The Fall of Public Man
by Richard Sennett · first published 1977
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A landmark study of urban society, reissued for the 40th anniversary of the original publication with a new epilogue by the author. A sweeping, farsighted study of the changing nature of public culture and urban society, The Fall of Public Man spans more than two centuries of Western sociopolitical evolution and investigates the causes of our declining involvement in political life. Richard Sennett’s insights into the danger of the cult of individualism remain thoroughly relevant to our world today. In a new epilogue, he extends his analysis to the new “public” realm of social media, questioni
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…by this rationalism.) I was embarrassed how much I learnt from this long essay. Even a lot about piano teaching. Worth it for the ancient Chinese anecdote in the footnotes alone. Richard Sennett The Fall of Public Man is a history of public spaces, living in cities, public politics, political charisma etc, since Paris in the 19th C. Erving Goffman Presentation of Self in Everyday Life looks at (All these books are…
on “Ask HN: What are some deep, mentality changing books?” ↗"The Fall of Public Man" argues that we actually used to be more political and had to "put our cards on the table" so to speak. This would be as opposed to now, where we are very much able to hide our positions if we so please.…
on “New evidence that British workplaces are losing viewpoint diversity” ↗…and industry peers, but probably recruiters and VCs too. My interpretation of how a very experienced recruiter once explained it to me is: It’s “public life” online, and your public persona (in a “The Fall of Public Man” sense), and if you have no presence or a minimal one, when the time comes that you NEED attention (job seeking; shilling your business) you won’t have any listeners due to the algorithm. Therefore one…
on “Sunny days are warm: why LinkedIn rewards mediocrity” ↗