Bøger af Richard Sennett

Selvom ordet ´håndværk´ måske leder tankerne hen på en livsform, der har været aftagende siden begyndelsen af det industrielle samfund, argumenterer Richard Sennett for, at håndværksmæssighed er et aspekt af og en tilgrundlæggende kvalitet ved alle former for arbejde, der rummer blivende værdi. Dermed afgrænser Sennett håndværket - ikke fra det kreative arbejde, men fra alle former for spekulative, abstrakte, ideologiske aspekter i den moderne verden, som først og fremmest tjener til at undertrykke mennesker og natur. Værdien af godt håndværk trænger, betoner Sennett, til at blive fremhævet: computerprogrammører, læger, forældre, kunstnere og borgere har alle brug for det. I sin mest ambitiøse bog til dato udforsker en af vor tids store intellektuelle håndværkets fortid og nutid; hans pointe kommer frem, når han forbinder fysisk arbejde med etiske værdier.I Håndværkeren fører Richard Sennett læseren over tid og rum, fra oldtidens romerske murstensbyggere til renæssancens guldsmede og videre til oplysningstidens bogtrykkere i Paris og industrifabrikkerne i London. Historien har skelnet mellem praksis og teori, teknik og udtryk, håndværker og kunstner, producent og forbruger; det moderne samfund lider stort under denne splittelse mellem hånd og ånd, der er et resultat af denne historiske arv. Men håndværkets og håndværkeres forgangne liv leder også tankerne hen på måder at bruge værktøj, organisere arbejdet og reflektere over livet på. Læst på den måde bliver Håndværkeren en anvisning på, hvordan man kan håndtere livet.Richard Sennett er professor i sociologi ved New York Universitet og London School og Economics. Før han blev sociolog, studerede han musik. Han har fået tildelt megen hæder, senest Hegel-prisen i 2006, for sin præsentation inden for humaniora og samfundsfag.

Det fleksible menneske - eller arbejdets forvandling og personlighedens nedsmeltning er den fulde titel på Richard Sennetts bog. Hvordan er det muligt at realisere langsigtede mål og værdier, når det moderne samfund og arbejdslivet er helliget det korte sigt og de uendeligt små tidshorisonter? lyder det grundlæggende spørgsmål Sennett stiller.Omdrejningspunktet i Sennetts bog er sammenligningen af før og nu, af tiden før de store omvæltninger omkring 1968 og tiden efter. De to tidsepoker repræsenteres i bogen af Enrico, som er andengenerationsindvandrer fra Italien og hans søn Rico. Med udgangspunkt i Enrico og Ricos livshistorier fremlægger Sennett sine etisk-moralske refleksioner.»Sennetts nye bog redefinerer arbejdet i nutidens fleksible, moderniserede koncerner og viser hvorledes de ansattes tab af værdighed og selvforståelse er en konsekvens af rastløse, tilsyneladende evige forandringer... Værket er en rettesnor for vor epoke«.Daniel Bell, Harward University.»Sennetts til dato vægtigste bog. Et mesterværk«.Die Zeit.

THE FALL OF PUBLIC MAN is a book in the great tradition of sociological scholarship. Sennett writes first of the tension between the public and private realms in which we live, arguing that different types of behaviour and activity are appropriate in each. He argues that the barrier between these different realms has been eroded, and that this breakdown is so profound that public man has been left with no certain idea of his role in society. Sennett sees the development of the city as the single most important element of the social change he describes, and puts his argument in its historical perspective through an analysis of the changes in our built environment from the 18th century to the present day.

Why do people work hard, and take pride in what they do? This book, a philosophically-minded enquiry into practical activity of many different kinds past and present, is about what happens when people try to do a good job. It asks us to think about the true meaning of skill in the 'skills society' and argues that pure competition is a poor way to achieve quality work. Sennett suggests, instead, that there is a craftsman in every human being, which can sometimes be enormously motivating and inspiring - and can also in other circumstances make individuals obsessive and frustrated. The Craftsman shows how history has drawn fault-lines between craftsman and artist, maker and user, technique and expression, practice and theory, and that individuals' pride in their work, as well as modern society in general, suffers from these historical divisions. But the past lives of crafts and craftsmen show us ways of working (using tools, acquiring skills, thinking about materials) which provide rewarding alternative ways for people to utilise their talents. We need to recognise this if motivations are to be understood and lives made as fulfilling as possible.

Reissue of the classic text on how cities should be planned

Living with people who differ -- racially, ethnically, religiously, or economically -- is one of the most difficult challenges facing us today. Though our society is becoming ever more complicated materially, we tend to avoid engaging with people unlike ourselves. Modern politics emphasizes unity and similarity, encouraging the politics of the tribe rather than of complexity. Together: the rituals, pleasures and politics of Co-operation explores why this has happened and what might be done about it.Sennett argues that living with people unlike ourselves requires more than goodwill: it requires skill. The foundations for skillful co-operation lie in learning to listen well and to discuss rather than debate. People who develop these capacities earn a reward: they can take pleasure in the company of others. Together traces the evolution of cooperative rituals in medieval churches and guilds, Renaissance workshops and courts, early modern laboratories and diplomatic embassies. In our lives today, it explains the trials and prospects of cooperation online, face-to-face in ethnic conflicts, among financial workers and community organizers.Exploring the nature of cooperation, why it has become weak, and how it could be strengthened, this visionary book offers a new way of seeing how humans can live together.

The distinguished social critic Richard Sennett here shows how the excessively ordered community freezes adults-both the young idealists and their security-oriented parents-into rigid attitudes that stifle personal growth. He argues that the accepted ideal of order generates patterns of behavior among the urban middle classes that are stultifying, narrow, and violence-prone. And he proposes a functioning city that can incorporate anarchy, diversity, and creative disorder to bring into being adults who can openly respond to and deal with the challenges of life.

An exploration of public performance in everyday life, by the leading cultural and social thinkerThe Performer explores the relations between performing in art (particularly music), politics and everyday experience. It focuses on the bodily and physical dimensions of performing, rather than on words. Richard Sennett is particularly attuned to the ways in which the rituals of ordinary life are performances.The book draws on history and sociology, and more personally on the author's early career as a professional cellist, as well as on his later work as a city planner and social thinker. It traces the evolution of performing spaces in the city; the emergence of actors, musicians, and dancers as independent artists; the inequality between performer and spectator; the uneasy relations between artistic creation and social and religious ritual; the uses and abuses of acting by politicians. The Janus-faced art of performing is both destructive and civilizing.This is the first in a trilogy of books on the fundamental DNA of human expression: performing, narrating, and imaging.

The marine steam engine is an unchanged, high-quality reprint of the original edition of 1898.Hansebooks is editor of the literature on different topic areas such as research and science, travel and expeditions, cooking and nutrition, medicine, and other genres. As a publisher we focus on the preservation of historical literature. Many works of historical writers and scientists are available today as antiques only. Hansebooks newly publishes these books and contributes to the preservation of literature which has become rare and historical knowledge for the future.

How to find dignity and a meaningful life in the modern city

In his most ambitious book to date, Richard Sennett offers an original perspective on craftsmanship and its close connections to work and ethical values "[Sennett] compellingly explores the universe of skilled work."--Brian C. Anderson, Wall Street Journal Craftsmanship, says Richard Sennett, names the basic human impulse to do a job well for its own sake, and good craftsmanship involves developing skills and focusing on the work rather than ourselves. The computer programmer, the doctor, the artist, and even the parent and citizen all engage in a craftsman's work. In this thought-provoking book, Sennett 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 today's world. The Craftsman engages the many dimensions of skill--from 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.

Paris in the nineteenth century was a magnet for Europe's exiles, among them the Russian genius, Alexander Herzen, who described the experience of displacement from the inside. Richard Sennett plunges into this vibrant, anxious world to recreate the experiences of Herzen and his contemporaries.

'Thank god for Richard Sennett ... essential reading for all students of the city' Anna Minton, Prospect'Constantly stimulating ideas from a veteran of urban thinking' Jonathan Meades, GuardianIn Building and Dwelling, Richard Sennett distils a lifetime's thinking and practical experience to explore the relationship between the good built environment and the good life. He argues for, and describes in rich detail, the idea of an open city, one in which people learn to manage complexity. He shows how the design of cities can enrich or diminish the everyday experience of those who dwell in them.The book ranges widely - from London, Paris and Barcelona to Shanghai, Mumbai and Medellin in Colombia - and draws on classic thinkers such as Tocqueville, Heidegger, Max Weber, and Walter Benjamin. It also draws on Sennett's many decades as a practical planner himself, testing what works, what doesn't, and why. He shows what works ethically is often the most practical solution for cities' problems. This is a humane and thrilling book, which allows us to think freshly about how we live in cities.'Sennett is my kind of urbanist. He sees the modern city. He reads its secrets as he walks down the street, kicking over the detritus of the past ... There is no alternative to the planner, but please a planner who has read Sennett's book' Simon Jenkins, Sunday Times

In this provocative and timely book, Richard Sennett examines the forces that erode respect in modern society. Respect can be gained by attaining success, by developing talents, through financial independence and by helping others. But, Sennett argues, many who are not able to achieve the demands of today's meritocracy lose the esteem that should be given to them. From his childhood in a poor Chicago housing project to the contrasting methods of care practised by a nun and a social worker, from the harmonious interaction of musicians to the welfare system, Sennett explores the ways in which mutual respect can forge bonds across the divide of inequality.

In this fusion of personal memoir and reflective scholarship, Richard Sennett addresses the need and social responsibility for respect in the uncertain world of "flexible" relationships.

The authors conclude that in the games of hierarchical respect, no class can emerge the victor; and that true egalitarianism can be achieved only by rediscovering diverse concepts of human dignity. Examining personal feelings in terms of a totality of human relations, and looking beyond the struggle for economic survival, The Hidden Injuries of Class takes an important step forward in the sociological critique of everyday life.

Treating cities as laboratories of the modern world, Infrastructures of the Urban examines how they are made and how they should be remade.

Richard Sennett is one of the world's leading sociologists, and this book, first published in 1970, was his first work. It launched his exploration of communities and how they live in cities.

Looks at the ways the global form of capitalism affects our lives. This book analyzes how changes in work ethic, in our attitudes toward merit and talent, and in public and private institutions contributes to 'the spectre of uselessness'. It concludes with suggestions to counter this disturbing culture.

This vivid history of the city in Western civilization tells the story of urban life through bodily experience.