#x98;The#x9C; culture of the new capitalism

Sennett presents a passionate analysis of the latest developments of our working conditions and how these affect our feelings of inadequacy and frustration as workers/employees, etc. Contextualized in a diachronic explanation of the business practices, his essays are mainly centered around the bureaucratic (dis)function of corporations and on the way workers and employees react to the latest logic of capital, which is presented as a moving target of uncertain consequences. Although his reflection is at times too quick--to the point of falling into some stylistic mishaps--the reader has a better understanding regarding the whys and hows of the frenzied realities associated with consumption and desire. Sennett does a great job of integrating into his interpretation different philosophical and theoretical approaches, using good analogies and concise language. However, as I was reading his intelligent dissection of the "the specter of uselessness," particularly in relation to the lack of recognition for a "job well done", I was surprised that the author did not make a connection with the traditional Marxist concept of alienation. Similarly, I would have liked to see Lacan's ideas of desire when Sennett elaborated on consumption. I recommend this book to anyone interested in having a clearer image of the dynamic nature of late capitalism and its impact on the quality of our lives. 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 life—how 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.”

In this original book, B. Kumaravadivelu presents a macrostrategic framework designed to help both beginning and experienced teachers develop a systematic, coherent, and personal theory of practice. His book provides the tools a teacher needs in order to self-observe, self-analyze, and self-evaluate his or her own teaching acts.

The framework consists of ten macrostrategies based on current theoretical, empirical, and experiential knowledge of second language and foreign language teaching. These strategies enable teachers to evaluate classroom practices and to generate techniques and activities for realizing teaching goals. With checklists, surveys, projects, and reflective tasks to encourage critical thinking, the book is both practical and accessible. Teachers and future teachers, researchers, and teacher educators will find the volume indispensable.

"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 life -- how 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."--Jacket

A provocative and disturbing look at the ways new economic facts are shaping our personal and social values.

Content: Bureaucracy -- Talent and the specter of uselessness -- Consuming politics -- Social capitalism in our time.