The promise of economic growth which has dominated society for so long has reached an impasse. In his classic analysis, Fred Hirsch argued that the causes of this were essentially social rather than physical. Affluence brings its own problems. As societies become richer, an increasing proportion of the extra goods and services created are not available to everybody. Material affluence does not make for a better society.

Fred Hirsch's classic exposition of the social limits to growth manages to connect many of the apparently disparate factors that blight modern life: alienation at work and deteriorating cities as well as inflation and unemployment.