For Work / Against Work
Debates on the centrality of work

The Craftsman

by Sennett, Richard (2008)

Abstract

Why do people work hard, and take pride in what they do? This book, a philosophically-minded enquiry into practical activity of many different kinds past and present, is about what happens when people try to do a good job. It asks us to think about the true meaning of skill in the 'skills society' and argues that pure competition is a poor way to achieve quality work. Sennett suggests, instead, that there is a craftsman in every human being, which can sometimes be enormously motivating and inspiring - and can also in other circumstances make individuals obsessive and frustrated. The Craftsman shows how history has drawn fault-lines between craftsman and artist, maker and user, technique and expression, practice and theory, and that individuals' pride in their work,

Key Passage

We might think, as did Adam Smith describing industrial labor, of routine as mindless, that a person doing something over and over goes missing mentally; we might equate routine and boredom. For people who  develop  sophisticated  hand  skills,  it’s  nothing  like  this.  Doing something  over  and  over  is  stimulating  when  organized  as  looking ahead. The substance of the routine may change, metamorphose, improve, but the emotional payoff is one’s experience of doing it again. There’s  nothing  strange  about  this  experience.  We  all  know  it;  it  is rhythm.  Built  into  the  contractions  of  the  human  heart,  the  skilled craftsman has extended rhythm to the hand and the eye. (p.175)

Keywords

Craft, Craftsmanship, Skill, Art, Pride, Technique, Heidegger, Work Quality, Meaningful Work, Artist

Themes

Craftsmanship

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