Richard Sennett teaches sociology at New York University and at the London School of Economics. He is president
of the American Council on Work.
Review
"A devastating and wholly necessary book."
--Studs Terkel, author of Working
"A benchmark for our time."
--Daniel Bell
"[A]n incredibly insightful book."
--William Julius Wilson
"[A] remarkable synthesis of acute empirical observation and serious moral reflection."
--Richard Rorty
"[Sennett] offers abundant fresh insights . . . illuminated by his concern with people's struggle to give
meaning to their lives."
--[Memphis] Commercial Appeal
"Combination of broad historical and literary learning and a reporter's willingness to walk into a store
or factory [and] strike up a conversation"
--(New York Times Book Review)
"This book challenges the reader to decide whether the flexibility of modern capitalism . . . is merely
a fresh form of oppression"
--(Publishers Weekly, starred review)
W.W. Norton & Company, Inc. Web Site, April, 2000
Summary
Drawing on interviews with dismissed IBM executives in Westchester, New York, bakers in a high-tech Boston bakery,
a barmaid turned advertising executive, and many others, sociologist Richard Sennett explores the disorienting
effects of the new capitalism.
Old ways of work have broken apart, as has the work ethic of an older generation. In place of stable routine and
predictable career tracks, employees are asked to be open to change on short notice. Staid bureaucracies have become
more fluid networks; short-term teamwork replaces long-term commitment to organizations. In some ways these changes
are positive. They make for a dynamic economy. But they can also be destructive, eroding the sense of sustained
purpose, integrity of self, and trust in others that an earlier generation understood as essential to personal
character.
In The Corrosion of Character, Sennett helps us to understand the social and political context for these
personal confusions, and suggests how we need to reimagine both community and individual character in order to
confront an economy based on the principle of "no long term."
