Capitalism on the Couch

Readers start the book with this scene: A frantic new patient walks into a therapist’s office and demands help. As readers listen in to the ensuing session, they realize this patient used to be highly respected in the business world but has recently felt out of sorts, as though people no longer trust him. The therapist, startled by the abrupt appearance of this new person, offers some help. “Excuse me, I never got your name,” the therapist finally says. Just as the patient is about to leave after his session, he turns to the therapist: “My name is Capitalism.” In this book, Dr. Glen F. Pastores—an organizational psychologist and licensed marriage and family therapist—puts capitalism on the couch and readers through counseling to explore one of the most important relationships in our lives: the relationship we have with the system that affects our careers, our families, our legacy, and our health. While we hear a lot about capitalism as an entity, both from people who love it and from those who hate it, Dr. Pastores dares readers to ask a different question: what is your relationship with capitalism, and how is it changing? In this book, readers will learn a brief “patient history” of capitalism and will develop an understanding of how dysfunction has manifested within the capitalistic system. They will also learn how their relationship with capitalism is already changing—and what they can do to change their way of relating to this system through Conscious Capitalism. The doctor is in.