synopsis:

The purpose of 'The Pursuit of Loneliness' is to "reach some understanding of the forces which are unraveling our society" for his readers. It is a common conception that America is the best country, an idea which is substantiated by economic figures. However, Americans are not happy. According to Slater, as all societies frustrate certain human needs and satiate others (because) humanity and any particular society's idea of what humanity should be is never very exact. In America, the gap between reality and perception is growing farther and farther apart, at human expense. Americans work their entire lives for the future, in the pursuit of economic security, which ultimately leads to continued unhappiness in the present. American culture struggles more and more violently to maintain itself, is less and less able to hide its fundamental antipathy towards human life and human satisfaction. Slater's book teaches people about the existence of the wide gap between the fantasies Americans live by and the realities they live in, in the hopes that this will inspire people to react in positive ways.

Cooperation played a major role in the development of homo sapiens as the dominant species on earth. Americans do not understand its importance according to slater. It is understandable to place an extremely high level of importance upon self reliance in a dog eat dog society, but individualism has become fear and loathing of others. This motivates people to develop ways they can spend less time with each other.

A large part of this problem is that many Americans buy into the ploys of capitalism, sacrificing happiness for material gain. Society's uncontrolled development results in an artificial sense of scarcity which ensures a steady flow of output. Very healthy for capitalism, but certainly not for people Since possessions are scarce relative to people, they come to have more value than people. Energy is spent by the masses chasing materialistic goals, legitimizing their existence in the process, but forgetting the value of each other. This system has continued for so long that people no longer know what they want, except money.

The problem in america is that change is hard to produce because the system is quick to prevent it. People are prevented from rising in social status because the elite have designed enough measures to prevent this. For this reason Slater advocated a change in the American tax structure. He intended to "reward everyone except the money hungry, to reward those who are helping others rather than themselves, which could be done very easily, by eliminating the whole absurd structure of deductions exemptions and allowances, and thus taxing the rich and avaricious instead of the poor and altruistic.

We should create a new society, a beautiful society, and Slater feels this can be done. We should examine American history to determine where it went wrong, and how we should change.

on this book:

The point of his book is to show that we suffer undue punishment inflicted upon ourselves. Social mechanisms and societal constraints are the product of humans. It is entirely in our power to change them, to throw them out entirely if we feel so inclined. However, more people must be made to understand the problems to which we are subjected before the reformation of society takes place. The purpose of this book is exactly that: to enlighten the masses about humans beings' self inflicted ills. As a result, Slater hopes to inspire his readers to question their surroundings.