous, and put their faith in family, custom, law, and traditional institutions.
-
-
Critical read for 2008 change election
- By Elaine C Grimes on 06-05-08
By: Thomas Sowell
-
The Economics of the Parables
- By: Robert Sirico
- Narrated by: Jon Gauger
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Libraries are filled with books on the parables of Christ, and rightly so. In the words of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, “While civilizations have come and gone, these stories continue to teach us anew with their freshness and their humanity.” Two millennia later, the New Testament parables remain ubiquitous, and yet, few have stopped to glean from one of Christ’s most prevalent analogies: money. In The Economics of the Parables, Rev. Robert Sirico pulls back the veil of modernity to reveal the timeless economic wisdom of the parables.
-
-
Insightful
- By Anonymous User on 06-15-24
By: Robert Sirico
-
The Sane Society
- By: Erich Fromm
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 11 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Sane Society is a continuation and extension of the brilliant psychiatric concepts Erich Fromm first formulated in Escape from Freedom; it is also, in many ways, an answer to Freud’s Civilization and its Discontents. Fromm examines man’s escape into over conformity and the danger of robotism in contemporary industrial society: Modern humanity has, he maintains, been alienated from the world of their own creation. Here Fromm offers a complete and systematic exploration of his “humanistic psychoanalysis.”
-
-
Stimulating and insightful
- By T. Holden on 04-07-16
By: Erich Fromm
-
The Quest for Cosmic Justice
- By: Thomas Sowell
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 5 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This book is about the great moral issues underlying many of the headline-making political controversies of our times. It is not a comforting book but a book about disturbing and dangerous trends. The Quest for Cosmic Justice shows how confused conceptions of justice end up promoting injustice, how confused conceptions of equality end up promoting inequality, and how the tyranny of social visions prevents many people from confronting the actual consequences of their own beliefs and policies.
-
-
First released 20 years ago & now a classic!
- By Wayne on 11-05-18
By: Thomas Sowell
-
There’s No Free Lunch
- 250 Economic Truths
- By: David L. Bahnsen
- Narrated by: David L. Bahnsen
- Length: 4 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The verdict is in: Free enterprise has lifted billions of people out of abject poverty all over the world and provided a higher quality of life than has ever been thought possible. But a growing case is forming in public opinion against free markets and for a significantly larger command and control management of the economy.
-
-
Slow boring
- By JPM on 11-13-21
By: David L. Bahnsen
-
Development as Freedom
- By: Amartya Sen
- Narrated by: Byron Wagner
- Length: 11 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
By the winner of the 1988 Nobel Prize in Economics, an essential and paradigm-altering framework for understanding economic development - for both rich and poor - in the 21st century. Freedom, Sen argues, is both the end and most efficient means of sustaining economic life and the key to securing the general welfare of the world's entire population. Releasing the idea of individual freedom from association with any particular historical, intellectual, political, or religious tradition, Sen clearly demonstrates its current applicability and possibilities.
-
-
The book that launched a field
- By Bryan on 06-07-12
By: Amartya Sen
-
Defending the Free Market
- The Moral Case for a Free Economy
- By: Rev. Robert Sirico
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 7 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Left has seized on our economic troubles as an excuse to “blame the rich guy” and paint a picture of capitalism and the free market as selfish, greedy, and cruel. Exactly the opposite is true, says Father Robert Sirico in his thought-provoking book Defending the Free Market: The Moral Case for a Free Economy. Father Sirico argues that a free economy actually promotes charity, selflessness, and kindness. In Defending the Free Market, he shows why free-market capitalism is not only the best way to ensure individual success and national prosperity but also the surest route to a moral and socially just society.
-
-
Excellent
- By Daniel on 10-02-20
-
Can a Catholic Be a Socialist?
- By: Trent Horn, Catherine R. Pakaluk
- Narrated by: Trent Horn
- Length: 4 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Somehow, this long-discredited economic philosophy is making a comeback, not only on college campuses and political talk shows, but among sincere Catholics. Some think that it could be the answer to greed and globalism. Others even argue that it’s the best way to obey Christ’s command to help the poor. Let’s give socialism a fresh chance, they say. A democratic socialism, this time, friendly to religion and ordered to the common good like the church says the economy should be.
-
-
Excellent!
- By Gregg on 08-01-20
By: Trent Horn, and others
-
Adam Smith
- Father of Economics
- By: Jesse Norman
- Narrated by: Jesse Norman
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A dazzlingly original account of the life and thought of Adam Smith, the greatest economist of all time. In Adam Smith, political philosopher Jesse Norman dispels the myths and caricatures, and provides a far more complex portrait of the man. Offering a highly engaging account of Smith's life and times, Norman explores his work as a whole and traces his influence over two centuries to the present day. Finally, he shows how a proper understanding of Smith can help us address the problems of modern capitalism.
-
-
Most excellent book!
- By Harish G. Naik on 03-02-19
By: Jesse Norman
What listeners say about The Vice of Luxury
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Anonymous User
- 03-17-25
AI reader
The book is fine, the reader sounds like AI. It gave an in depth overview of luxury and how it impacts our society.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!