Book Description
Knowledge, The Enlightenment believed, could protect us from the follies of ideology. But Saul maintains that 'knowing' has not made us "conscious'. Instead we have become increadingly passive, our society increadingly conformist. These are no easy solutions to this problem, Saul say, but change is still possible.
"Winner of the Govenor General's Award"
Customer Reviews:
Incredibly lucid depiction of contemporary society by a painfully lucid author.......2006-11-03
One of the best books I have ever read.
To be admired: the transgression of the stereotypical, simplistic and delusional split of political discourse into left and right; the rightful denounciation of contemporary universities who are selling their humanist soul to the vacuous structures of mechanistic, self-obssessed, memory-less, profit-obssesed corporate bubbles.
What is important to me, personally, is the impact that this system has on the everyday psyche of individuals and on their ability to form genuine human relations in real, local communities. The author did not touch on these aspects, he stayed mainly at the macro-level of analysis. But anyone with an interest in social-psychology and human relations can figure out quickly what this impact is and what is happening to the average contemporary folk as a result. It's about why workplaces and the inhabiting "managers" are about shuffling empty words in vacuous reports and presentations - and nothing else. Why people (including the so-called "educated" ones at the altars of corporatism) are not capabale of discussing anything of substance, in a common language, on a common ground, with their fellow-humans; why narcissistic western societies (particularly north American) are full of clinically depressed individuals, with lives devoid of any real meaning - despite their historically unique standards of living (which apparently are not enough as they continue to compete for more...and more...and more with no clear purpose in mind other than "success" in and of itself).
Why everyone is always having some personal agenda leading to some sort of "personal, competitive achievement" at the expense of family, small community, close friends and true happiness - as opposed to fake-smiled, commercially-inspired Kodak moments; why everyone is some sort of "volunteer" paying lip service to the idea of community yet so few have truly close friends or local family ties in the name of whom they would refuse to move across the country when the corporation dangles a few extra bucks in front of their materialist, soul-less eyes.
How painful and how real. I used to believe that statements such as "I don't want to bring any children into this kind of world we have today" were just dramatic calls for attention.
Well, after reading this book, such statements acquire a new dimension. We ARE living in an insane, dehumanized system and the goal for any humanist at heart should be to stay lucid and to protect one's children, family and close friends from sliping into vacuity.
The sheep on the cover should be enough to scare anyone conscious human.
A coup d'etat in slow motion?.......2005-08-12
A key premise of the book is that a life worth living, the so-called examined life, the fully aware life cannot take place without individuals in the society being fully conscious - or without seeking the kind of self-knowledge that readily can be translated into action.
Saul maintains that we have a "new religion," the blind pursuit of self-interest. It is led by an ideology of "corporatism," which has deformed the American ideal of a life worth living into one devoid of a concept of the common public good. Through it, one of America's most noble ideas, that of "rugged individualism" has been sullied, distorted and transformed into an ideology of selfishness; an ideology that has so manipulated our reality that our the language and knowledge, usually placed in the service of actions and designed to improve our way of life, has become useless.
The corporate compartmentalization of, and distortion of public knowledge, and the accompanying enforced conformity has so confused us and has so muted our voices that knowledge no longer has any effect on our consciousness nor on our actions. Individual selfishness as "modeled" by corporate self-interest has hi-jacked Western civilization as we have come to know it.
The book describes how corporatism has accomplished this feat: It has used its own ideology of self-interest (and the promise of certainty that all ideologies promote) to render us passive and conformist in areas that matter and non-conformist in those that do not. This new pseudo or false individualism has the effect of immobilizing and disarming our civilization intellectually and thus renders it unconscious.
The most important way it does this is by denying and undermining the legitimacy of the individual as the primary unit and defender of, as well as the center of gravity of the public good. The public good becomes deformed by, and subordinate to, and equated with the narrow pursuit of corporate self-interests, as most often defined by the pursuit of profits and associated corporate perks. The hedonistic model of the corporate life is projected on to society writ large as the only life worth living.
The impetus for placing corporate interests (and the corporate model of our humanity) at center stage in the drama of Western Civilization, seems to have come about through the misconception that rugged individualism, democracy and our current understanding of the public good were once defined by, depend on, and proceed directly from, the pursuit of economic interests. This is a misconception because in actual fact exactly the reverse is true: It was notions of the public good as defined by democracy and individualism that gave rise to economic interests, and not the other way around.
Moreover, economic models have been so spectacularly wrong and unsuccessful, that they could not have survived without an ideology that renders the public unconscious. Saul suggests that even the best economic models amount to little more than passive tinkering. The fact that we have come to rely on them -- even though we know they are seriously flawed and have little or no basis in reality -- is compelling evidence of our lack of memory and thus, of our lack of collective consciousness.
According to the author, it is the proper use of knowledge and memory that renders us conscious (and thus by extension, also renders us human). The misuse of knowledge and memory through corporate and technological, manipulation, specialization and compartmentalization is just a deeper form of collective denial.
Said differently, (corporate generated) specialization creates its own illusions. When knowledge actually becomes confused and is sufficiently narrowed, compartmentalization promotes the illusion that knowledge is multiplied when in fact it has shrunken. It leaves the impression that more rather than less knowledge is being created. It promotes the illusion that truth is only what the specialist can measure; that "managing is doing," (and more importantly that a managerial class is important and necessary). Finally, it creates the illusion that the ideology, which promotes corporatism, produces certainty (the main job of any ideology).
These illusions all have facilitated the corporate takeover of what would otherwise be seen as, the public interest. By doing so, the legitimacy of the individual as the center of gravity of the public good is crowded out, undermined and denied.
Thus the management elite, (with their suitcases full of money to buy off our elected representatives) like a cancer, is let loose on society. It lives within its own insulated cocoon creating an artificially interiorized sense of its own importance, wellbeing and its own distorted vision of civilization as a whole. Insulated from within, the management elite is free to grow without bounds, without accountability, and in complete disregard for the reality "out there," and always only to satisfy and service its own selfish needs. Truth is not in the world "out there" but is in what the professionals can measure and whatever is reported to these insulated elites. The deeper the insulated managerial class retreats into its own interiorized illusions of reality, the more confused language becomes and the less likely knowledge can be translated into actions that will effect the wider reality, and thus the public good.
In its pursuit to deny the legitimacy of the public good and to replace it with corporate econometric models of reality, Saul has traced the history of this process and gives many examples of how it works: through media propaganda, films, ads, music, sports and style-and always through insinuations of what is considered proper thought and ways of behaving.
One of the better examples he gives is how unemployment keeps getting redefined downward with no relation to the reality of the labor market but mostly to suit the needs of the neo-cons (the courtiers of the corporate elites). Or how, even as companies are losing money and are laying-off large numbers of ordinary workers, the salaries and incentive packages of the managerial elites continue to rise - often even until the very day the companies actually go bust.
Another example given is how through the process of globalization, that by the year 2020 the U.S. will be fully reduced to a Third World country. We are told that our future standard of living will depend entirely on globalization. Here globalization (like its companion concept, productivity) is a synonym for pegging workers' wage rates to the lowest wages available worldwide. It is never mentioned in such discussions that the salaries and incentive packages of the managerial elites will actually rise significantly as this "mother of all least common denominators economic formulas" is being applied to the lower end of the economic class scale. Taken to its logical conclusion, the salary of U.S. workers will equal those of Chinese peasants by 2020; and the corporate elites all will be filthy rich like Sam Walton. This "Wal-Martization" of America is already well in train.
Why are we so susceptible to being manipulated by corporate generated ideology and power? Saul gives an answer: We have an addictive weakness for large illusions that are tied to power and that can simplify our worldview by promising emotional certainty. The examples he gives are none other than the great religions themselves, and their spin-offs of Marxism, fascism and most of the autocratic governments of the past, including Hitler's Third Reich.
The roads to serfdom, or to fascism or communism (or pick your own ism) all intersect at the same ideology reference points: they begin as enforced social and political orthodoxy and conformity: first fashion and style; then the social enforcement of ways of thinking; and then patriotism is made into a religious-like requirement; after which rights and free speech are suppressed in the name of national security or loyalty to the state. One-by-one laws are suspended and then arbitrary arrests and disappearances begin; and finally the country is rendered completely passive and unconscious - compressed into a pseudo-patriotic religious trance.
In the modern era, this progression is by now all too familiar: It leads directly to the de-legitimatization of the citizen as the primary defender of the public good. This just as inevitably leads to handing over power to those whose self-interests are larger than their dedication to the preservation of the public good or even to the preservation and defense of the state itself.
The citizen then ceases to be able to determine what is, and is not real. He becomes immobilized like a child, unable to judge what is in his own best interests -- let alone what is in the best interest of the public good or the state. He is then forced to sing for his dinner and to dance to the corporate tune for any sense of wellbeing or self-worth. The "public good" becomes completely subordinate to the "corporate good."
What Saul admonishes us about is already imminently clear: that the kind of society we have is determined by where the true source of legitimacy lies. Today legitimacy in America -- that is its power, organization, and influence -- lies not in the vote and in stylized but impotent public citizen participation, but in the hands of the lobbyists, the technocrats, and the anti-democratic and anti-patriotic corporate vampires.
Saul did not need to tell us that all the serious decisions are now made in the back rooms without consulting the people. The best "the people" can hope for (and indeed what they yearn for) is that the decisions made over their heads will at least retain a semblance of emotional ideological purity.
While the corporate robber barons sneak out the back door to their off-shore tax havens (with the nations valuables in tow), the public good has been distorted and transformed into little more than "What I have" or into bumper sticker sized emotionalisms: the advancement of creative design and the right to post the Ten Commandments on the court house steps, abortion and gun rights, anti-Affirmative Action, states rights, etc. Because of its lack of consciousness, Americans have lost the ability to conceptualize a common good larger than their own immediate individual narrowly defined self-interests.
How do we get out of this coup d'etat in slow motion? Saul's answer is that we must change the dynamics of the process but he gives few specifics on how this can be done. This a great and very sobering read. Five stars.
Wake up and Smell the Oil Wal-Mart Shoppers.......2005-08-10
If the doubling, in less than a year, of the price of oil for no discernable reason (with no end in sight), and with absolutely no reaction from us or our government is not evidence that something is terribly wrong with our collective mind. Then surely an order of magnitude increase in the cost of medical care and prescription drugs, and the quintupling of our health insurance (for those of us who have any), should be.
Or, one might have imagined that the juxtaposition of soaring corporate profits (in these very same areas) with an effective reduction in "actual wages" everywhere else, would also have shaken us from our deep collective slumber?
Or maybe the fact that we have been led into yet another war for no defensible reasons and without either an exit strategy or a fighting plan -- a war whose justifications and rationale keeps changing with each increased attack from the terrorists as our national debt continues to soar -- would have shaken us out of our passivity.
While our government's response to the needs of the "rank-and-file" is increasingly non-existent, or completely ineffectual, and the "managerial class" continues to rob us blind as they laugh all the way to the bank; we are obsessed with the risk of breast implants, abortion rights, hanging the Ten Commandments in the public square, reality shows (that are anything but real), Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction, and how to continue to win at the game of "Democrats and Republicans (or liberals and conservatives, or Blacks versus Whites, or males versus females, or pick your own senseless emotional dichotomy)."
But the very best evidence yet of our lack of consciousness and proof that our society is being thrown under the bus while we watch in horror with our eyes wide open, is when the most devastating critique of our own slothfulness is also the sanest, most compassionate and most eloquent.
Saul in this trenchant sanity check of the society that leads the Western World realizes that the time for vitriol and shouting has long since passed. That is why with eloquence, understated passion and with measured but devastating logic and reason (that quality he so distrusts), he has issued a broadside at the foundation stone of what ails our society most: Rampant and immoral Corporatism.
And even though in the end, his prescription for how we are to extricate ourselves from this dilemma is unconvincing, he has laid the necessary groundwork for serious thinking to begin. If "the people" in Western Democracies are ever to regain control of their minds, and then eventually their societies; Saul's ideas in this small volume must inevitably be contended with. Five stars.
SAUL'S PATHWAY.......2004-05-14
THIS BOOK IS A STIRRING READ. WE ARE ALL BURIED UNDER CORPORATE PSEUDO REASON WHERE REASON IS ONLY APPLIED WHERE POWER BENEFITS. SAUL GIVES VOICE TO THE MADNESS OF THIS REASON AND ENCOURAGES US TO REACH INTO THE HEART AND FIND COURAGE TO GO WITH OUR LOGICAL FACILITIES TO EXAMINE THE NOTION OF THE "PUBLIC GOOD" I.E. THE DESIGN OF A GOOD SOCIETY.
HE APPEARS TO SEE THAT THE LEGITIMACY OF THE PUBLIC GOOD AS A SOCIAL CONTRACT, IF ADOPTED, WOULD SERVE AS AN IMPETUS TO DEBATE THE QUESTIONS LEFT OFF OF THE POWER AGENDA. I SENSE THAT HE IS LOOKING FOR A CURRENCY OTHER THAN MONEY TO CREATE AN ENERGY THAT THE POLITICIAN MUST RESPOND TO. IN THEORY ONE MAN ONE VOTE CAN BEAT ONE DOLLAR ONE VOTE. BUT MUCH OF THE SOCIAL ARCHITECTURE SUCH AS PUBLIC SCHOOLS, AN FOCUS ON THE HUMANITIES AND AN EDUCATION DESIGNED TO CREATE CITIZENS AND MORE APPRECIATION FOR PUBLIC SERVICES WILL BE RESISTED BY THE COURTIERS OF POWER.
THIS IS A VERY GOOD LAYOUT OF WHERE THE TENSIONS ARE IN MODERN CAPITALIST-democracy.
WE NEED AN EXTRAORDINARY AND SUSTAINED ACT OF IMAGINATION AND WILL BY THE POPULATION OF THE UNITED STATES, PERHAPS FUELED BY CONTRADICTION BETWEEN OUR FOUNDING PRINCIPLES AND CURRENT PRACTICE TO MAKE HEADWAY. (WONDER IF THERE ARE ANY WEALTHY BENEFACTORS WHO WOULD DONATE COPIES OF "ADBUSTERS" MAGAZINE TO A MILLION HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS? ) COMEDY SHOWS LIKE CHAPELLE, SIMPSONS, AND ESPECIALLY SOUTH PARK ARE TELLING US THAT THE FEELINGS AND ENERGY ARE OUT THERE.
THIS IS A GREAT BOOK. IT IS ALSO PAINFUL AS IT UNDERSCORES WHERE WE ARE AMISS. THE AUTHOR IS CANADIAN. ANYONE WHO WATCHED BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE AND THE SCENES ABOUT CANADA WOULD SENSE THAT A SOPHISTICATED AUTHOR FROM THAT LAND WOULD SEE WHERE THINGS ARE SO EXAGGERATED IN THIS COUNTRY. THOUGH CANADA IS HARDLY FREE FROM CORPORATIST INFLUENCE.
I LOOK FORWARD TO HIS NEXT WORK. ON EQUILIBRIUM. THOUGH IT IS HARD TO BELIEVE IN EQUILIBRIUM/ AS IN A RESTING PLACE. POLITICS WILL BE A DYNAMIC BATTLE FOR EVER. AND THE FORCES OF COMPASSION WILL BE PITCHED AGAINST THE MATRIX OF FEARS AND THE IDEALOGY THAT FEAR SPAWNS.
Every Buzzword in the Book--Knows No Economics.......2003-11-07
Here we have a 'literary figure' writing a book in large part about economics. Unfortunately, he is unqualified to do so because a careful reader will note that, stripped of the claptrap, the author knows very little economics. In typical Canadian fashion, Saul keeps railing against the marketplace
but forgets to notice that his book is for sale in precisely the same marketplace.
He presents his basic thesis in an extremely long-winded manner (one wonders this is the case because there was compensation for the "prestigious" Massey lectures).
The thesis of the book seems to be simply that a completely unregulated "marketplace" is not the solution to all of our problems (duhhh).
Most of the book is rhetoric with scant empirical support. The author uses the classical appeal to (obscure) like-minded authorities to bolster his open-ended case. This is a hazard for such writers who have an hypothesis and seek only confirming evidence.
At several points the author refers to the money markets and the currency futures markets as if he knows anything about either. All one has to do is look at essentially government run countries without such markets to see how great life and growth appear there.
But he does admit that the market system is the 'best way to do business' when properly regulated to take into account externalities. Few economists would disagree with this.
Then there is the usual protectionist argument demonizing globalization and privatization.
Particularly questionable is the thesis that U of Chicago business professors run US Corporations--- if they did they wouldn't be professors.
A book discussing the prerequisite economics against which this diatribe might be judged is Paul Krugman's An Accidental Theorist.
I don't think he graduated from Chicago.
Bahhhh, humbug.
(As a Canadian from Toronto, I can offer a footnote. The problems are the Canadian economy and government. Stifling indeed due to high taxes and clearly incompetent politicians. Canadians apparently like giving away their wages to be squandered by the Government and will even complain when the Canadian dollar appreciates ! Thank goodness that there is still a marketplace in which to barely make a living in Canada.)
Customer Reviews:
The African Unconscious.......2002-06-21
I agree with Lee S. Sannella. This book is a must read for all scholars, students of consciouness and the general public.
As a "being of light," consciouness enfolds all human life and therefore, even though consciouness manifested first through the African body, consciouness itself is not dependent upon the body. Let us not make the same mistake as the ignorant by claiming something orignated with us. Consciouness is a spiritual child of God, Odu and Osiris. Having pervaded the entire world with a fragment of Himself, the unmanifest Brahman remains.
However, we should celebrate the fact that Africans were the first people to be ready to be fully human. In the beginning God created heaven and earth and 3,700,000 years ago he breathed into a black Adam and mankind became a living entity.
The African Unconscious.......2001-06-04
An interesting thesis which attempts to unify the strands of human development with the origins of the human species on the African continent. A well-written and thought-provoking treatise.
The African Unconscious.......2000-01-05
The African Unconscious is one of the most exciting and involved books on the African journey. The book is well documented and should be required reading for everyone.
Dr. Bynum has made a brilliant contribution to the human family, and particularly, African people. I think his name will go down in history as one of the most important people who help to reclaim the real history of Africa.
I was interested in the comments made by Abu Mahid Jamillar. His comments are similar to the whites who rewrote the world history in order to colonize its people. Abu Mahid Jamillar is rightly concerned that his people are going to have to atone for their involvement in slavery and the destruction of African culture.
The African Unconscious.......2000-01-01
Contrary to the review from your Chicago reader that referenced this book as "Simplistic & Biased", history as many of us have been taught in the western hemisphere, has always been "Biased". If you correct a wrong, it is always viewed as being "Biased." The late and great writer, Curtis Mayfield, conveyed in his lyrics -- PEOPLE GET READY...THERE'S A TRAIN A COMIN' YOU DON'T NEED NO TICKET - JUST GET ON BOARD!
The book is too simplistic and biased........1999-10-16
Bynum merely resurects the old Eurocentric view of Africa as primitive and therefore stereotyped African views are supposedly identical to past western views (thus western views are allegedly newer and more advanced). The truth is there is nothing in common between western and African views-African views are not the precursors to western views.
Book Description
A Selection of the Executive Program and Fortune Book Clubs
Leaders beware. There's an unconscious conspiracy afoot, aiming to sabotage your plans and undermine your vision. Entrenched bureaucracy, ominous social trends, and mind-numbing routine are among its members?and their proliferation is an unfortunate sign of our times. But take heart. In this highly acclaimed work, legendary management consultant Warren Bennis unmasks the culprits, analyzes their tactics, and offers new insights for change agents struggling to take charge in an era that conspires against effective leadership.
The best book on how leaders can lead.
--Peter Drucker
Bennis teaches leaders to maximize their virtues, correct their faults, face change successfully, and love their work. Leaders will win, but so will their organizations: Bennis advocates a collaborative leadership that empowers employees and enhances organizational effectiveness.
A priceless gift to those seeking to be accountable leaders.
--Max De Pree, author of Leading Without Power
So learn why leaders can't lead. Then learn how they can lead. This book--alive with warmth and wisdom--is essential reading both for leaders and for the human resource professionals who teach them.
Customer Reviews:
Sad.......2003-09-27
I read this several years ago, set it aside, and idly picked it up to reread recently. I had forgotten just how bad this book is. It's the cry of a frustrated 1960s liberal who found, at the end of the 1980s, that the world had refused to reshape itself in accordance with his utopian wishes. Bennis is usually pretty coherent, but this book isn't. Rather than providing insight into the dilemmas of leadership, it really makes me wonder if Bennis knows much about leading at all.
80% Rant.......2001-09-27
I am mystified why Peter Drucker would lend his endorsement to this book. I'm only 70 pages into it, but have elected to write my first book review because I DISLIKE this book!
So far, I have read chapter after chapter of ranting about why the golden of age of America began in 1962 and ended in 1963. Television, fast food, yuppies, and above all, rock and roll, have conspired to corrupt America and with it, ostensibly, the world.
What a crock! How about getting on with life!
Bennis' style is chaotic and has a serious left-wing bias........1999-05-21
I agree with Bennis' premise that there is an "Unconscious Conspiracy" which sucks the life and creativity out of would be modern leaders. However, I was extremely disappointed in the chaotic prose and exclusive stabs at politically conservative leaders. For example, he highlighted Ralph Nader as an example of a good modern leader.
Throughout the book, I had trouble figuring out what Bennis was trying to convey. I don't normally hate a book, having loved so many before. But I hate this one. Stick to Dilbert, it's more apropo.
One of the most exciting books I have ever read!.......1999-03-31
Warren Bennis has a talent for being able to see and articulate the "big picture" problems that are plaguing the majority of organizations today. He uses many, many examples to show cause and effect relationships between poor leadership and organizational health. He is an outspoken fan of creativity, vision, trust and momentum within the work force and exegetic in his treatment of corporations, colleges, the military, Non-Profits, etc.- He is blunt about greed, reactionism and hubris while presenting an exciting picture of our Country and it's potential when leaders (not managers) are allowed to instill hope in the people who do the work.
I am buying a copy for each of my employees!!
Average customer rating:
|
Civilisation: Utopia and Tragedy: The Social History of the Unconscious (Psychoanalysis & Society)
George Frankl
Manufacturer: Open Gate Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Child Psychology
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
| Development
| Psychology
General
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Psychoanalysis
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
Social Psychology & Interactions
| Psychology & Counseling
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Sociology
| Social Sciences
| Nonfiction
| Subjects
| Books
Civilization & Culture
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
History of Ideas
| Historical Study
| History
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1871871174 |
Books:
- The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- The World Is Flat [Updated and Expanded]: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century
- Thin Book of Appreciative Inquiry (2nd edition) (Thin Book Series)
- Tough Choices or Tough Times: The Report of the New Commission on the Skills of the American Workforce
- Understanding Business
- Value-at-Risk: Theory and Practice
- Vinyl Leaves: Walt Disney World and America (Institutional Structures of Feeling)
- Wealth and Poverty (Ics Series in Self-Governance)
- When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management
- Workforce Crisis: How to Beat the Coming Shortage of Skills And Talent
Books Index
Books Home
Recommended Books
- Stone Butterfly
- Forget Me Not
- Student Study Guide to accompany Microbiology: A Human Perspective
- The Theming of America
- Architectural Graphic Standards for Residential Construction: The Architect's and Builder's Guide to
- Fish! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results
- Butchers Hill
- Structural Engineer's Pocket Book
- Tokyo: A Certain Style
- Wildflowers, Lancaster County
Voltaire's Bastards: The Dictatorship of Reason in the West
The Collapse of Globalism: And the Reinvention of the World
On Equilibrium: Six Qualities of the New Humanism
The Doubter's Companion: A Dictionary of Aggressive Common Sense
The Paradise Eater
