Sennett (1998) The Corrosion of Character

Work, Employment and Society, 2013

This paper defends Richard Sennett's sociology of work under 'new capitalism' against claims that his analysis lacks empirical foundation and methodological rigour. While studies of aggregate labour market trends in recent criticisms imply that predications of an 'end of work' or 'age of insecurity' are premature, the paper demonstrates that Sennett's sociology is not committed to these predictions. Instead, his research provides a targeted critique of specific management practices, and of those social transformations that share the same ethos. More constructively, Sennett's sociology articulates a unique concept of workplace insecurity, and raises pressing issues in contemporary experiences of work and citizenship, rather than – as critics presuppose – in workers' contractual conditions as such.

The Corrosion of Character: The Personal Consequences of Work in the New Capitalism Evaluation of the Book, 2022

The Corrosion of the Character examines the psychological, sociological, cultural, financial and vital effects of the transformation towards flexibility in capitalism on employees in 8 interconnected sections. Capitalism, which wanted to get rid of the bad connotations it had in the past with the adjectives "freelance" or "private enterprise", defines today's anxiety-filled new nature as flexibility. According to Sennett, "Flexible Capitalism" is more than just a new version of Capitalism as we know it. In the new order, bureaucracy and routine are concepts that should be avoided. Employees are expected to be less dependent on formal procedures, more prompt and ready for change at any time.

Critical Horizons, 2007

The paper attempts to situate Sennett philosophically by placing him in the tradition of ontological hermeneutics. This way of reading Sennett is justified not only by the core principles that govern Sennett’s social anthropology. It is also useful for tracing the trajectory of Sennett’s philosophically informed diagnoses of the times. These diagnoses focus on the role of work in shaping subjectivity. After reconstructing the basic conceptual shape of Sennett’s diagnoses of the work-related maladies of the “old” and the “new” capitalism, the paper presents some broader reflections on the philosophical presuppositions of social criticism that takes its departure from the centrality of work.

Journal of Sociology, 2007

British Journal of Sociology, 2016

The topic of this imaginary dialogue between Georg Simmel and Max Weber is the relation between work – in the sense of labour – and personality. Its aim is to show that the thinking of these ‘founding fathers’ of sociology can furnish valuable insight into the current issue of the corrosion of character in contemporary post-Fordist society. The concept of work still represents one of the major factors determining modern individuals’ ability (or inability) to formulate personal, stable identities that enable them to become fully socialized. Both Simmel and Weber make reference to a common theoretical background that views the human being as a creature with originally rational potential, who is faced with the task of becoming a personality by means of consciously chosen life behaviour: This is evident in the parallelism between Simmel’s interest in the concept of ‘style of life’ (Der Stil des Lebens) and Weber’s research on the ‘life conduct’ (Lebensführung) that arose in Western rationalistic culture.

2006

Globalisation and the intensified economic competition it engenders are profoundly altering the way we live and relate to each other. For a start, work is undergoing such transformation that in future the notion of a job may change its meaning entirely. (Carnoy, 2001: 306) CONTEMPORARY ACCOUNTS OF WORK LIFE There is a widely held view that, in the last quarter of the last century and now spilling into this century, there have been considerable changes to the kinds of work available, how they are practised and who engages in them. The world of work has become unstable with changes to global economic activity, technology and cultural practices (e.g. McBrier and Wilson, 2004). In many recent accounts of work, work practice and career development much is made of the disempowerment and anxiety caused by the constantly turbulent and uncertain nature of contemporary work (e.g. Bauman, 1998; Beck, 1992; Giddens, 1991). For instance, a common claim is that a continuous and logically coherent working life is now less available, thereby making continuity of work skills and identity problematic. Many new jobs are held to be contingent-fixed term and part-time (Carnoy, 1999), making work insecure and insufficient. According to Rifkin (1995) more than 75 per cent of the labour force in industrialised nations engages in work that is little more than simple repetitive tasks that do not provide any gratifying and meaningful identity for the workers. Leicht (1998) claims that contemporary workplaces are characterised as featuring: (a) flatter organizational hierarchies, as new information technologies eliminate the need for most layers of middle management; (b) the growing use of temporary workers e mp l o y e d o n a n ' a s-n e e d e d ' b a s i s t o p e r f o r m s p e cific jobs for the duration of single projects; (c) the extensive use of subcontracting and outsourcing to small firms; (d) massive down-sizing of the permanent workforce resulting from flatter hierarchies and the replacement of skilled workers by machine tenders; (e) a post-unionised bargaining environment where unions have no place and no structural ability to gain a foothold to bargain with employers; and (f) virtual organisations that exist not as distinctive structural locations but as webs of technologically driven interactions. Such characteristics are presented as significant trends that are transforming existing conceptions and practices of paid work that individuals encounter in their working life. Beyond the unpredictability of what constitutes much contemporary work is the claim that the kinds of work we engage in are increasingly subject to change. It is popularly claimed that individuals will need to engage in multiple careers and will be required to reinvent their occupational identity a number of times throughout their working lives. These work-related manifestations of change are held by some to reflect a broader and more ubiquitous set of conditions that create great uncertainty. Beck (1992) proposes that contemporary (modern) society presents greater risks than in former times, rendering a greater sense of insecurity and uncertainty. Giddens (1991) proposes that contemporary society is generative of anxiety and has individuals standing before it as anxiety ridden. Work and working life are not exceptions to this general c l a i m, p a r t i c u l a r l y i f L e i c h t ' s (1 9 9 8) s i x c l a i ms o u t l i n e d a b o v e a r e upheld. So, finding continuity in working life in late modernity is held to be a precarious enterprise for individuals because of its turbulent and transformative character (e.g. O' Do h e r t y a n d Wi l l mo t , 2001). All this fuels the notion that paid work which provides adequate and consistent remuneration, personal fulfilment, and pathways to selfidentity and sense of self is becoming less likely, and that jobs which are both secure and well regarded are becoming a rarity (Bauman, 1998). This suggests, rather bleakly, that high salary levels, the ability to enact social good, personal discretion in how individuals engage in work, for how long and to what level of intensity, and the prospect of engaging in interesting work, in the humanist tradition, may be becoming the privilege of fewer workers. Such propositions emanate most strongly from theoretical accounts of work that might be described as social theorising, and are admittedly speculative. Often, such accounts are premised in theoretical rather than empirical analyses. That is, these accounts are based on propositions deducted from the author s ' t h e o r e t i c a l (Gi d d e n s , 1991) or ideological stance (Beck, 1992) or their observations of the past and present, and speculations about the future (Bauman, 1998). These analyses extend from meta-analysis about changing societal conditions through to accounts that explain how individuals and society come together. For instance, the social structuring of work is often the key premise, with individuals by degree being viewed as captive, subjugated or resistant to these socially derived practices. So, the degree to which an individual is free to make decisions and act autonomously in work is subject to diverse viewpoints. For instance, in the risky and uncertain era of late modernity, it is s u g g e s t e d t h a t i n d i v i d u a l s h a v e b e c o me ' e n t e r p r i s i n g s e l v e s ' (Du Gay, 1996; Rose, 1990), engaging in self-regulation as they act in ways against their preferred sense of self. In so doing, they adopt an almost Machiavellian persona that seeks to project a self that meets the requirements of their work, while fostering quite different personal beliefs. Hence, in this view, it is suggested that individuals direct their critical faculties in ways that subvert and bury their real selves in efforts to secure continuity and advancement in their employment (Grey, 1994). The theoretical view here would be to see these individuals as socialised subjects, engaged in self-deception and regulation generative of a false consciousness. Clearly, this perspective privileges the social world and