Richard Sennett On Making
Richard Sennett On Making
Richard Sennett On Making
Ribard Senney
on Making
The eminent sociologist asserts xat xe slow tempo of cragwork,
of taking xe time you need to do somexing well, is profoundly
wabilizing to individuals.
Richard Sennett, whose book The Crafts- Suzanne Ramljak: Your most recent book, The Craftsman,
man garnered a great deal of attention on is the first in a trilogy devoted to what you call “techniques for con-
its publication last year, will be the keynote ducting a particular way of life.” Can you elaborate on the larger
speaker at the American Craft Council’s project behind these three volumes?
October conference in Minneapolis. Richard Sennett: This is a project about material culture in the
Sennett is a sociologist and social analyst broadest sense. The Craftsman was about making things well; the
who teaches at New York University and second volume, The Workshop, focuses on developing social skills
the London School of Economics. After an and cooperation; and the third, The Foreigner, will be about envi-
injury put an end to his hopes of a musical ronmental design and crafting cities. The question that ties them
career, he studied at the University of Chi- all together is, how do we develop skills in the course of making
cago and Harvard, earning a Ph.D. in 1969. things, whether they are physical objects, social relations or environ-
In the 70s he founded, with Susan Sontag ments? Underlying this study is a theory that I call “situated cogni-
and Joseph Brodsky, the New York Insti- tion,” which is the way human beings develop their capacities
tute for the Humanities at nyu. In the 80s through craftwork. This is at the heart of the entire exploration.
he served as president of the American
Council on Work, and in the 90s he began sr One of the key issues you’ve identified is “how paying attention
to address the question of how changes is organized.” Does this concern tie in with situated cognition?
in capitalism are affecting workers. rs Attention is something that gets organized by others, as well
He spoke by telephone with Suzanne as by ourselves. When we focus on making a physical object, or on
Ramljak about some of the issues that playing a musical instrument, our concentration level is mainly self-
underlie his scholarly work. directed. In a social context, focusing on the concrete and particu-
lar is shaped by our interactions with other people. They situate us.
That is why cooperation and collaboration are so important. Our
social relations can help us pay attention to what we are doing with-
out arousing anxiety or defensiveness, or they can interfere with
our ability to attend to the concrete world. That is what this whole
Photo /Thomas Struth.