Richard Sennett is best known in the United States for his 1972 book (written with Jonathan Cobb), The Hidden Injuries of Class. That study of white working-class men, how they understood their subordinate class status, how they "internalized" and compensated for their class position, was extremely influential. The prolific Sennett's newest book, Respect, follows directly in that line of inquiry, exploring a problem he sees as endemic in our society: the scarcity of respect for others. "Lack of respect, though less aggressive than an outright insult, can take an equally wounding form. No insult is offered another person, but...he or she is not seen--as a full human being whose presence matters." The solution? Sennett doesn't trade in pieties or simplistic thinking. His strength is precisely in exposing the contradictions, even dilemmas, involved in improving the human condition.

Sennett is one in a minority of humanistic sociologists in the United States--in fact, he has never conformed to any academic discipline (and I mean that as a compliment). Respect is unconventional in form as well as content. In it Sennett combines a bit of memoir with his meditation on society, with mixed success: Sometimes the two connect and sometimes they don't. He also combines some reflections on his experience as a musician--a cellist--also with mixed success, also because the music sometimes connects to the social theory and sometimes doesn't. But the musical analogies are always fascinating, and they illuminate as much about listening as about playing.

Respect as Performance

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