An exploration of public performance in everyday life, by the leading cultural and social thinker 'All the world's a stage' declares the melancholy Jacques in Shakespeare's As You Like It. Today that's an unhappy thought. A cluster of demagogues has recently dominated the public realm through their powers as actors; they are brilliant performers. More unsettling, the demagogue, the dancer, the musician all share the same non-verbal realm of bodily gestures, lighting and blocking, costuming, stage architecture. So too, the roles and rituals of everyday life and everyday acting can be malign or sublime, repressive or liberating. Performing constitutes one art - an ambiguous art. In this book, the acclaimed sociologist Richard Sennett explores uncomfortable connections between performances in life, art, and politics. He draws on his own early career as a professional cellist as well on histories both Western and non-Western. He is not a pessimist; at the end of his study, he shows how this ambiguous art might become more ethical.

Practicing Culture seeks to revitalize the field of cultural sociology with an emphasis not on abstract theoretical debates but on showing how to put theoretical sources to work in empirical research. Culture is not just products and representations but practices. It is made and remade in countless small ways and occasional bursts of innovation. It is something people do - and do in rich variety and distinctive contexts as engaging case studies from the book reveal. For example: in Russia's most Western city, Kaliningrad, residents dig for artifacts symbolizing a German past - even though their parents only migrated to what was once Konigsberg after WWII in the USA, fans of professional wrestling pride themselves on being smart enough to know how much is trickery and how the tricks work yet still believe in the contest. Practicing Culture will reshape and invigorate the sociology of culture, not only through internal development, but through enhanced connections to the interdisciplinary social theory and to related fields like the sociology of knowledge and ethnography. It will prove an essential tool for students and researchers of cultural theory, contemporary social theory and cultural sociology.

In 1970, Richard Sennett published the groundbreaking The Uses of Disorder, arguing that the ideal of a planned and ordered city was flawed. Fifty years later, Sennett returns to these still fertile ideas and, alongside campaigner and architect Pablo Sendra, sets out an agenda for the design and ethics of the Open City. The public spaces of our cities are under siege from planners, privatisation and increased surveillance. Our streets are becoming ever more lifeless and ordered. What is to be done? Can disorder be designed? In this provocative essay Sendra and Sennett propose a reorganisation of how we think and plan the social life of our cities. 'Infrastructures of disorder' combine architecture, politics, urban planning and activism in order to develop places that nurture rather than stifle, bring together rather than divide up, remain open to change rather than closed off.

Richard Sennett has spent an intellectual lifetime exploring how humans live in cities. In this pair of essays he visits two of the world's greatest cities at crucial moments in their history to meditate on the condition of exile in both geographical and psychic space: the Jewish Ghetto of Renaissance Venice, where state-imposed outsiderdom was translated into a rich community identity; and nineteenth-century Paris, a magnet for political exiles, where the experience of displacement seeped into the city's culture at large.

Provocative and enlightening, Richard Sennett's The Craftsman is an exploration of craftsmanship - the desire to do a job well for its own sake - as a template for living. Most of us have to work. But is work just a means to an end? In trying to make a living, have we lost touch with the idea of making things well? Pure competition, Sennett shows, will never produce good work. Instead, the values of the craftsman, whether in a Stradivari violin workshop or a modern laboratory, can enrich our lives and change the way we anchor ourselves in the world around us. 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 recognize this if motivations are to be understood and lives made as fulfilling as possible. 'Lively, engaging and pertinent ... a lifetime's learning has gone into the writing of this book' Roger Scruton, Sunday Times 'An enchanting writer with important things to say' Fiona MacCarthy, Guardian 'Enthralling ... Sennett is keen to reconnect thinking with making, to revive the simple pleasure in the everyday object and the useful task. There is something here for all of us' Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times 'A masterpiece' Boyd Tonkin, Independent Richard Sennett's previous books include The Fall of Public Man, The Corrosion of Character, Flesh and Stone and Respect. He was founder director of the New York Institute for the Humanities, and is now University Professor at New York University and Academic Governor and Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics.

Practicing Culture seeks to revitalize the field of cultural sociology with an emphasis not on abstract theoretical debates but on showing how to put theoretical sources to work in empirical research. Culture is not just products and representations but practices. It is made and remade in countless small ways and occasional bursts of innovation. It is something people do - and do in rich variety and distinctive contexts as engaging case studies from the book reveal. For example;

• in Russia's most Western city, Kaliningrad, residents dig for artifacts symbolizing a German past - even though their parents only migrated to what was once Konigsberg after WWII
• in the USA, fans of professional wrestling pride themselves on being smart enough to know how much is trickery and how the tricks work yet still believe in the contest.

Practicing Culture will reshape and invigorate the sociology of culture not only through internal development but through enhanced connections to the interdisciplinary social theory and to related fields like the sociology of knowledge and ethnography. It will prove an essential tool for students and researchers of cultural theory, contemporary social theory and cultural sociology.

The articles in this volume cover a wide range of intellectually exciting issues, written by people who were considered at the summit of their fields of enquiry. Though the individual topics addressed are diverse, each article can be taken as representative of 'humanistic understanding' of its stated subject. The volume is the first of a series based upon lectures given under the auspices of the New York Institute for the Humanities.

In this reissue of the 1972 classic of social anatomy, Richard Sennets adds a new introduction to shows how the injuries of class persist into the 21st century. In this intrepid, groundbreaking book, Richard Sennett and Jonathan Cobb uncover and define a new form of class conflict in America?an internal conflict in the heart and mind of the blue-collar worker who measures his own value against those lives and occupations to which our society gives a special premium.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.

In The Corrosion of Character, Richard Sennett, "among the country's most distinguished thinkers . . . has concentrated into 176 pages a profoundly affecting argument" (Business Week) that draws on interviews with dismissed IBM executives, bakers, a bartender turned advertising executive, and many others to call into question the terms of our new economy. In his 1972 classic, The Hidden Injuries of Class (written with Jonathan Cobb), Sennett interviewed a man he called Enrico, a hardworking janitor whose life was structured by a union pay schedule and given meaning by his sacrifices for the future. In this new book-a #1 bestseller in Germany-Sennett explores the contemporary scene characterized by Enrico's son, Rico, whose life is more materially successful, yet whose work lacks long-term commitments or loyalties. Distinguished by Sennett's "combination of broad historical and literary learning and a reporter's willingness to walk into a store or factory [and] strike up a conversation" (New York Times Book Review), this book "challenges the reader to decide whether the flexibility of modern capitalism . . . is merely a fresh form of oppression" (Publishers Weekly, starred review). Praise for The Corrosion of Character: "A benchmark for our time."-Daniel Bell "[A]n incredibly insightful book."-William Julius Wilson "[A] remarkable synthesis of acute empirical observation and serious moral reflection."-Richard Rorty "[Sennett] offers abundant fresh insights . . . illuminated by his concern with people's struggle to give meaning to their lives."-[Memphis] Commercial Appeal

In this provocative book Richard Sennett looks at the ways today's global, ever-mutable form of capitalism is affecting our lives. He analyzes how changes in work ethic, in our attitudes toward merit and talent, and in public and private institutions have all contributed to what he terms "the specter of uselessness," and he concludes with suggestions to counter this disturbing new culture.
"Hardly any social thinkers have given serious thought to the drastic changes in corporate culture wrought by downsizing, 're-orging, ' and outsourcing. Fortunately, the exception--Richard Sennett--is also one of the most insightful public intellectuals we have. In "The Culture of the New Capitalism" Sennett addresses the new corporate culture with his usual vast erudition, endlessly supple intellect, and firm moral outlook. The result is brilliant, disturbing, and absolutely necessary reading."--Barbara Ehrenreich, author of "Bait and Switch: The (Futile) Pursuit of the American Dream
""[Sennett] has brilliantly pushed his thinking. . . . [A] triumph."--Will Hutton, "The Observer
""""Reflective, studded with sharp insights, moving with grace between big ideas and specific cases. This is vintage Sennett."--Douglas W. Rae, author of "City: Urbanism and Its End
""Packed with thought. . . . Profound and challenging. . . . [I am] full of admiration for the subtlety and originality of Richard Sennett's work."--Madeleine Bunting, "New Statesman"

When first published in 1970, The Uses of Disorder, was a call to arms against the deadening hand of modernist urban planning upon the thriving chaotic city. Written in the aftermath of the 1968 student uprising in the US and Europe, it demands a reimagination of the city and how class, city life and identity combine. Too often, this leads to divisions, such as the middle class flight to the suburbs, leaving the inner cities in desperate straits. In response, Sennett offers an alternative image of a "dense, disorderly, overwhelming cities" that allow for change and the development of community. Fifty years later this book is as essential as it was when it first came out, and remains an inspiration to architects, planners and urban thinkers everywhere.

Are we now so self-absorbed that we take little interest in the world beyond our own lives? Or has public life left no place for individuals to participate?

The Fall of Public Man examines the imbalance between private and public experience, and the decline of involvement in political life in recent decades. Tracing the changing nature of urban society from the eighteenth century to the world we now live in, Richard Sennett discusses the causes of our social withdrawal and asks what can bring us to reconnect with our communities. His landmark study of the imbalance of modern civilization provides a fascinating perspective on the relationship between public life and the cult of the individual.

Thomas Struth is one of the best-known photographers to come out of the school of Bernd and Hilla Becher. In this celebrated volume, Struth presents a series of urban streetscapes from cities such as Edinburgh, Lima, Pyongyang, Naples, and New York City, all taken in similar conditions-devoid of human activity. Struth refers to these mundane buildings, unpopulated streets and anonymous facades as "unconscious places"-environments that are imbued with meaning only by the viewer. Captured with exquisite technical prowess and presented with powerful, restrained neutrality, Struth's images allow us to fully appreciate a city's character-from its telephone wires above to the pavement below. Renowned sociologist Richard Sennett's illuminating essay reveals how Struth's sober, lucid photography leads the viewer to create their own conclusions, rather than forcing a perspective. The resulting interplay among photographer, viewer, and landscape may hold the key to understanding how architecture affects our daily lives.

"The Lonely Crowd . . . remains not only the best-selling book by a professional sociologist in American history, but arguably one that has had the widest influence on the nation at large."-Orlando Patterson, New York Times Considered by many to be one of the most influential books of the twentieth century, The Lonely Crowd opened exciting new dimensions in our understanding of the problems confronting the individual in twentieth-century America. Richard Sennett's new introduction illuminates the ways in which Riesman's analysis of a middle class obsessed with how others lived still resonates in the age of social media. "Indispensable reading for anyone who wishes to understand American society. After half a century, this book has lost none of its capacity to make sense of how we live."-Todd Gitlin "One of the most important books of the twentieth century."-Gideon Lewis-Kraus, New Yorker "Brilliant and original."-Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr. "The Lonely Crowd remains at least as instructive now as it was in 1950, all the more so as the reality it perceived closes in on us."-Jonathan Yardley, New Republic

15 projects from emerging countries that demonstrate the benefits of community-run urban improvement schemes. Illustrations depict these operations in-progress, and the steps involved in the organisation of a local initiative. This publication accompanies the documentary Urban Future. People have always been interested in the cities in which they live. As the world becomes increasingly urbanised, the impetus for citizens to improve their urban environments grows. Far from the traditional urban planning culture, they make use of limited resources, offering solutions to face evolving challenges. They focus on the provision of social infrastructure, aiming to improve the living conditions of residents at the local scale. Handmade Urbanism showcases 15 projects, realised mostly in less-favourable areas of five major cities in emerging countries. They examine the potential for urban transformation embedded in community initiatives. What is the basis for such initiatives? Which instruments and tools do they use to achieve their ends? Illustrations depict these operations in-progress, reveal the actors involved and trace the steps required in the organisation of a community initiative. Interviews with experts, participants and various different stakeholders clarify their approach to local challenges. At a global level, common threads and differences are made clear. Handmade Urbanism drafts a possible urban vision of a city impacted by these initiatives. It promotes participatory community projects, while exploring their potential to impact on the city at large - to the benefit of all. This publication accompanies the documentary Urban Future, which provides the reader with further information from the ground.

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, questioning how public culture has fared since the digital revolution.

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.

'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, Guardian In 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

Treating cities as laboratories of the modern world, “Infrastructures of the Urban” examines how they are made and how they should be remade. The contributors—scholars and practitioners from architects and sociologists to physicists—bring to bear empirical analysis, ethnography, eyewitness reflections, cultural critique, and manifestos to explore how improving our material and cultural infrastructure can produce a better society.The authors’ interest in urban experience is ethical as well as scholarly. Topics include the World Trade Center memorial, the planning of the London Olympics, the informal redesign of shanty housing by slum residents in Mumbai and Mozambique, and the more formalized construction of highways and “tech-cities” like Sondgu, South Korea. The contributors show how cities are made and remade daily, as well as how the diverse, unexpected agents involved in the process break down the distinction between experts and laypeople. The essays do not merely examine cities at a theoretical or dispassionate distance but recommend normative values for how cities should evolve to address new social challenges. Contributors: Ash Amin, Michael Arad, Richard Burdett, Craig Calhoun, Nerea Calvillo, Naresh Fernandes, Gerald Frug, Orit Halpern, Monika Krause, Jesse LeCavalier, Klaus Mainzer, Clapperton Mavhunga, Michael McQuarrie, Wolfgang Pietsch, Saskia Sassen, Richard Sennett, Harel Shapira, Cassim Shepard Craig Calhoun is Director of the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is the author of The Roots of Radicalism: Tradition, the Public Sphere, and Early Nineteenth-Century Social Movements. Richard Sennett is University Professor of Sociology and History at New York University. He is the author of Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation. Harel Shapira is a postdoctoral fellow at the Institute for Public Knowledge at New York University. He is the author of Waiting for José: The Minutemen’s Pursuit of America.