In reading this passage “No Long Term: New Work and the Corrosion of Character” by Sociologist Richard Sennett which first appeared in The Personal Consequences of work in the New Capitalism(1998); he begins by claiming that today’s work ethics are so different from past generations. Sennett finds that in past generations things were long-term and today things are short-term resulting in a conflict between character and experience. In reading it has broadened my opinion of how much change that has happened in such a short period of time concerning work ethic.
Unquestionably, Sennett has a compelling educational background; being a professor of Humanities at New York University and London School of Economics. Perhaps this is why his writing is easy to comprehend, giving the reader the feeling of being almost instructive. Sennett has done a quality job at not showing bias toward either generation, but does hint that he leans more towards today with economical advancements.
Sennett describes the contrast of stability between Enrico and his son Rico. Enrico is a janitor who has a pension, job security within a union, along with the peace of mind in knowing where he will finish his life in the work force. On the hand, Rico has moved four times since graduating college, carries the feeling of losing control, with no fixed role of what he is accountable for concerning work, along with no security in his present employment. Sennett makes a great point in reflection to time, “ How can long-term purposes be pursued in a short-term society…How can a human being develop a narrative of identity and life history in a society composed of episodes and fragments(226)?” I feel his finding are reasonable that history is what molds us, ...
... middle of paper ...
...r today as to past generations. The author has provided a comprehensive amount of evidence as in human behavior, demographics, social class. I would have liked to see some experts opinion stating that today’s generation is lacking character due to their work places. In other words, I feel that the passage is from more of a sociologist stand point than proven with an empirical research. I feel that Sennett’s focus is too much on the personal consequences of work not the social consequence. It also could have included more information about the social effects from our lack of stability.
Work Cited
Behrens, Laurence, and Leonard J. Rosen. Writing and Reading across the Curriculum.
Boston: Longman, 2011. Print. 11 Sept. 2011
Sago, Brad. Uncommon Threads: Mending the Generation Gap
at Work. Executive Update, July 2000. Web.12 Sept. 2011.
The family dynamics of the household changed throughout the years of Dominic’s childhood. When Dominic was born, we lived in a rural neighborhood apartment that was not completely safe (My Virtual Child). Once Dominic’s sister Alexandra was born, we began saving more money and purchased a house in a safe rural neighborhood. At the end of Dominic’s childhood the household consisted of both parents and two children, Dominic and Alexandra. Throughout his childhood, his uncle stayed a summer and on another occasion a different uncle stayed for a few weeks. Both parents were employed throughout the entire childhood which resulted in placing Dominic in child-care as soon as possible (My Virtual Child).
...er to parents” (Fitzgerald 182). Eventually, he rises to power, both financially and socially. Despite all of his success, he is still unsatisfied with his life. Now matter how much he tries, now matter how much he triumphs, he is determined to be unhappy until he captures his green light.
It is very hard to tell from the article whether or not Matchar truly believes what is written in support of millennials. Perhaps it is a parody of the earlier generations to say “Be selfish, Gen Y! Be entitled!” (235), but she seems to contradict her earlier statements. The constant repetition that millennials are lazy, unwilling to work, etc paints a bleak picture of their futures for the whole world. Millennials are often portrayed as spoiled rich people who still rely heavily on their parents for everything. This makes them seem childish, and Matchar’s questionable usage of these terms nonetheless is an obvious jab at the poster minority. Millennials overall are hard working and put under more stress than their predecessors, and the ridicule they endure for their work is uncalled for. Therefore, the thesis’s major flaw almost entirely overshadows its main
The first paragraph evokes the normal and typical structure of the Italian-American immigrant family in this era. In the Vitale family, everyone has their own role. The father, Giovanni Vitale, has the duty of working long hours to provide for his family. The mother, Lisa, has the role of a homemaker, making dinner for the family, and takin...
Previous generations have a strong belief of keeping work and home life separate; that work is for work and home is for play (Rampell, 2011, para 21). Today’s professionals do not seem to abide by similar beliefs, constantly crossing the borders of one into the other. While many recognize this as an issue that could result in employees being less productive, it has actually resulted in them accepting that their work may run late into the evening or even into the weekend. I agree with this completely in that I grew up being taught that business is business and personal is personal; you leave your home life at the door. But now times have changed, and my weekends are no longer dedicated to my home life, but for work, because I attend classes during the week. Also, in my line of work in the Allied Health industry, it is a requirement to work off hours. Long gone are the days of working nine to five, Monday through Friday; technology and the demand of wanting affairs done and done as soon as possible, has made it so the “work week” is now 24-7. “Jon Della Volpe, the director of polling at Harvard Institute of Politics, said, ‘Some experts also believe that today’s young people are better at quickly switching from one task to another, given their exposure to so many stimuli during their childhood and adolescence’” (Rampbell,
Nick Carraway, having fought in World War I, returned home to begin a career. Like others in his generation, he is restless and has decided to move to New York for him to pursue his career in business. Right after his gradua...
Out of this week’s works of literature, the family in “From Going after Cacciato” by Tim O’Brien stood out the most to me. Not that it reminded me specifically of my own family, because I was raised in a single mother household. I would say that the reason it got my attention was because of how Private Paul Berlin spoke of his father so well. My interpretation was that he and his father had great relationship and enjoyed one another’s company. As I was reading the story I noticed he spoke of his father often. He continued to recall what his father had said “Ignore the bad stuff, look for the good.” (O’Brien, 236) His father seemed to have given him some words of wisdom before leaving for war. As a child I always yearned for my father to be in my life. Although Paul seemed to talk well of his father, it seemed to me that there were some unspoken issues between his mother and father. He spoke of how his mother hid booze in her perfume bottles and his father
Each new day comes with a new obstacle and new circumstances that we have to learn to face and approach. The variety of situations causes one to dictate the route they will determine to follow in order to achieve their destination. Sometimes the routes people decide to take will guide them to an awful path that can be life threating and may cause them to lose what they love most. In the novel The Great Gatsby, writer F. Scott Fitzgerald gives examples on how a dream can become corrupted by ones focus on acquiring wealth and power. Fitzgerald uses a character, Nick Carraway, to illustrate the sequence of events that make Jay Gatsby’s life miserable through some of the poor choices he made to pursue his dream of conquering Daisy’s love back. Gatsby is a self-made man who is blinded by his motivation to luxurious goods, wealth and power through the love he had towards Daisy. Since the scene of the book takes place in the early 1920’s the demand for Gatsby to achieve his goal was highly needed. Daisy came from a powerful and wealthy family, and during the 1920’s it was only right that wealthy families came together and poor families stayed together. The Great Gatsby gives examples of series of events that can be explained by Lauren Slater’s chapter “In the Unlikely Event of a Water Landing: Darley and Latane’s Training Manual- A Five Stage Approach” from her book Opening Skinner’s Box and by Charles Duhigg’s book The Power of Habit. The three readings have similarities within their explained actions that are disputable on how people can change due to the different types of environments they are facing and how their attitudes towards the conflict will vary on how they intend to act towards it.
Although this may be true, I still tend to disagree. As a millennial, I have knowledge and understanding from where the authors are coming from, but I believe that millennials are very hard workers. I stand by this thought because I am constantly surrounded by millennials, at school, at work, and at home, everyone that I am surrounded by are extremely passionate and dedicated to their work and responsibilities. Millennials are “sheltered from critique and failure…this generation ooze unearned confidence” said Buckingham. The authors believe that millennials do not want to hear the truth. Since millennials have been overly praised by their “helicopter parents”, they do not know what it really is like to
The book, Keeper, by Mal Peet includes multiple themes within its storyline, but the one that stood out to me the most was how Gato loves and hates the Keeper at the same time. Throughout the story, the author is able to display Gato’s feelings both explicitly and implicitly. These parts are crucial to the story because they show how as Gato’s skills improved his relationship with the Keeper got stronger.
While spending a majority of his time reflecting on what had once been, Jay Gatsby reinforces Fitzgerald’s theme regarding living in the past and its power of leading individuals into inescapable feelings of isolation and sorrow.
F. Scott Fitzgerald concludes his novel, The Great Gatsby, by claiming that the constant hope for the recreation of the past is an American Dream destined for failure. Many years after Gatsby’s death, Nick finds himself reminiscing over his friend’s struggle to fulfill his American Dream. Gatsby, an idealist character, believed in the “orgastic future” and was overly hopeful while setting high expectations for his life (Fitzgerald, 180). Gatsby’s “orgastic future” was to be completed when he married Daisy, and their love became mutual again. His American Dream had always been set up for failure because Daisy’s love was in the past, and recreating the past is impossible. Nick claims, “[Gatsby's] dream must have seemed so close that he could
The general essence of the article is that the old ways of work and the work ethic of the older generations have broken apart. In place of stable routine and predictable career paths, employees are now expected to be fluid in their jobs, and open to change on very short notice. Workers of today's generation can no longer expect long term work, or the trust and loyalty that were given to the employees of the older generation. In some ways, the writer argues that this change between the generations is positive, as they can make for a more dynamic economy. However, they are also the cause of the article's title, "The Corrosion of Character". The work ethics of the employees are no longer valued. They are taken as face value, and there is no trust and loyalty. These changes are destructive to the worker's sense of sustained purpose, integrity of self and the trust they hold in others within the workplace.
The management of today prefers a sort of flexibility along the lines of drifting. They want a networklike arrangement light on its feet (Sennett 23). This form in which businesses are taking make them readily decomposable and redefinable than the fixed hierarchies of old. In being able to be redefined a company is able to roll with the punches and make itself into whatever is necessary to accommodate the drifting workers and the ever-changing work place. It is in essence the perfect form in which a company can readily adapt to their surroundings (Sennett 23). This ability to adapt makes businesses able to receive the drifting workers such as Enrico( a character in the book) which shows how not only are the drifters being flexible but so are the business which makes then operate at a higher level of competence.
The structural-functional analysis of jobs in the U.S. is governed by the workforce stratification and technology. The more educated and diverse a society is the better society’s job market is served. This social economic separation of class has been both good and bad for society. Many workers at the lower levels of employment are both pleased and displeased with many aspects of work. Though this fact also holds true with most any job at any level, pay scale often compensates for endurance of a particular job type. The security of a person’s job also is an issue that in today’s economic times forces one to be prepared for change. This is to say that even if one’s field of expertise is needed today it may not be tomorrow. This type of ever-changing job market leads many to believe that another socio-economic change may occur at any time. This change was apparent with the transition into the industrial age and again in the information age. These concerns caused stress, various health issues, a...