Abstract I argue that we may be witnessing not the stopping and stalling of some careers but the more far-reaching conclusion that the very idea of a career may be coming to an end. In what follows, I tease out the social implications of the end of the career and then provide some prima facie evidence in support of this speculative thesis [...]
For the sociologist Ann Swidler, an ‘unsettled time’ is characterized by the transition from workable habits to new ideas. ‘I have come to see improvisation as the deep skill and attitude which we need for the times that we’re already in and heading further into.’ –Dougald Hine, ‘Remember the Future,’ Dark Mountain Project: Issue 2. ‘We [...]
Here’s my near-daily experience: I read an article I like, I search for the author to learn more about her, I read her five-sentence bio, and I’m resoundingly disappointed. Evidently, she was once a great hunter and now she sits on a throne. Are all public bios, those one to two paragraph haikus, true but [...]
Dawn: A Mood 1 A child throws the toy, says Fort! Disappears. Reels it back, says Da! Not gone. 2 Thursday, April 28: Pub Think meet-up: not in attendance. NY is not London. Saturday, April 30: Lively discussion, according to reports rec’d. Friday, February 25: Skyped w/ Dougald. Notes on “plurality of genres,” “new institutional forms,” “new thinking [...]
To the Reader: This is the first of a multi-part series devoted to the question: ‘What could new public thinking be’? We invite you to think with us about what it could mean to think in public today. Sincerely, Keith Kahn-Harris, Pat Kane, & Andrew Taggart 1 Keith Kahn-Harris writes: The eminent UK sociologist Anthony [...]
On Sunday, February 13, I received an email to this effect: "I enjoyed reading your recent essay [“In the Land of Bloombergia,” Counterpunch, 9 February 2011] critiquing the critique of your Mayor Bloomberg. I have much the same thoughts when I read a lot of left critiques of our cultural and political elites [...]
September 27, 2011