Piety and Poverty: Working-Class Religion in Berlin, London and New York, 1870-1914 (Europe Past and Present)

Book Description

This wise and optimistic book examines the rampant scandals that plague American corporations today and shows how companies can reverse the resulting climate of mistrust. By seizing the opportunity to address some of the nation’s—and the world’s—most serious problems, business can strengthen its reputation for integrity and service and advance to a new stage of ethical legitimacy. Daniel Yankelovich, a social scientist and an experienced member of the corporate boardroom, describes the toxic convergence of cultural and business trends that has led inexorably to corporate scandals. Yet he offers reassurance that opportunity exists for positive change. Creative business leaders can advance market capitalism to its next stage of evolution, building upon business norms that simultaneously emphasize the legitimacy of profit making and the importance of the care that companies give to employees, customers, and the larger society.

The book asserts that American culture has abandoned its old tradition of enlightened self-interest, of “doing well by doing good.” A narrow legalism has taken over (“I didn’t break the law; therefore I didn’t do anything wrong”). Yankelovich argues that attempts to deal with such flawed ethical norms by means of more laws and regulations cannot succeed. He offers a series of case histories to show how and why stewardship ethics can strengthen individuals, corporations, the nation, and the world economy.

Customer Reviews:

Lots of Stimulating Thought in a Small Book.......2007-08-09

Daniel Yankelovich is a social scientist who has also served on several corporate boards. That gives him a unique perspective on the ethical challenges that face board members.

Yankelovich, to use his term, is a "privileged witness," who sees business from the outside, but has seen its inner workings up close. Even more important in some ways is the fact that he and his company have been among the firms tracking changes in society over several decades.

Here is why he wrote this book: "The purpose of this short book is to suggest that the business community can turn the scandals of recent years to good use, both for business itself and for the larger society."

Yankelovich sees three causes for these scandals. They are: 1) deregulation; 2) linking the biggest part of CEO compensation to stock price; and, 3) the importing of wider social norms into business, resulting in what he calls "unenlightened self-interest."

In the first half of the book he outlines changes in social norms in both business in society over several decades. Business, according to Yankelovich is more likely establish the norms he desires than society as a whole. And, he thinks, if business does so it will "help dispel moral confusion in the culture at large."

He says: "My main argument in the book is that the time has come for market capitalism in the United States to advance to a new stage of enlightened self-interest."

To do that he advocates something he calls "Stewardship Ethics," which he defines as "commitment to care for one's institution and those it serves in a manner that responds to a higher level of expectations." He devotes the second half of the book to describing what a set of norms based on "stewardship ethics" might look like and how they might come about.

In one of the most helpful sections of the book, Yankelovich spends time outlining the difference between his Stewardship Ethics and the bundle of beliefs and positions that come under the heading of "Corporate Social Responsibility."

If you're like me, you'll find Yankelovich's position a refreshing change from the "profit is evil" approach of most CSR types. If you are someone who sees the pursuit of profit by companies as, at best, a necessary evil, you will be very uncomfortable with this book and its ideas.

This book has two key strengths. First, Yankelovich himself is both knowledgeable and logical. Second, the book is short, only around 170 pages of text. Those are also the book's weaknesses.

Because Yankelovich himself is knowledgeable, he often leaves terms undefined. I could not find a definition, for example, of one of his key terms, "market capitalism." It may be that everyone indeed defines that term the same way, but I doubt it.

The shortness of the book means that some arguments are made without adequate support. For example, on page 96, Yankelovich says, "How well a company conceives and executes stewardship ethics as a community has a direct bearing on its long term profitability." He then offers the example of Wegman's as proof. Alas, a single example without supporting evidence is not proof.

This brings us to the key question: "Should you buy and read this book?"

If you are a senior executive, a member of a corporate board, or a faculty member at a business school, this should be on your "must-read" list. Yankelovich has crammed a lot of good stuff and cogent analysis in here about the business climate and corporate responses.

This book is also a good read if you're interested in the ethical challenges of contemporary business, but you don't make it your primary focus. If you're a professional ethicist or philosopher, you'll find the book a little light on both reasoning and support, but that's exactly why it's a good read for the rest of us. The book is filled with provocative ideas and well written.

But if you're looking for a "how to" book, this would be a poor choice. It's a great book for stimulating thought and discussion, but the "how to" will be up to you.

Must Reading For Any Current Or Future CEO And Business Leader.......2007-07-09

This is a book I wish I had written. I have talked at length over the past few years about what is wrong with today's capitalist economy and particularly so since the Enron, Tyco, WorldCom, and other corporate scandals. However, I am and always have been a committed supporter of a free-market economy with minimal government interference. In the late 1950s (while very young!) I embraced Ayn Rand's "laissez-faire" theory of business, only to be later disturbed by some of the unwarranted and seriously problematic assumptions one had to make in order to completely buy into her "doctrine" of extreme individualism and "caveat emptor" economics. While I recognized that neither Communism (ala Marx) nor state socialism could bring about a dynamic market economy combined with political liberty, there was, I thought, definitely something missing in the theory and practice of a free-market economy as Rand and her coterie envisioned and promoted it. Moreover, the so-called "mixed economy" (which is what the U.S. pretty much has now -- a mixture of free-market and "socialist" elements) has not prevented the scandals recently experienced.

Enter Daniel Yankelovich with his new book "Profit With Honor: The New Stage of Market Capitalism." In my opinion, on the Aristotelian scale of ethical virtue, his book represents the "mean" between the extremes of a dog-eat-dog capitalism with profit as the "only" consideration and the position that profit is evil, private enterprise is antisocial and, therefore, a centrally-planned government-run economy is the only acceptable solution. Economic activity is, of course, not fundamentally different from any other human activity, whether it be individual, social, political, or whatever. There has to be some moral foundation, some ethical framework, which justifies and provides a rational structure for the activity. Neither of the aforementioned extremes can provide the necessary theoretical support nor the practical guidelines for an economic system which must take into consideration human nature and the human condition.

In his book, Yankelovich states that his "main argument . . . is that the time has come for market capitalism . . . to advance to a new stage of enlightened self-interest. American business needs to develop a new ethic -- a coherent set of social norms -- both to counteract the forces leading to the scandals and to meet the challenges of the global economy that call upon business to take on many new responsibilities." He calls his program (if that is the appropriate term) a "stewardship ethics," a set of cultural norms for business which involves social responsibility without rejecting the concepts of profit and self-interest. This is, for the most part, my position on the issue. The philosophical enemies of market capitalism have had plenty of ammunition provided to them in recent years by some of those -- dare I say "crooks"? -- who are involved in market capitalism itself. Without a solid and rational moral foundation, market capitalism becomes its own worst enemy. Yankelovich appears to be confronting this challenge and, I think, points the way to a good resolution of the problem.

There is no question now, in my view, that capitalism as it has been practiced in the past is just that -- a thing of the past. Capitalism must now advance to the "next stage of evolution," as Yankelovich envisions it. While it is vital that profit-making remain a central concern and goal of any economic enterprise, companies must also give due consideration to customers, employees, and society at large. There is really no essential conflict between making a profit (which any business must do to survive) and social responsibility. This notion of conflicting objectives was, I suspect, a matter of philosophical immaturity during the developmental growth of the capitalist system. It should be recalled that many of the so-called "robber barons" of the past did participate in philanthropic activities and contribute generously to the "social good." (Think Carnegie libraries, Ford and Rockefeller foundations.)

But, of course, the problem remains regarding the future of market capitalism, especially amid all the recent scandals. This is where I think Yankelovich makes his most noteworthy contribution. Abstract principles of ethics -- which is what many of us were primarily concerned with when I taught classes in ethical theory in years past -- is one thing. Important as that is, however, the application of ethical principles to practical situations, institutions, and social realities is, after all, of immediate concern. What Yankelovich provides is an extension of rational ethical principles into the marketplace, that is, where the action is and where they are most useful. There is no justification now for schools of business and departments of economics to ignore the moral and social ramifications of market activities; courses in business ethics, and I suggest maybe the "stewardship ethics" recommended in this book, ought to be a core part of the curriculum -- not just an elective, but a requirement.

"Profit With Honor" is, of course, not a full-blown treatise on business ethics. It is a short book, a mere 169 pages of actual text. It is, however, concise and to the point. Yankelovich's suggestion that market capitalism should adopt the idea of "doing well by doing good" comes across throughout the book and this idea needs to be internalized by anyone considering a future in business leadership. He concludes: "In our culture . . . the transformation to stewardship ethics may take place without even being widely noticed. But its effects will register in enhanced trust in the business sector, in improved long-term profitability, and in significant advances in global well-being." One can only hope what he says proves prophetic. This book is an excellent introduction to the problem at hand and, for many of us I suspect, a framework within which the practical solution to the problem can be realized. Must reading for any contemporary or future CEO. Highly recommended.

Should Be In Every Boardroom.......2007-07-07

This book is about ethics and integrity in corporate America. The author discusses the various scandals of the past decade or so, looks at root causes, and proposes a solution.

This book could easily have been a statist prescription for yet more regulation by that whacko entity we call the federal government (which doesn't actually govern), but fortunately it was not. Just as easily, it could have been yet another book used by the author to push the leftist agenda in the rosiest of terms, despite the fact that agenda has always failed and always will. Fortunately, we were spared that reality-challenged view as well. Nor is it another effort to push the "conservative" agenda (basically, a way of diverting money to special interests). In fact, Yankelovich stresses the need to move beyond political "solutions" to problems.

People change careers, and I am one of those people. In my former life as an engineer (in a galaxy far, far away or something to that effect), one of the skills I learned was root cause analysis. This kind of analysis is demonstrably absent in public policy, as is evident from the demonstrable failure of federal policies, federal agencies, federal programs, and just about anything else spewing forth from Washington, DC. I notice that most "experts" have pretty logical-sounding solutions to what ails us, but almost none of them first determines what problem needs solving. They have a hammer (their area of expertise), and the whole world is their nail.

Yankelovich takes a humbler and more rational approach. This book talks about what CEOs and other leaders should do to restore integrity in our corporations, yet in the preface he says he's neither a celebrated CEO nor an expert on the subject. Upon reading the book, I found this worked to his advantage. He's not an armchair general type, either, though. He was on many boards over many years and has seen the workings of the inner sanctum firsthand. His background as a social scientist and researcher is also a critical qualification, because he has an excellent lens through which to observe and analyze.

At 169 pages in paperback format, this book is short. It's not a highly detailed academic treatise on case histories. Yankelovich is certainly capable of producing such an opus. But it would be read by academics rather than CEOs. This book is the perfect size for its primary target audience--the high level corporate executive. It can fit into a briefcase for reading during a return flight or two.

Profit with Honor has ten chapters. The first two give us a clear picture of the problem. In those chapters, Yankelovich also discusses why legal remedies don't work. For example, if you have a law barring a certain behavior, people who believe it's OK to game the system will find and exploit a loophole. To see how this pans out, look no further than our insane, and counterproductive, federal income tax code. He also talks about what happens when a company promises to play nice and then doesn't.

The next two chapters explain why "What's good for GM is good for America" isn't so (not to pick on GM--that was the actual statement, but the sentiment was quickly adopted by other companies). Yankelovich also provides comparisons between the ethics of today (or lack thereof) to the ethics of previous times. This isn't a "sure was great in the good old days" fantasy. Yankelovich bases his analysis on actual research, including a study of the Harvard Business School Class of 1949.

What he has to say about "civil society" in Chapter Five is right on target, and should be required reading for everyone over the age of six. Unfortunately, we have too few adults with the proper training in civility, and we gag on that aftertaste of that every day.

Chapter Six and Chapter Seven provide a good discussion of stewardship ethics, which Yankelovich proposes as the means of getting our corporations back on track.

In Chapter Eight, Yankelovich exposes the fallacy of the "Shareholder Value" philosophy, leaving no doubt for the reader that it has proven to be costly and destructive. Chapter Nine explores the concept of gatekeeper integrity. Our gatekeepers include institutional investors, auditors, business lawyers, investment bankers, business journalists, and educators--and they have profoundly failed us.

The final chapter, Titled "Hummer vs. Hybrid" nicely ties the book's concepts together. What better way to make things clear than to use a common example and figuratively turn it over in your hand so that each edge, nook, and cranny is exposed to sunlight? This example concerns the attitudes of two companies. The first one is GM, which I loathe. The second is Toyota, of which I am a customer and a huge fan.

GM chased short-term profits by producing gas-guzzling Hummers. Thanks to GM lobbyists, the CONgress (which sells legislation to the highest bidder) introduced more distortions into that abomination called "the federal income tax code" to make it advantageous for people to own Hummers rather than a vehicle that makes sense. Hummers tear up our roads (causing us to pay higher road taxes) and consume four times the fuel that a sensible vehicle does (causing gas prices to be higher). So, we all pay for some insecure person to drive around in a Hummer dominating the road while GM managers soak up their bonuses for short-term profits and Middle East terrorists enjoy the funding provided by the additional oil revenue. All perfectly legal.

Toyota, on the other hand, behaved responsibly by producing the fuel-efficient Prius hybrid. It's important to note that this isn't their only fuel-efficient vehicle. My Camry gets nearly 40 MPG on the highway (5-speed manual transmission, good driving habits, synthetic oil, and other things boost its fuel economy past the EPA rating). Some other models of conventially-powered Toyotas, such as the Corolla, do even better.

If we replaced every GM vehicle with a Toyota Camry, America would no longer have an energy problem.

Toyota's venture into the hybrid market came at the cost of short-term losses. This car isn't a cash cow for them, and it isn't causing their executives to go home with multi-million dollar bonuses. It's part of the their long-term strategy to build cars that serve people and society. It's the result of their "continual improvement" ethic.

Yankelovich follows this same ethic in his writing. He isn't proposing a quick fix. He's proposing a change in underlying attitudes and beliefs, and it takes time for those things to produce effects. It's like eating right vs. taking medications. Eating right won't instantly make you healthy, if you are presently not eating right. But it's the only way to be healthy and correcting the effects of wrong behavior takes time.

It's also a monumental task to get all the players on board with such a change. If this book makes its way into boardrooms and executive suites across the country, and if individuals in those boardrooms and executive suites decide to make personal integrity a top priority ala the Class of 1949, that change can and will happen.

If you like the idea of a nation in which corporations are run in an ethical fashion (providing a model the federal "government" might learn from), read this book and then recommend it to others.

Book Description

This collection, which stems from the International Conference on Comparative Non-Discrimination Law held at Utrecht, The Netherlands, in June 1998, covers both the general aspects of equality and non-discrimination law (Part I), as well as the specific grounds for discrimination, adverse impact or indirect discrimination, and affirmative action (Part II). Part III discusses diverse aspects of the enforcement of non-discrimination law; Part IV contains conclusions and an agenda for change. This book is unique in that it both provides a comparative view of anti-discrimination law in theory and practice, and looks at a wide range of grounds for discrimination, such as gender, race, religion and health. Its comparative and international approach renders this publication not only of interest to civil rights lawyers, but to all those engaged in human rights and comparative law.

Book Description

Contributions to the workshop on Ordination Methods in Entomological Systematics, along with ordination-based research presented at the congress symposium on The Structural Basis and Analysis of Allometric Growth in Insects, formed the initial basis for this volume. Taking those sessions even further, this book portrays many current, distinct aspects of ordination analyses that have never been covered, as well as conveying a wealth of possibilities for the biological and evolutionary interpretations that these techniques allow. Several of the aspects here are still evolving in theory and implementation, hence the text incorporates disagreement and varied usage to enable the reader to see and understand the philosophies and arguments involved.

The aim of this volume is to provide insights and inspirations for those already experienced in morphometric research, and also to provide examples for inexperienced workers. Examples and arguments for r

Book Description

Based on lectures given in honor of Stephen Hawking's 60th birthday, this book comprises contributions from the world's leading theoretical physicists. Popular lectures progress to a critical evaluation of more advanced subjects in modern cosmology and theoretical physics. Topics covered include the origin of the universe, warped spacetime, cosmological singularities, quantum gravity, black holes, string theory, quantum cosmology and inflation. The volume provides a fascinating overview of the variety of subjects to which Stephen Hawking has contributed.

Customer Reviews:

Books like this don't come along often.......2006-03-21

This book collects a series of lectures given at a conference celebrating Stephan Hawking's sixtieth birthday. If you don't know who Stephen Hawking is then this book is definitely not for you! His contributions are too extensive to give a comprehensive list here, a very short list of highlights would include seminal contributions to singularity theorems, quantum cosmology, co-authoring one of the great books in general relativity and his discovery that black holes emit (approximately?) thermal radiation. The lectures collected in this book provide a more complete overview of the many areas in which he has contributed. Given Hawking's accomplishments it's not surprising that the books contributors include many of the world's most prominent physicists.

There are forty-four chapters covering a vast range of topics in theoretical physics. The level of the material also has a wide range, from introductory to very advanced discussions. I thought the selection of papers was great.

The first part of the book is at a very introductory level. That isn't to say the material isn't quite interesting. The topics include basic general relativity, gravity waves, cosmology and singularities. This part should be accessible to a general audience.

The remainder of the book is more advanced, some of it quite advanced. Nevertheless I would expect much of it to be accessible to advanced undergraduates. Some of the material is fairly standard such as cosmology (standard general relativity treatment), inflation and black holes (standard general relativity version). However, most of the topics presented involve less well understood physics.

It's difficult to describe the breadth of the content without just looking a table of contents, but I'll try to give a rough idea of it. Not surprisingly there are many talks on physics of black holes that isn't completely understood. A partial list of black hole topics includes: primordial black holes, inner-horizon stability (a tentative answer is given), string effects and information loss. Here is a very coarse grained list of the rest of the content: loop quantum gravity, chronology protection conjecture, topology change, the holographic principle (or conjecture, depending on who you ask), Euclidean quantum gravity, topology change, string theory (touched on in many talks), quantum cosmology (basic, with supersymmetry and implication for the problem of time), cosmology (a wide variety) and more.

In summary, many interesting ideas in theoretical physics are discussed. They naturally center on general relativity, quantum gravity and cosmology. Even the difficult topics are fairly accessible. I would expect most graduate students would enjoy it, as would many advanced undergraduates with a solid background in general relativity and quantum mechanics (however, a lot of the material is quite challenging). Some of the material would also be interesting to astronomy and astrophysics students too.

Book Description

Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Oedipus plays, Euripides' Medea and Bacchae, and Aristophanes' Birds and Lysistrata are discussed in this lively and scholarly volume. The author's experience teaching these plays to gifted high school students makes this volume particularly useful. The drama festivals, the adaptations of myth, the relevance of Aristotelian criteria, and the political and cultural background of each play are described fully, and the nature of tragedy and comedy, plot construction, stagecraft, theme, character, imagery and individual odes and speeches are analyzed in depth. The 5th century BC witnessed the flourishing of Athenian culture and was one of the most influential periods in history. The achievements of the Greeks at that time forever shaped our political and legal institutions and provided the foundation for Western civilization. At the same time, the world of the Greeks is distant and exotic to contemporary students. The values and beliefs of the Greeks are best represented in the plays that were crafted at that time, and these works continue to be widely read and studied. This book is a valuable introduction to ancient Greek drama. Designed for high school students, undergraduates, and their teachers, this work describes the origins and physical aspects of ancient Greek theatre, discusses Aristotle's Poetics, and analyzes, in ten separate chapters, ten frequently studied Greek plays: Aeschylus' Oresteia, Sophocles' Antigone, Oedipus Rex and Oedipus at Colonus, Euripides' Medea and Bacchae and Aristophanes' Birds and Lysistrata. For each there is cultural, political and mythological background, plot synopsis, and analysis of overall structure and important scenes, speeches and odes. The Aristophanes chapters explore comic method and all chapters discuss theme and stagecraft in depth.

Customer Reviews:

A Very Useful Guide to These Major Dramatic Works.......2005-11-28

The book contains wonderfully clear and detailed discussions of the plays. I learned a lot very quickly. It discussed how separate scenes and characters showed the themes of the plays and made every detail seem important. The discussions of masks, props, costumes, and movement on stage were very helpful and made these plays come alive. There was also a lot of background information and the plot summaries were very clear.

Masterpieces of Classic Greek Drama (Greenwood Introduces Literary Masterpieces)

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Masterpieces of Classic Greek Drama (Greenwood Introduces Literary Masterpieces)
Helaine L. Smith
Manufacturer: Greenwood Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OTPJ12

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