Richard Sennett
Encyclopedia
Richard Sennett is the Centennial Professor
of Sociology
at the London School of Economics
and University Professor of the Humanities
at New York University
. Sennett is probably best known for his studies of social ties in cities, and the effects of urban living on individuals in the modern world.
He has been a Fellow of The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
, and of the Royal Society of Literature
. He is the founding director of the New York Institute for the Humanities
. In 2006 Sennett was the winner of the Hegel Prize awarded by the German city of Stuttgart
, and in 2008 was awarded the Gerda Henkel Prize, worth 100,000 Euros, by the Gerda Henkel Foundation of Düsseldorf
, Germany
.
He is married to sociologist Saskia Sassen
.
and the conductor Pierre Monteux
. When a hand injury put an end to his musical career, he entered academic life. He trained with David Riesman
, Erik Erikson
, and Oscar Handlin
at Harvard, graduating with his Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization in 1969. His intellectual life as an urbanist came into focus during the time he spent as a fellow of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of Harvard and MIT.
Mr. Sennett's scholarly writing centers on the development of cities, the nature of work in modern society, and the sociology of culture. Families Against the City, his earliest book, examines the relation between family and work in 19th Century Chicago. A subsequent quartet of books explores urban life more largely: The Uses of Disorder, an essay about identity formation in cities; The Fall of Public Man, a history of public culture and public space, particularly in London, Paris, and New York in the 18th and 19th Centuries; The Conscience of the Eye, a study of how Renaissance urban design passed into modern city planning, and Flesh and Stone, an overview of the design of cities from ancient to modern times.
Another quartet of books is devoted to labor. The Hidden Injuries of Class is a study of class consciousness among working-class families in Boston; The Corrosion of Character explores how new forms of work are changing people's communal and personal experience; Respect probes the relation of work and reforms of the welfare system. The Culture of the New Capitalism provides an overview of these changes.
Authority is an essay in political theory; it addresses the tools of interpretation by which people recast raw power into either legitimate or illegitimate authority.
Mr. Sennett currently is working on a project called 'Homo Faber,' exploring material ways of making culture. The first book in this series is The Craftsman, published in 2008; subsequent volumes are Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation, to be published in 2012, and a future volume on the making of the urban environment.
In the public realm, Mr. Sennett founded, and directed for a decade, the New York Institute of the Humanities at New York University. Mr. Sennett then chaired a United Nations commission on urban development and design. As president of the
American Council on Work, Mr. Sennett led a forum, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, for researchers trying to understand the changing pattern of American labor. Most recently he helped create, and has chaired, the Cities Programme at the London School of Economics. In 2006 he served as Chair of the jury of the Venice Biennale.
Mr. Sennett's literary "hobby" is writing about music, including novels with musical themes.
Fiction
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Sociology
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
at the London School of Economics
London School of Economics
The London School of Economics and Political Science is a public research university specialised in the social sciences located in London, United Kingdom, and a constituent college of the federal University of London...
and University Professor of the Humanities
Humanities
The humanities are academic disciplines that study the human condition, using methods that are primarily analytical, critical, or speculative, as distinguished from the mainly empirical approaches of the natural sciences....
at New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
. Sennett is probably best known for his studies of social ties in cities, and the effects of urban living on individuals in the modern world.
He has been a Fellow of The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences
The Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences is an American interdisciplinary research body in Stanford, California focusing on the social sciences and humanities . Fellows are elected in a closed process, to spend a period of residence at the Center, released from other duties...
, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
, and of the Royal Society of Literature
Royal Society of Literature
The Royal Society of Literature is the "senior literary organisation in Britain". It was founded in 1820 by George IV, in order to "reward literary merit and excite literary talent". The Society's first president was Thomas Burgess, who later became the Bishop of Salisbury...
. He is the founding director of the New York Institute for the Humanities
New York Institute for the Humanities
The New York Institute for the Humanities is an academic organisation affiliated with New York University, founded by Richard Sennett in 1976 to promote the exchange of ideas between academics, professionals and the general public. The NYIH regularly holds seminars open to the public, as well as...
. In 2006 Sennett was the winner of the Hegel Prize awarded by the German city of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, and in 2008 was awarded the Gerda Henkel Prize, worth 100,000 Euros, by the Gerda Henkel Foundation of Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf
Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
.
He is married to sociologist Saskia Sassen
Saskia Sassen
Saskia Sassen is a Dutch sociologist noted for her analyses of globalization and international human migration. She is currently Robert S. Lynd Professor of Sociology at Columbia University and Centennial visiting Professor at the London School of Economics. Sassen coined the term global city...
.
Brief Biography
Richard Sennett grew up in the Cabrini Green housing project in Chicago, coming from a family of Russian emigres. As a child he trained in music, studying the cello and conducting, working with Claus Adam of the Juilliard String QuartetJuilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists,...
and the conductor Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Monteux was an orchestra conductor. Born in Paris, France, Monteux later became an American citizen.-Life and career:Monteux was born in Paris in 1875. His family was descended from Sephardi Jews who came to France in the wake of the Spanish Inquisition. He studied violin from an early age,...
. When a hand injury put an end to his musical career, he entered academic life. He trained with David Riesman
David Riesman
David Riesman , was a sociologist, attorney, and educator....
, Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson
Erik Erikson was a Danish-German-American developmental psychologist and psychoanalyst known for his theory on social development of human beings. He may be most famous for coining the phrase identity crisis. His son, Kai T...
, and Oscar Handlin
Oscar Handlin
Oscar Handlin was an American historian. As a professor of history at Harvard University for over 50 years, he directed 80 PhD dissertations and helped promote social and ethnic history...
at Harvard, graduating with his Ph.D. in the History of American Civilization in 1969. His intellectual life as an urbanist came into focus during the time he spent as a fellow of the Joint Center for Urban Studies of Harvard and MIT.
Mr. Sennett's scholarly writing centers on the development of cities, the nature of work in modern society, and the sociology of culture. Families Against the City, his earliest book, examines the relation between family and work in 19th Century Chicago. A subsequent quartet of books explores urban life more largely: The Uses of Disorder, an essay about identity formation in cities; The Fall of Public Man, a history of public culture and public space, particularly in London, Paris, and New York in the 18th and 19th Centuries; The Conscience of the Eye, a study of how Renaissance urban design passed into modern city planning, and Flesh and Stone, an overview of the design of cities from ancient to modern times.
Another quartet of books is devoted to labor. The Hidden Injuries of Class is a study of class consciousness among working-class families in Boston; The Corrosion of Character explores how new forms of work are changing people's communal and personal experience; Respect probes the relation of work and reforms of the welfare system. The Culture of the New Capitalism provides an overview of these changes.
Authority is an essay in political theory; it addresses the tools of interpretation by which people recast raw power into either legitimate or illegitimate authority.
Mr. Sennett currently is working on a project called 'Homo Faber,' exploring material ways of making culture. The first book in this series is The Craftsman, published in 2008; subsequent volumes are Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation, to be published in 2012, and a future volume on the making of the urban environment.
In the public realm, Mr. Sennett founded, and directed for a decade, the New York Institute of the Humanities at New York University. Mr. Sennett then chaired a United Nations commission on urban development and design. As president of the
American Council on Work, Mr. Sennett led a forum, sponsored by the Rockefeller Foundation, for researchers trying to understand the changing pattern of American labor. Most recently he helped create, and has chaired, the Cities Programme at the London School of Economics. In 2006 he served as Chair of the jury of the Venice Biennale.
Mr. Sennett's literary "hobby" is writing about music, including novels with musical themes.
Selected works
- Together: The Rituals, Pleasures, and Politics of Cooperation, Yale (2012), ISBN 0300116330
- The Foreigner: Two Essays on Exile, Notting Hill (2011), ISBN 1907903089
- The Craftsman, Allen Lane (2008), ISBN 978-0713998733
- The Culture of the New CapitalismThe Culture of the New CapitalismThe Culture of the New Capitalism is a book on the current economic situation by Richard Sennett which covers politics, economics, sociology and psychology.-Chapters:*"Bureaucracy"*"Talent and the Specter of Uselessness"*"Consuming Politics"...
, Yale (2006), ISBN 0300119925 - Respect in a World of Inequality, Penguin (2003), ISBN 0393325377
- The Corrosion of Character, The Personal Consequences Of Work In the New Capitalism, Norton (1998), ISBN 0393319873
- Flesh and Stone: The Body And The City In Western Civilization, Norton (1994), ISBN 0393313913
- The Conscience of the Eye: The design and social life of cities, Faber and Faber (1991), ISBN 0393308782
- Authority (1980), ISBN 0571161898
- The Fall of Public Man, Knopf (1977), ISBN 0141007575
- The Hidden Injuries of Class, with Jonathan Cobb, Knopf (1972), ISBN 039331085X
- The Uses of Disorder: Personal Identity & City Life (1970), ISBN 0393309096
- Families Against the City: Middle Class Homes of Industrial Chicago, 1872-1890, Harvard (1970), ISBN 067429226X
- Classic Essays On The Culture Of Cities, editor (1969), ISBN 013135194X
- Nineteenth Century Cities: Essays In The New Urban History, coauthor, Yale (1969)
Fiction
- Palais-Royal (1986), ISBN 0393312518
- An Evening of Brahms (1984)
- The Frog Who Dared to Croak (1982), ISBN 0374158843
External links
- Official website
- LSE faculty profile
- Guardian: Richard Sennett
- Article (09/2005)
- Article (02/2001)
- Interview (01/2006)
- BBC (01/2006)
- Guantánamo in Germany (with Saskia Sassen) in The GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
, 21 August 2007 (concerning arrest of German sociologist charged of being "mastermind" of the Militante gruppe) - Discussion on Craft and skills
- NewYork Times Book Review (April 6, 2008)
- Audio: Richard Sennett in conversation on the BBC World Service discussion show The ForumThe Forum (BBC World Service)The Forum is the BBC World Service's flagship discussion programme. It brings together prominent thinkers from different disciplines and different parts of the world to try and create stimulating discussion, informed by highly distinct academic, artistic and cultural backgrounds.-Format:Each...