The Experience of Middle Australia
The Dark Side of Economic Reform

'If the doctrine that 'markets know best' is an empirical thesis, not merely fundamentalist dogma, then a variety of questions at onc arise The great value of this book is that it poses some of the most important of these: in particular, the crucial question of 'how people experience the economy'. The answers are instructive, in some respects chilling, and should become a central component of public debate on the radical reconstruction of Australian society that has been imposed on the basis of principles that are far from self-justifying.' Noam Chomsky

'We should applaud Michael Pusey for reminding us that our proper study is not the bottom line but the way we live and relate with each other, and that the quest for constant growth ignores the need for harmony and balance in the finite world that we inhabit.' Elizabeth Evatt

'Middle Australia is stretched, anxious, angry. Michael Pusey is its champion. This is moral sociology at its best.' Peter Beilharz

'Ten years ago Michael Pusey's research told us how we were landed with 'market rule' without much chance to vote about it. Now in a fair sample of middle Australia he has found a landslide majority for a fairer, fully employed, less unequal and more sustainable economy than small government has ever given us. Hugh Stretton

'Pusey's provocative and important book is a challenge to contemporary orthodoxies. Society, he warns, will bite back if we choose to build our civilisation solely around the concern of business to operate with as little constraint as possible. He deserves to be read - and heeded.' Will Hutton

'Michael Pusey's new book on The Experience of Middle Australia: The Dark Side of Economic Reform makes extensive use of social science methods … to explore the consequences of the changes brought about by the 'economic rationalisers' … This is a hugely worthwhile book.' Francis G. Castle, University of Edinburgh