Macat Analysis of David Riesman's The Lonely Crowd A: A Study of the Changing American Character
Jarrod Homer
Narratore Macat.com
Casa editrice: Macat
Sinossi
American lawyer-turned-sociologist David Riesman published his first book, The Lonely Crowd, in 1950. Aimed at academics, it nonetheless gained a large popular audience. In it, Riesman explores the links between social character—the ways in which members of a society are similar to one another—and social structures. He argues that as the United States became predominantly consumer-driven, rather than production-driven—particularly after World War II—American social character changed. Riesman said that prewar Americans had been largely inner-directed: they based their behavior on their own internal values and beliefs. Postwar Americans were becoming other-directed, with external groups including peers and the media now a key influence on the way they behaved. Riesman was observing, rather than judging, this change. The public, however, read his book as a criticism of the United States’ newly developing social character. Riesman’s work popularized sociology, helping to establish it as an academic discipline, and today it provides a fascinating window into the 1950s American psyche.
Durata: circa 2 ore (01:37:48) Data di pubblicazione: 15/07/2016; Unabridged; Copyright Year: 2016. Copyright Statment: —