Book Details
Title: Man & Work; Literature and Culture in Industrial Society
Author: David Meakin
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Methuen
Year: 1976
Impression/Edition: N/A
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 215
Dimensions:
Weight:
ISBN: 0 416 83890 1
Battle Scars:
Overall good condition.
Outside:
The cover is intact with minor shelf wear (rubbing) to edges, ends and corners. Some superficial scuffing. There is what looks to be a line scored into the back cover as pictured. There is an old price tag on the cover.
The page margins (seen when book is closed) are clean.
Inside:
The binding is firm and intact.
Inside the front and back covers is clean.
The pages are clean and intact.
Don't forget to check the photos below for a visual and make sure you are happy prior to purchase. Happy to answer questions if there is information missing.
Book Content:
Blurb -
"The problem of work and its role in society is of fundamental importance to our civilization. Work is economic necessity; yet the relationship of man to work cannot be limited to physical survival alone, since it is inextricably linked with our humanity. But with the increased sophistication of modern civilization, in particular the advent of technology, the nature of work has changed considerably. In industrial society today, man's status is frequently subordinate to that of the machine. Work has lost its meaning as a potential means of self-fulfilment.
Apart from being a major preoccupation of the sociologist and philosopher, this changing role of work has had a profound impact on European literature, and it is on this that David Meakin concentrates his survey. The alienation caused by technology is set against efforts to attribute ethical and cultural value to work, two main currents being distinguished - the protestant-ascetic, and the more radical ideal of joy and fulfilment in creativity. In tracing the various related and contrasting views, he covers such vital topics as the nostalgia for roots and permanence, the exaltation of technology, the emergence of anarchism and revolutionary syndicalism, and the concept of creativity, which leads on to the relationship between art and work, and the idea of non-fragmented, organic living. The dangers of the ethic of work, in particular its exploitation by fascist ideologies, are also considered. Fully integrating both the literary and sociological evidence, the argument ranges widely from the thought of Marx, Freud, Marcuse, Carlyle, Ruskin, William Morris, Huizinga, Peguy and Simone Weil to the writings of Lawrence, Hardy, Tolstoy, Junger, Kaiser, Zola, Camus and Wesker.
David Meakin concludes by surveying various solutions proposed and argues the urgency of such speculation for the future of democracy in its deepest sense. In grappling with a subject so crucial to our society, and in doing so with an entirely fresh and committed approach, he has produced a book which is at once instructive and challenging."
Book Details
Title: Man & Work; Literature and Culture in Industrial Society
Author: David Meakin
Illustrator: N/A
Publisher: Methuen
Year: 1976
Impression/Edition: N/A
Cover: Paperback
Pages: 215
Dimensions:
Weight:
ISBN: 0 416 83890 1
Battle Scars:
Overall good condition.
Outside:
The cover is intact with minor shelf wear (rubbing) to edges, ends and corners. Some superficial scuffing. There is what looks to be a line scored into the back cover as pictured. There is an old price tag on the cover.
The page margins (seen when book is closed) are clean.
Inside:
The binding is firm and intact.
Inside the front and back covers is clean.
The pages are clean and intact.
Don't forget to check the photos below for a visual and make sure you are happy prior to purchase. Happy to answer questions if there is information missing.
Book Content:
Blurb -
"The problem of work and its role in society is of fundamental importance to our civilization. Work is economic necessity; yet the relationship of man to work cannot be limited to physical survival alone, since it is inextricably linked with our humanity. But with the increased sophistication of modern civilization, in particular the advent of technology, the nature of work has changed considerably. In industrial society today, man's status is frequently subordinate to that of the machine. Work has lost its meaning as a potential means of self-fulfilment.
Apart from being a major preoccupation of the sociologist and philosopher, this changing role of work has had a profound impact on European literature, and it is on this that David Meakin concentrates his survey. The alienation caused by technology is set against efforts to attribute ethical and cultural value to work, two main currents being distinguished - the protestant-ascetic, and the more radical ideal of joy and fulfilment in creativity. In tracing the various related and contrasting views, he covers such vital topics as the nostalgia for roots and permanence, the exaltation of technology, the emergence of anarchism and revolutionary syndicalism, and the concept of creativity, which leads on to the relationship between art and work, and the idea of non-fragmented, organic living. The dangers of the ethic of work, in particular its exploitation by fascist ideologies, are also considered. Fully integrating both the literary and sociological evidence, the argument ranges widely from the thought of Marx, Freud, Marcuse, Carlyle, Ruskin, William Morris, Huizinga, Peguy and Simone Weil to the writings of Lawrence, Hardy, Tolstoy, Junger, Kaiser, Zola, Camus and Wesker.
David Meakin concludes by surveying various solutions proposed and argues the urgency of such speculation for the future of democracy in its deepest sense. In grappling with a subject so crucial to our society, and in doing so with an entirely fresh and committed approach, he has produced a book which is at once instructive and challenging."
