Living Worth

“In this fascinating, timely, and provocative new book, Stefan Ecks uses ethnographic examples of depression and the use of antidepressants in India to rethink anthropological and economic theory. Conceptually bold and empirically grounded, Living Worth upends capitalist assumptions that underpin global mental health and offers a new and vital way to think about how embodiment comes to matter.” - Julie Livingston, author of Self-Devouring Growth: A Planetary Parable as Told from Southern Africa

“Stefan Ecks shows us, yet again, why he is the leading theorist of globalizing minds and their pharmaceutical anodynes. In Living Worth, he takes readers on a tour de force through case studies of depression and of global psychopharmaceuticals to show how the values of brains and feelings become enmeshed with the larger values that capitalism places on currencies and commodities. The result is an absolute work of genius, and a must-read for anyone concerned about how we think and feel and the social practices and economies through which our thoughts and feelings come to matter.” - Jonathan M. Metzl, author of Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America’s Heartland

“In Living Worth, Ecks covers much ground, making it useful to scholars across the social sciences.” - Steven Server, Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences

"Living Worth stands as an incredibly powerful commentary on the state of global pharmaceutical markets and how . . . they are impacting societies and communities worldwide." - Cohwen Mills, Anthropological Notebooks