Analysis of The Corrosion of Character by Sennett - Book Report/Review Example

Introduction The Corrosion of Character, as a book, presents an analysis of today’s economy and its bleak picture. Basically it outlines as to how today’s economy has gone bleak and its work related ethics has radically changed from the past. The new ways of doing work are radically different from old ways of doing work and as such there is a critical and radical difference between how earlier generations used to work and how the employees now work under modern economy. Sennett argues that rather than having secure and stable jobs, job market has become fluid in nature with employees having to take many jobs across different places as jobs are no longer secure and stable. What is important to note however that Sennet has argued about the personal consequences of working in new economy and how people have to adjust? He argues that demands of new economy require people to internalize and deal with issues such as flexibility, de-layering, team work etc. Sennett argues that though these terms are presented to provide employees an opportunity for self-fulfillment however, in fact they are leading to a new form of oppression and are disorienting employees from their emotional and psychological well-being. Such demands of working in new economy however are corroding the character of individuals also thus leading to a decline in their personal values and ethics. This paper will therefore argue as to what Sennett means by “get a life” in modern way of working and different arguments he presents in his book. Key Concepts The overall arguments presented in the book are considered as extension of Sennett’s book “The Hidden Injuries of Class” written in 1973. In that book he argued about the effects of capitalism on the lives of the workers and how workers are actually been affected the way new methods of doing work are evolving. One of the key arguments of author is based upon new economy and what author calls flexible capitalism. Author argues that flexible capitalism has been on the rise since last decades and due to emergence of this form of capitalism, the way employees work now has radically changed too. The overall emphasis is on the flexibility wherein employees are made to adapt to different changes at very short notice. This flexibility however, also creates more risks as employees may be unable to respond to the changes and flexibility in due process and their skill shortages may make them redundant to do the job. (McDowell, 2001) Sennett argues that one of the key reasons as to why this change has occurred is the emergence of information technology. The rise of information technology has made it relatively easier for the organizations to implement changes rapidly and thus workers are asked to become flexible enough to adapt to such changes at relatively short notices. Information technology seems to have relatively significant impact on the way people relate with each other within organizations and how organizations view their employees within overall organizational and social context. While arguing and presenting his analysis, Sennett relies heavily on the concepts of flexibility, teamwork, de-layering and ever changing work related conditions. Though Sennet agrees that these concepts may be presenting new opportunities however they are also creating new forms of oppression also. (Piety, 2004) Sennett based his arguments on the assumption that character is associated with the long term emotional experiences of the individuals. In an environment which is focused too much on the short term nature of the work and focuses too much on change, it is relatively less likely that wok will add more to the development and establishment of an individual’s character rather than enhancing it. He further argues that an individual’s character is based upon mutual agreement and long term loyalty or by practicing delayed gratification to achieve a particular end in future. However, Sennet argues that this naturally raises certain important questions which need to be answered in order to fully understand as to what is critically required to live in modern economy. (Sennett,1999) Since character is associated with the long term goals therefore Sennett argues that how can in an economy which is too narrowly focused upon short term results can help employees to achieve their long term goals. Sennett further argues about how such organizations which are continuously evolving and changing can actually command the loyalties of employees. Sennett therefore argues that new economy cannot sustain character and eventually undermine the individual. New economy, according to Sennet, will therefor contribute towards the erosion of personal character. Flexibility One of the basis of the arguments of Sennett and based upon which he further developed his arguments is based upon the idea of flexibility. He borrows from Mill and outlines that flexibility should add to more personal freedom however; the new forms of flexibility have rather increased power within the organizations. He argues that the pursuit of flexibility by the organizations actually resulted into the creation of new forms of control and power within the organizations thus restricting further the freedom and choice available to employees. He argues that the overall rigid forms of management within the organizations are being replaced with more open systems. However, workers are often forced to adapt to the changes at very short notice and are trained to remain open to the change which can emerge at any point in time. This also force employees to assume more risk and become less open to the regulations and a set form of regulations. This also reduces the chances to follow the established and formal procedures to perform any given work. He argues that the concepts like delayering as well as re-engineering has resulted into redundancies and organizations are no longer willing to take workers with skill gaps. This ultimately results into the anxiety and depression within the employees and thus not contributing towards welfare of the workers. New capitalism according to Sennet therefore is an illegible regime of power with rules and controls which are relatively difficult to be understood and comprehended properly. Precarious Worker Character of any individual depends upon an individual’s relationship to the world and how an individual places moral values and ethics on the same. As discussed above, character, according to Sennett, is based upon long term emotional experience of an individual. It is not only displayed by the mutual trust, loyalty and commitment but it also requires long term achievement of a particular future end. Sennett argues that issues like team work, flextime has made workers more precarious as in order to ensure control over their jobs they feel more insecure. He argues that the introduction of concepts like Flextime was meant to introduce women into the work force and to allow them to have a balance between their work and home. The responsibility of being full time parent as well as taking up a part time job therefore has given rise to the concept of flextime. (S. Brown 2005) Sennett presents two arguments while discussing the issue of flextime and how it might lead workers to become more precarious in nature. He argues that it is mostly a privilege for white women specially in US as other employees tend not to have the liberty and option to opt for flexi timings for their work. The second argument is based upon the notion that flextime make employees more insecure as they may feel that their jobs may be overtaken or they may lose control over their jobs as in their absence they seem to exercise less control over the work as well as the employees. (Kalleberg, 2009) As a result of these new changes, new forms of control are being put in place by the organizations to accommodate the needs of flextime and other changes. The shift towards the short term and less reliance on the short term therefore also result into making employees more precarious and insecure in nature. Step by step progression of employees as well as the possession of single set of skills is no longer required within the organizations. Such rapid changes therefore seem to make workers relatively less secure and thus rely on different forms of control and power which can further reduce the freedom of employees. Sennett also presents arguments against issues like over-qualification, competition between employees, re-engineering, ambiguous lateral moves in job changes etc. all these arguments have been presented in order to outline that it may be relatively difficult for modern workers to get a life. Constantly changing and shifting patterns as well as the new modes of power and control has made workers more insecure and forced to embrace change while ignoring individual freedom and change. Corrosion of Character The changes which have been resulted due to new capitalism have actually made employees more insecure. Further Sennet argues that such changes have made the character of an individual to be undermined because of focus on the short term gains. Employees as well as organizations seem to focus on achieving short term gains while ignoring important issues like loyalty and commitment to organization and work. Employees are forced to collaborate in team efforts which are actually suppressing their individual though process. Shift from an individual to the team therefore results into loss of creativity and innovativeness as individuals may have to respond and accommodate to the needs of team dynamics rather than focus on developing their own independent thinking. Sennet argues that team work actually creates a fiction of harmony and as such workers have to accommodate themselves to the needs of teams. Sennett also argues that tendency to take risks and gambles is also increasing due to increase in technological power thus making young lot to more open to risk taking. Conclusion Though Sennett’s work may not be considered as an important work in the field of sociology however it indicates as to how modern ways of working can radically affect human freedom and choice. His basic arguments are based on the assumption that the short term nature of new economy and its institutions are inherently deficient to build the character of the employees. Character is associated with long term horizon however; modern organizations are too much focused upon short term horizons therefore in such an environment individual character can only erode rather than being built. Sennett presents different examples of how changes in the work related environment has actually resulted into the change in freedom for individuals and made them more precarious in nature. Increasing insecurity, flexibility in work as well as focus on short term goals has all resulted into the corrosion of an individual’s character. This make difficult for workers to actually get a life and become more and more involved in uncertain work environment. References Kalleberg, A. (2009) Precarious Work, Insecure Workers: Employment Relations in Transition. American Sociological Review, 74 (1), p.1-22. McDowell, L. (2001) Father and Ford Revisited: Gender, Class and Employment Change in the New Millennium. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 26 (4), p.448-464. Piety, M. (2004) The Long Term: Capitalism and Culture in the New Millennium. Journal of Business Ethics, 51 (2), p.103-118 S. Brown, W. (2005) The New Employment Contract and the "At Risk" Worker. Journal of Business Ethics, 58 (1/3), p.195-201. Sennett, R. (1999) The Corrosion of Character. The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism.. New York: Norton. Read More