Spent: Sex, Evolution, and Consumer Behavior - Understanding Human Psychology for Marketing Strategies in Modern Business

Geoffrey Miller again doesn't disappoint, and his recent book Spent represents the natural result of the outstanding previous book "The Mating Mind".Maybe not as immediately fascinating as The MM (I've read it twice in a row, having much more pleasure in the second reading), Spent reveals once again how deep and unconventional is prof.Miller's intellectual work, even compared to other Evolutionary Psychology scholars.Engaging and insightful read, it enriches the discussion made earlier by Prof. Miller, which focused mostly on the birth of human intelligence as a means of self-promotion to potential partners (mating signal), and widens it to include the display of personal traits to friends and relatives as well (social signal).From this broader perspective Miller can make a critical analysis of the behavior of modern humankind, and in particular of the consumerist behavior, which happens to be the preferred way to display our own qualities in the modern world.His analisys of modern consumerism is not negative and unfavorable in every aspects, as could be a marxist one, as he acknowledges the marketers ability to turn our world into a big playground. The problem is that through the purchase of consumer products, and this is one of the theses of the book, we have chosen a very poor and inadequate way of "advertise" our traits, conveying often no information about ourselves but our spending power (Pecunia non olet mode).And what's more important is that, although the urge to display is unescapable (doomed to display), the way we do it is not carved in stone, but contingent and determined by historical conditions, and could have been different.Miller then suggests some ways to counteract this state of things, trying, for example, to create local communities of like-minded people, where it is easier to be valued and appreciated without the necessity to pass through the consumeristic gate. I have to say that some advices could result a bit visionary and utopian, but they are anyway witty and thought-provoking.Eagerly waiting for the next book, I strongly recommend this one, in particular to those high in Openness.