Respect in a World of Inequality

As various forms of social welfare were dismantled through the last decade of the 20th century, many thinkers argued that human well-being was best served by a focus on potential, not need. Richard Sennett disagrees. In this fusion of personal memoir and reflective scholarship, he addresses the need and social responsibility across the gulf of inequality. In the uncertain world of "flexible" social relationships, all are troubled by issues of respect: whether it is an employee stuck with insensitive management, a social worker trying to aid a resentful client, or a virtuoso artist and an accompanist aiming for a perfect duet.