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The Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character

David Riesman, Nathan Glazer and Reuel Denney

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  • Edward O. ThorpDiscussed a personal takeaway
    Thorp discusses The Lonely Crowd in his second 2022 Tim Ferriss interview and relates its inner-directed and other-directed ideas to thinking for himself. He names Riesman; the registry preserves Glazer and Denney’s coauthor credits. Reading completion is not established.
    Source

Summary

David Riesman, Nathan Glazer and Reuel Denney study social character in American life. They use contrasts between guidance from tradition, internal standards and other people’s expectations to explore how social conditions shape conduct and conformity.

The categories are tools for social analysis, not fixed boxes for sorting people. In a later reflection, Riesman warned against reading them as simple character types or assuming that one kind of guidance makes a person fully independent.

  • SourceThe Lonely Crowd: A Study of the Changing American Character — primary source · Publisher description and credits; 2020 Yale paperback with Richard Sennett introduction, ISBN 9780300246735.
  • SourceDavid Riesman — reflection on The Lonely Crowd · 1980 Citation Classic commentary: ideal types, misunderstandings and the limits of the inner/other-directed contrast.

Why read it Our view

Read it to examine where your standards come from and how approval shapes a group’s choices. Compare internal aims with pressure from peers or customers without assuming that either is always right. Keep the authors’ social categories distinct from a test that diagnoses an individual.