Sennett again: “The number of men aged fifty-five to sixty-four at work in the United States has dropped from nearly 80 percent in 1970 to 65 percent in 1990.” Trends are similar in Western Europe. Older workers are often downsized, perceived as inflexible deadwood, too critical of management, apt to fall behind the technology curve. This is an economic problem; but, again, what does this attitude toward age and experience mean if transferred to other realms of social and political... Read more

To return to one of my recent obsessions: The flexible economy described by Sennett seems inimical to the cultivation of gratitude, one of the key components or grounds of loyalty. Employers have various sorts of incentives (stock prices, meeting market demands with flexible specializations) to dispense with employees who have invested themselves in the business. Employees are not inspired to grateful loyalty toward a company that offers no promise of permanence. Read more

Sennett claims that the apparent decentralization of power in flexible organizations is only apparent. In fact, power remains concentrated in the hands of top level managers, often enhanced by the surveillance capabilities of contemporary technologies. The actual practice of flextime illustrates the point. When employees are given leave to work at home, employers grown anxious, since “they fear losing control over their absent workers and suspect that those who stay at home will abuse their freedom. As a result, a... Read more

Sennett summarizes a study from the early 1990s done by the American Management Association, which found that “repeated downsizings produce ‘lower profits and declining worker productivity.’” The study found “less than half the companies achieved their experience reduction goals; fewer than one-third increased profitability” and only one-quarter increased productivity. The reason, according to Sennett is clear: “the morale and motivation of workers dropped sharply in the various squeeze plays of downsizing. Surviving workers waited for the next blow of the... Read more

As Richard Sennett points out in his stimulating book, The Corrosion of Character , Marx was not the first to suggest that the factory system was dehumanizing and alienating. Nor was Daniel Bell first to spot the effects of capitalism on values and moral character. Sennett argues that Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations , for all the optimism expressed in the pin factory discussion early in the book, turns progressively darker as Smith considers the effects of boring routine on... Read more