Where Are We, Where Do We Want to Be, How Do We Get There?

This article briefly summarises the core causal elements in the global predicament, focusing on the market system and the relatively neglected limits to growth, i.e. over-consumption, and then 'draws implications for the form a sustainable society must take'. 'The Simpler Way' must involve far less affluent lifestyles in small scale, highly self-sufficient and localised economies, within a zero-growth post-capitalist society. The paper continues by discussing the strategic implications and argues that the most promising arena in which to work for transition at this point in time is the Global Ecovillage Movement. Differences with orthodox left thinking about strategy are discussed, including the notion of attempting to build the new society before the old has been abandoned, the potential significance of setting examples and whether or not it makes sense to confront capitalism.     

THE CHANGING NATURE OF RURAL AMERICA1

Rural regions are changing, both in terms of economic dispersal and population patterns. Rural growth is attributed to technological innovation, improving capacity to deal with impending problems as well as improving quality of life, and intercommunity linkage. For some communities, this means the prospects of indigenous economic development.     

Gendering the "Graying" of Society: A Discourse Analysis of the Care Gap

This article analyzes to what extent the “care‐gap”—that is, too few carers looking after increasing numbers of the elderly—has become part of the problem definition of the demographic shift in the Netherlands in reports of the major scientific policy advisor to the government. Do these reports still assume a gender order in which women are informal carers and men are breadwinners? What notions about gender are circulating, and is the gender order challenged by policy recommendations? With a framework for gender‐discourse analysis, the author shows that, despite increasing awareness of the care gap, the problem definition remains framed as the costs of collective provision of health care and pensions. Recommendations still assume that women will continue to provide informal care while they also enter the labor market to maintain collective provisions.