Author(s): Ernst Friedrich Schumacher

Politics and economics

Small is Beautiful is E. F. Schumacher's stimulating and controversial study of world economies. This remarkable book is as relevant today and its themes as pertinent and thought-provoking as when it was first published thirty years ago.

Small is Beautiful looks at the economic structure of the Western world in a revolutionary way. Schumacher maintains that Man's current pursuit of profit and progress, which promotes giant organisations and increased specialisation, has in fact resulted in gross economic inefficiency, environmental pollution and inhumane working conditions. Schumacher challenges the doctrine of economic, technological and scientific specialisation and proposes a system of Intermediate
Technology, based on smaller working units, communal ownership and regional workplaces utilising local labour and resources.