Richard Sennett

Sennett explored how individuals and groups make social and cultural sense of material facts - about the cities in which they live and about the labour they do. He focuses on how people can become competent interpreters of their own experience, despite the obstacles society may put in their way.

Working precisely to high standards provided the Japanese during these years a sense of mutual and self-respect

The new economy has broken two traditional forms of rewarding work. Prosperous companies are intended, traditionally, to reward employees who work hard, at all levels. In these new economy firms, however, the wealth share of middle-level employees has stagnated over the past generation, even as the wealth of those at the top has ballooned. One measure is that in 1974 the chief executive officer of a large American corporation earned about thirty times as much as a median-level employee, whereas in 2004 the CEO earned 350 to 400 times as much. In these thirty years, real-dollar earnings at the median point have risen only 4 percent.

In today’s globalized marketplace, middle-level skilled workers risk the prospect of losing employment to a peer in India or China who has the same skills but works for lower pay; job loss is no longer merely a working-class problem.

In music this is the so-called Isaac Stern rule, the great violinist declaring that the better your technique, the longer you can rehearse without becoming bored.

About repetition and practice Piano observes, ‘‘This is very typical of the craftsman’s approach. You think and you do at the same time. You draw and you make. Drawing . . . is revisited. You do it, you redo it, and you redo it again.’’

Sennett alters one's view of craftsmanship by finding so much meaning in the detail. The grip on the pencil, the pressure on the chisel: he persuades us that these things have real significance. The Craftsman is one of a trilogy, with volumes to come on ritual and craft, and craft and the environment.

skilled confidence

+

skilled cooperation

=

craftsmanship

“It is often doing something wrong that is the most stimulating.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LH1aX_6-xkY

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/feb/09/society

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/feb/02/featuresreviews.guardianreview14

Richard Sennett brings lots of issues to light that I can relate to and I feel that I can understand him more than other authors that I have looked at. Craft is something that I have always been interested in, my perfectionist nature, although very annoying, connects with what is being addressed in this book. I feel that The Craftsman will become increasingly relevant to todays society. This is because of the rise in machined and mass produced products; many products can lack craftsmanship and the level of quality that you can only get through human interaction.

I have recently started making my own leather wallets and card holders from scratch. I can understand why Sennett sees the value in pouring over something yourself and taking ownership over a process.