Seeing Others, Michele Lamont
Seeing Others, Michele Lamont
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Seeing Others
How Recognition Works—and How It Can Heal a Divided World

Author: Michèle Lamont

Narrator: Jane Oppenheimer

Unabridged: 5 hr 56 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/12/2023

Includes: Bonus Material Bonus Material Included


Synopsis

“A thoughtful recipe for building social justice” (Kirkus Reviews) from acclaimed Harvard sociologist Michèle Lamont that makes the case for reexamining what we value—the quest for respect—in an age that has been defined by growing inequality and the obsolescence of the American dream.

In this capstone work, Michèle Lamont unpacks the power of recognition—rendering others as visible and valued—by drawing on nearly forty years of research and new interviews with young adults and cultural icons—from Nikole Hannah-Jones and Cornel West to Michael Schur and Roxane Gay.

Decades of neoliberalism have negatively impacted our sense of self-worth, up and down the income ladder, just as the American dream has become out of reach for most people. By prioritizing material and professional success, we judge ourselves and others in terms of self-reliance, competition, and diplomas. The foregrounding of these attributes of the upper-middle class in our values system feeds into the marginalization of workers, people of color, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and minority groups. The solution, Lamont argues, is to shift our focus towards what we have in common while actively working to recognize the diverse ways one can live a life. Building on Lamont’s lifetime of expertise and revelatory connections between broad-ranging issues, Seeing Others delivers realistic sources of hope: by reducing stigma, we put change within reach.

Just as Robert Putnam’s Bowling Alone did for a previous generation, Seeing Others strikes at the heart of our modern struggles and illuminates an inclusive path forward with new ways for understanding our world.

About Michèle Lamont

Michèle Lamont is a professor of sociology and of African and African American studies at Harvard University, where she is also the Robert I. Goldman Professor of European Studies. She served as the 108th President of the American Sociological Association and her research has received numerous awards, most recently the Kohli Prize for Sociology and honorary doctorates from six countries. The author or coauthor of over a dozen books, she can be found on MicheleLamont.org.   


Reviews

Goodreads review by Curtis

I received this book through a Goodreads giveaway, and I was very excited to read it. I thought it was going to give/show ideas on how to help bring people together. What it ended up being was just another book about standard DEI talking points. The author continuously paints white, conservative men......more

Goodreads review by Chris

I’m split on this book. Lamont wrote an excellent book about the challenges marginalized people go through and what we can do about it. It’s a fantastic book when you look at it as a book about social justice, but I was sort of sold on getting this book because it was written by a sociologist. I was......more