Carson's 1962 work Silent Spring was one of the first books ever to highlight environmentalist issues. Focusing on the negative, widespread, and long- lasting effects of human activity on the environment-particularly through the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture-Carson argued that we are all morally obliged to look after the environment.
Carson's 1962 work Silent Spring was one of the first books ever to highlight environmentalist issues. Focusing on the negative, widespread, and long- lasting effects of human activity on the environment-particularly through the use of chemical pesticides in agriculture-Carson argued that we are all morally obliged to look after the environment.
William Whyte's core idea in The Organization Man is that the Protestant Ethic that characterized financial and personal success in American history had been replaced in modern times by the Social Ethic. This stressed the group as the source of creativity and emphasized that the greatest need of the individual is to belong to a group. To investigate this idea, Whyte spent years interviewing the CEOs of Fortune 500 companies when he was an editor at Fortune magazine, one of the top business publications in the United States at the time. What he found was that the recruitment and training were much more focused on "cultural fit" than on technical skill or experience level. As the ranks of new junior executives grew in post-World War II America, so did their impact on urban development and consumer spending. Droves of "package suburbs" sprang up in the fields surrounding major metropolitan areas, and a strong post-war economy coupled with funding from the GI Bill made new homes, cars, and household goods affordable for young families.
In Wisdom of Crowds, New Yorker columnist, Surowiecki, explores the question of whether the many are better than an elite few - no matter their qualifications - at solving problems, promotion innovation and making wise decisions. Surowieki's text uses multiple case studies and touches on the arenas of pop culture, sociology, business management and behavioural economics among others. Surowiecki's is a fascinating text that is key to considerations and theorisations about economics, politics and sociology.