Synopses & Reviews
In this provocative book Richard Sennett looks at the ways todays global, ever-mutable form of capitalism is affecting our lives. He analyzes how changes in work ethic, in our attitudes toward merit and talent, and in public and private institutions have all contributed to what he terms the specter of uselessness,” and he concludes with suggestions to counter this disturbing new culture.
Hardly any social thinkers have given serious thought to the drastic changes in corporate culture wrought by downsizing, re-orging, and outsourcing. Fortunately, the exceptionRichard Sennettis also one of the most insightful public intellectuals we have. In The Culture of the New Capitalism Sennett addresses the new corporate culture with his usual vast erudition, endlessly supple intellect, and firm moral outlook. The result is brilliant, disturbing, and absolutely necessary reading.”Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
[Sennett] has brilliantly pushed his thinking. . . . [A] triumph.”Will Hutton, The Observer
Reflective, studded with sharp insights, moving with grace between big ideas and specific cases. This is vintage Sennett.”Douglas W. Rae, author of City: Urbanism and Its End
Packed with thought. . . . Profound and challenging. . . . [I am] full of admiration for the subtlety and originality of Richard Sennetts work.”Madeleine Bunting, New Statesman
Review
“Reflective, studded with sharp insights, moving with grace between big ideas and specific cases. This is vintage Sennett.”Douglas W. Rae, author of
City:Urbanism and Its End -- Edith Raim - Holocaust and Genocide Studies
Review
"A fairly successful economy does not produce much in the way of contentment. Are there seismic rumbles that might cause cracks on the surface? Richard Sennett thinks so. Read on."Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, M.I.T.
-- Douglas W. Rae
Review
"As Richard Sennett makes clear in this lucid and compelling book, craftsmanship once connected people to their work by conferring pride and meaning. The loss of craftsmanshipand of a society that values ithas impoverished us in ways we have long forgotten but Sennett helps us understand."Robert B. Reich, Professor of Public Policy, University of California at Berkeley, and author of
Supercapitalism: The Transformation of Business, Democracy, and Everyday Life -- Len Krisak - Translation and Literature
Review
“Eloquent and persuasive.”Scott Nesbit,
Culture
-- Robert B. Reich
Review
"In The Craftsman [Sennett] compellingly explores the universe of skilled work, where the desire to do a job well done for its own sake still flourishes."Brian C. Anderson, Wall Street Journal -- Scott Nesbit - Culture
Review
"An inquiring, intelligent look at how the work of the hand informs the work of the mind."New York Times Book Review (Editors Choice) -- Brian C. Anderson - Wall Street Journal
Review
"I am confident that as Sennett continues his quest to make sense of life and work, those of us who study the digital age will find it worthwhile to pay more attention to his body of work."Siva Vaidhyanathan, The Chronicle Review -- New York Times Book Review
Review
"This book challenges our thinking and understanding concerning how we create work and workplaces, and how we make social and political choices about what we produce and consume. Sennett reaches out to the craftsman in all of us."James H. Dulebohn, People & Strategy -- Siva Vaidhyanathan - The Chronicle Review
Review
"Richard Sennett is one of the most eminent and prolific sociologists in the Western world. . . . [His readers] are led gradually and effortlessly into a special world, only to find themselves enthralled by an author who stimulates and fascinates at every turn."Daisaburo Hashizume, The American Interest -- James H. Dulebohn - People and Strategy
Review
"A far-roving intellectual adventure."Julian Bell, New York Review of Books -- Daisaburo Hashizume - The American Interest
Review
Richard Sennett is the winner of the 2010 Spinoza Prize, sponsored by the International Spinoza Award Foundation -- Julian Bell - New York Review of Books
Review
and#8220;This humane work is broad in scope and will be of interest to sociologists, political scientists, and curious readers seeking hope for pursuing a more cooperative society.and#8221;and#8212;Library Journal
Review
“Ambitious . . . a whirlwind of big ideas. Sennett is a worthy warrior, armed with abundant evidence of our better natures.”—Connie Schultz, Washington Post Connie Schultz
Review
"Sennet argues that changes in the 'social triangle . . . of earned authority, mutual respect, and cooperation during a crisis,' have resulted in an uncooperative character type who is becoming more common in modern society, one whoand#8212;in search of 'reassuring solidarity amid economic insecurity'and#8212;acts according to the 'brutally simple' paradigm of 'us-against-them coupled with you-are-on-your-own.' . . . . Sennett's writing is engaging and he provides an interesting perspective on modern society."and#8212;Publishers Weekly
Review
Winner of the Zand#243;calo Public Square Book Prize, awarded by theand#160;Center for Social Cohesion
Review
Selected as a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2011 in the North America category
Review
andldquo;A whirlwind of big ideas. Sennett is a worthy warrior, armed with abundant evidence of our better natures.andrdquo;andmdash;Connie Schultz, Washington Post
Review
andldquo;I envy any reader coming fresh to Sennett's work. Over four decades, his books have grown, volume by expert, companionable, readable volume, into a comprehensive diagnosis of the ailments of urban life and work, together with a series of hard-headed, historically rooted prescriptions for rescue and reform.andrdquo;andmdash;Boyd Tonkin, The Independent
Synopsis
A provocative and disturbing look at the ways new economic facts are shaping our personal and social values.
Synopsis
The distinguished sociologist Richard Sennett surveys major differences between earlier forms of industrial capitalism and the more global, more febrile, ever more mutable version of capitalism that is taking its place. He shows how these changes affect everyday lifehow the work ethic is changing; how new beliefs about merit and talent displace old values of craftsmanship and achievement; how what Sennett calls the specter of uselessness” haunts professionals as well as manual workers; how the boundary between consumption and politics is dissolving.In recent years, reformers of both private and public institutions have preached that flexible, global corporations provide a model of freedom for individuals, unlike the experience of fixed and static bureaucracies Max Weber once called an iron cage.” Sennett argues that, in banishing old ills, the new-economy model has created new social and emotional traumas. Only a certain kind of human being can prosper in unstable, fragmentary institutions: the culture of the new capitalism demands an ideal self oriented to the short term, focused on potential ability rather than accomplishment, willing to discount or abandon past experience. In a concluding section, Sennett examines a more durable form of self hood, and what practical initiatives could counter the pernicious effects of reform.”
Synopsis
In his most ambitious book to date, Richard Sennett offers an original perspective on craftsmanship and its close connections to work and ethical values
Synopsis
Defining craftsmanship far more broadly than skilled manual labor,” Richard Sennett maintains that the computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen engage in a craftsmans work. Craftsmanship names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, says the author, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. In this thought-provoking book, one of our most distinguished public intellectuals explores the work of craftsmen past and present, identifies deep connections between material consciousness and ethical values, and challenges received ideas about what constitutes good work in todays world.
The Craftsman engages the many dimensions of skillfrom the technical demands to the obsessive energy required to do good work. Craftsmanship leads Sennett across time and space, from ancient Roman brickmakers to Renaissance goldsmiths to the printing presses of Enlightenment Paris and the factories of industrial London; in the modern world he explores what experiences of good work are shared by computer programmers, nurses and doctors, musicians, glassblowers, and cooks. Unique in the scope of his thinking, Sennett expands previous notions of crafts and craftsmen and apprises us of the surprising extent to which we can learn about ourselves through the labor of making physical things.
Synopsis
In this sequel to his influential work The Craftsman, Richard Sennett explores how we can learn to cooperate in the intensely tribal, competitive, and self-interested cultures we inhabit
Synopsis
Living with people who differand#8212;racially, ethnically, religiously, or economicallyand#8212;is the most urgent challenge facing civil society today. We tend socially to avoid engaging with people unlike ourselves, and modern politics encourages the politics of the tribe rather than of the city. In this thought-provoking book, Richard Sennett discusses why this has happened and what might be done about it.
Sennett contends that cooperation is a craft, and the foundations for skillful cooperation lie in learning to listen well and discuss rather than debate. In Together he explores how people can cooperate online, on street corners, in schools, at work, and in local politics. He traces the evolution of cooperative rituals from medieval times to today, and in situations as diverse as slave communities, socialist groups in Paris, and workers on Wall Street. Divided into three parts, the book addresses the nature of cooperation, why it has become weak, and how it could be strengthened. The author warns that we must learn the craft of cooperation if we are to make our complex society prosper, yet he reassures usand#160;that we can do this, for the capacity for cooperation is embedded in human nature.
Synopsis
The highly respected author of The Craftsman now explores how we can create a better society by learning to truly listen and cooperate with others, even when our interests are conflicting.
About the Author
Praise for Richard Sennettand#8217;s The Craftsman
"In The Craftsmanand#160;[Sennett] compellingly explores the universe of skilled work, where 'the desire to do a job well done for its own sake' still flourishes."and#8212;Brian C. Anderson, Wall Street Journal
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"An inquiring, intelligent look at how the work of the hand informs the work of the mind."and#8212;New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)
and#160;
"A far-roving intellectual adventure."and#8212;Julian Bell, New York Review of Books
and#160;
and#8220;Richard Sennett is a prime observer of society. . . . One of his great strengths, the thing that makes his narrative so gripping, is the sheer range of his thinking and his brilliance in relating the past to the present.and#8221;and#8212;Fiona MacCarthy, The Guardian
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and#8220;[A] powerful meditation on the and#8216;skill of making things well.and#8217; and#8221;and#8212;New Yorker
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Praise for Richard Sennettand#8217;s The Culture of the New Capitalism
and#160;
"Hardly any social thinkers have given serious thought to the drastic changes in corporate culture wrought by downsizing, 're-orging,' and outsourcing. Fortunately, the exceptionand#8212;Richard Sennettand#8212;is also one of the most insightful public intellectuals we have. In The Culture of New Capitalism Sennett addresses the new corporate culture with his usual vast erudition, endlessly supple intellect, and firm moral outlook. The result is brilliant, disturbing, and absolutely necessary reading."and#8212;Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
and#160;
and#8220;[Sennett] has brilliantly pushed his thinking. . . . [A] triumph.and#8221;and#8212;Will Hutton, The Observer
and#160;