Respect in a World of Inequality

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by Richard Sennett

W. W. Norton and Co.

Due/Published January 2004, 304 pages, paper

ISBN 0393325377

New in paper (F03)

Sennett explores the need for respect—and the consequences of disrespect—in a highly competitive and interdependent society. Opening with a memoir of growing up in Chicago's infamous Cabrini Green housing project, Sennett looks at three factors that undermine mutual respect: unequal ability, adult dependency, and degrading forms of compassion. In contrast to current welfare "reforms," Sennett proposes a welfare system based on respect for those in need. He explores how self-worth can be nurtured in an unequal society (for example, through dedication to craft); how self-esteem must be balanced with feeling for others; and how mutual respect can forge bonds across the divide of inequality.

Where erasing inequality was once the goal of social radicals, Sennett seeks a more humane meritocracy: a society that, while accepting inequalities of talent, seeks to nurture the best in all its members and to connect them strongly to one another.