Emerging Life-Style Movements: Alternative to Overdevelopment? *

Abstract

This essay looks at the actual and potential role of emerging alternative life-style movements in dealing with the crisis of overdevelopment in the advanced industrialized nations. It examines the problems posed by overdevelopment and shows how two alternative life-style movements - the North American Movement for Voluntary Simplicity and the New Life-style Movement in the Netherlands - represent positive responses to them. Their values, objectives, as well as their potential impact upon their societies are analysed and critically examined. In this critique, the authors consider the conditions under which alternative life-styles might be more widely adopted in First World societies in general.