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Centennial Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics, London & New York

American Academy Distinguished Visitor - Class of Spring 2002


Richard Sennett is a sociologist who studies the various social ties in cities and the effects urban living has on individuals. He is currently Centennial Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and University Professor of the Humanities at New York University.

 

Sennett was a Fellow of the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and of the Royal Society of Literature. He also is the founding director of the New York Institute for the Humanities at New York University.

 

Sennett’s studies focus on the development of societies, the nature of work in today’s society, and the sociology of culture. His books explore urban life, public culture and public space, and class consciousness among working-class families. Currently, Sennett is working on a project called “Homo Faber,” which explores the material ways that culture and urban environment are made. He is the author of, among other works, The Uses of Disorder  (1970), The Hidden Injuries of Class (1972), The Fall of Public Man (1977)Authority (1980), The Conscience of the Eye (1990), Flesh and Stone (1992), The Corrosion of Character (1998), Respect in a World of Inequality (2002), The Culture of the New Capitalism (2006), The Craftsman (2008), Together: The Rituals, Pleasures and Politics of Cooperation (2012), and The Open City (2016). Sennett is also the author of three novels: The Frog who Dared to Croak (1982), An Evening of Brahms (1984), and Palais Royal (1987).

 

Among other awards, Sennett has received the Hegel and Spinoza Prizes and an honorary degree from the University of Cambridge.

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