Lonely crowd

Author: David Riesman, Wang Kun, Zhu Hong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-05-01
Features: This book was once hailed as "one of the most influential works of the contemporary era," and is a classic academic work completed by American sociologist David Riesman with the assistance of his colleagues. The main focus of the book is to discuss the formation and evolution of the American social character. Based on the types of social character—traditional orientation, inner orientation, and other-oriented—the authors comprehensively elaborate on the formation and evolution of the character of the American middle class. Riesman argues that parents, family, and schools are the main factors in character formation, while social character ultimately manifests as a certain lifestyle, reflected in activities such as work, leisure, political life, and child-rearing. The authors emphasize the process by which the inner-oriented character, which dominated 19th-century America, was replaced by the other-oriented character in the mid-20th century, exploring the reasons, process, and impact of this replacement on the main areas of contemporary American social life. This book helps us understand and grasp the psychological dynamics and interpersonal characteristics of Americans, offering a valuable reference for studying the changes in American character.