The Fall of Public Man

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In the course of this investigation, Sennett covers a lot of ground. He discusses street life in the 18th and 19th century, the evolution of audience behaviour in the theatre, fashion developments, the rise of the department store, Lamartine's oratory skills and Zola's intervention during the Dreyfus affair - to name just a few of a topics dealt with in the course of this book. Hofstadter R., 1964, Le Style paranoïaque. Théories du complot et droite radicale en Amérique, trad. de l’anglais (États-Unis) par J. Charnay, Paris, F. Bourin, 2012. Berger M., 2015, « Des publics fantomatiques. Participation faible et démophobie », SociologieS. Accès : http://sociologies.revues.org/4935. But Sennett's work can also be understood as a life-long attempt to come to terms with his radical heritage, to both honour the idealism of an old left and re-mould it in the light of contemporary realities. Born in Chicago in 1943, he was a classic child of the left. His father and all his uncles were in the Communist party and his mother "was always involved in the labour movement", he says. His father and uncle fought in the Spanish Civil War, first against the fascists, and then against the communists. Proudly he shows me a portrait on his study wall of the Lincoln section of the International brigade. It includes his father and uncle, upright men in caps prepared to die to defend someone else's freedom.

I have the most loyal people. I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and (...) It was clear from these early books that Sennett was a skillful writer. At its best, his sociology reads like a subtle, psychological novel, an absorbing biography or a piece of really good journalism. It amply fulfils his claim to be "a report on the act of thinking". His aim, he says, is to make sociology a form of literature, "as it was in the 19th century. This question of style is a huge issue in sociology," he says. "There's a great gap between politics and expression. So many academics are closed, anxious about performance and status. Foucault wrote in clear evocative French, but his followers have a possessive obscurity. Roland Barthes was a wonderful writer but there is a paralysis about his acolytes." He is also a socialist, who has returned to radical politics in late middle age. Ruth Levitas, reader in sociology at the University of Bristol, says he thinks class is important and fundamental, "which lots of people don't, but he also talks about what class means for real lives without drifting off into stuff about identity. He also writes beautifully". I had never heard of Richard Sennett until a read an article about the evolving role that clothing has played in the 20th century and how that is a reflection upon how people see themselves in relation to society—“The Fall of Public Man” was referenced in the article in connection to one of the more interesting points. As with so many books, I placed a library hold on the title and just kind of forgot about it… Hochschild A. R., 2003, The Commercialization of Intimate Life. Notes from Home and Work , Oakland, University of California Press.

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Darnton R., 1984, Le Grand Massacre des chats. Attitudes et croyances dans l’ancienne France, trad. de l’anglais (États-Unis) par M.-A. Revellat, Paris, R. Laffont, 1985. Kaufmann L., 2016, « La “ligne brisée” : ontologie relationnelle, réalisme social et imagination morale », Revue du Mauss, 47, pp. 105-128.

Is Sennett’s concoction merely a homily for the New Left? Well, yes and no. Sennett is saying that everyone’s politics—not just the New Left’s—is a politics of the private man, one that focuses on personalities, not issues. Though this may be true of New Left politics, it is certainly not true of the politics of most Americans; during the past twenty years Americans have consistently voted according to issues, not personalities. Though obviously a candidate’s personality plays some part in the way voters respond to him, Lyndon Johnson, a man who was widely regarded as an unscrupulous wheeler-dealer, handily defeated Barry Goldwater in 1964; and in 1972 Richard Nixon, a man whom no one liked, scored a landslide victory over George McGovern. Both Goldwater and McGovern radiated honesty and decency, but most voters chose Johnson and Nixon; issues won these elections, not personalities. Ségol J., 2017, « La Philosophie du comédien : notes sur un paradoxe », pp. 341-351, in : Thouard D., Zimmermann B., dirs, Simmel, le parti-pris du tiers, Paris, CNRS Éd. Goffman E., 1971, Les Relations en public, 2, La mise en scène de la vie quotidienne, trad. de l’anglais (États-Unis) par A. Kihm, Paris, Éd. De Minuit, 1973.The Sennetts lived in two rooms with a bath, but were to some extent isolated from the wider "screaming, laughing, wailing, shouting life" of the housing projects. Playing the cello at six and composing at eight, living in a flat filled with books, the serious young boy could see a way out. "We had a tough time financially, but in the bohemian, radical milieu in which we lived, we were just another family," he says. "It had a curious class composition, this world. Most were Jewish, but it was a cultural milieu, not an ethnic one." Comme le dit D. Trump, dans un entretien avec le Time en mars 2017 : « Je suppose que je ne me débr (...) Furthermore, Sennett describes how interacting with others on an impersonal basis can lead to people becoming expressive and open, whereas when people come to need to interact on the basis of a personal connection, sectarianism and closed mindedness often result, as personal connections usually imply connections with the like minded. To demonstrate this, several sections of the book are devoted to comparing public life in London and Paris at different points in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Sennett favorably points to practices that existed to build an impersonal public sphere, such as forms of dress that drew attention from personal characteristics, that he claims lead to greater sociability than social practices that depend on emotional interconnectedness. Mauss M., 1925, Essai sur le don. Forme et raison de l’échange dans les sociétés archaïques, Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2007. Dard O., 2018, « Complotisme », in : Publictionnaire. Dictionnaire encyclopédique et critique des publics. Accès : http://publictionnaire.huma-num.fr/notice/complotisme. Consulté le 22/11/2019.

Habermas J., 1992, Droit et démocratie. Entre faits et normes, trad. de l’allemand par C. Bouchindhomme, Paris, Gallimard, 1997. Hacia el siglo XVIII permanecía la antigua idea del mundo como teatro y las relaciones públicas estaban dominadas por la idea del ser humano como actor. Con el avance del secularismo y el capitalismo en el siglo XIX la idea de "actuación" fue reemplazada por la de "autenticidad", en este proceso la apariencia pública fue entendida como reveladora de la naturaleza del individuo, lo que equivale a un tránsito de la noción de "naturaleza humana" a la de "naturaleza individual". Al codificarse lo público en términos individuales las relaciones públicas pasaron a ser distantes por temor a revelaciones involuntarias de la personalidad, al mismo tiempo políticos y artistas empezaron a ser valorados por su capacidad de expresar sentimientos públicamente, con esto la idea de personalidad dominante cobra importancia, ya que implica despertar sentimientos en un público cada vez más pasivo. Smith D., 1990, The Conceptual Practices of Power. A Feminist Sociology of Knowledge , Boston, Northeastern University Press.Comme le montrent très bien les travaux de M. Berger (2015), seules des théories de l’espace public (...)

The Hidden Injuries Of Class still makes fascinating reading, largely because of its sensitive and subtle exploration of working-class lives. It dissects the ways in which doctrines of equality may work against most people in the modern world; with inherited social distinctions now apparently erased, "social difference can now appear as a question of character, of moral resolve, will and competence". It is an argument which has as much resonance in the age of so-called depressed affluence as it had 30 years ago. Book Genre: Anthropology, Culture, ers, History, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Politics, Psychology, rs, Social Science, Society, Sociology, Theory Chiefly known for his elegant and scholarly writing, Sennett has produced a dozen books, including three novels, since the late 60s, mostly on aspects of the urban experience and the interconnection between authority, modernism and public life. His knowledge spans the disciplines of architecture, design, music, art, literature, history, and political and economic theory, but he adds to all that a rare anthropological hunger for the details of human experience. One of his apparent paradoxes is that while he so fiercely argues for a more disciplined form of public life over any therapeutic-style navel-gazing, he possesses a rare genius for getting into other people's heads and hearts. Plusieurs comptes rendus notent avec ironie que les réflexions de R. Sennett reflètent son propre mode de vie, celui d’un « jet-setter », papillonnant entre trois siècles et trois capitales (Londres, Paris et New York) pour récolter les traces de la déperdition de l’homme public.Piette A., 2009, L’Acte d’exister. Une phénoménographie de la présence, Marchienne-au-Pont, Socrate Éd. Promarex. Thompson J., 2005, « La nouvelle visibilité », Réseaux. Communication, technologie, société, 129-130, pp. 62-87. Pour une analyse de la figure prétendument authentique de D. Trump comme processus de « dé-figurati (...) Ginzburg C., 1980, « Signes, traces, pistes. Racines d’un paradigme de l’indice », Le Débat, 6, pp. 3-44.