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Title: Systems of Survival : A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics by Jane Jacobs ISBN: 0-679-74816-4 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 13 January, 1994 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.44 (9 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Missing Something
Comment: Jane Jacobs - Systems of Survival
We deserve better from the woman who brought us "The Death and Life of Great American Cities." Systems of Survival is, more or less, Jacobs' explanation of how the world works: a celebrated urban sociologist using all the insight she has gathered over the years to give us her interpretation of the foundations of commerce and politics. Sounds great, doesn't it? Except it isn't.
Turns out that Jacobs' vision of commerce and politics comes down to "how we get stuff", or, in other words, the titular systems of survival. There are only two systems and they are pretty simple, either we take stuff ("guardian" system) or we trade for it ("commercial" system). Each system also comes with its own dictates, such as "Shun force" and "Compete" (the trading system) and "Exert prowess" and "Be ostentatious" (the taking system). The problem is that these systems that Jacobs deals with are little more than the "traditional/modern" society dichotomy that has been around for years and years. Consequently these systems aren't all that groundbreaking.
This wouldn't be so much of a problem except that about one third of the way through Jacobs circles the wagons and refuses to add anything new to the mix. Instead of taking these systems to the limits and covering some new ground Jacobs simply keeps chasing the same ideas around and around. More specifically, once we learn that the guardian system is good for some things (like administration) and the commercial system is good for others (like distributing goods) but that a combination of the two systems never works out, the book more or less stops generating ideas. Of course this excludes several questions: why do some societies have systems performing the "wrong" tasks, how have and how will these systems change over time, how do these contradictory systems coexist, what regulates them. Also, what about ideas that aren't covered by the two systems? There are a lot of questions implicit in Jacobs' thesis, most of which go unanswered.
Perhaps as a footnote to all this is the oddity that Jacobs chose to write this as a "Socratic" dialog. The dialog is chunky, the characters one dimensional, the plot is completely absent; clearly the book would have made more sense as a work of non-fiction.
Systems of Survival is a decent read if you know next to nothing about sociology. If you don't fit that criterion but you still want to read it, I'd recommend getting this book from the library and skimming it.
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent about the 2 dominate strategies, misses others
Comment: An excellent, thought provoking work, some examples from 1980's are interesting as we see the same patterns unwinding in Enron's and similar catastrophys.
I have to disagree with her that these are the "ONLY" systems, there is a mass of humans that unlike the written about, self chosen leadership of the world, would appear to operate with a philosophy of "don't risk on prowess or venture", try to avoid attention or be unnoticed, hourd and squirrel away... These are often the peasant/prol/workers that serve the groups described use, manipulate and even claim to own but from an eco/eco point of view, they have a functional syndrome for survival. The fact that they "take and trade" resources dosn't pull them fully into the ethical system of either Gardians or Merchant/Traders. They might also be be characterized by concerns over "reciprococity" which often plays out differently than Honor, or Negotiation.
A somewhat reality grounded book about ethics with an interesting Aristotolian concept.
Rating: 5
Summary: Unusually thought-provoking
Comment: I have seldom read a more thought-provoking, stimulating, and fascinating book than this.
The author uses two techniques that are particularly useful in conveying this rich material - Socratic dialog, and inductive reasoning. The wealth of examples and the detailed analysis are compelling, yet as a reader you feel free to disagree, to question, and to challenge the ideas being presented -- all good exercise for the mind.
The book's thesis is discussed elsewhere. Suffice it to say I find that thesis highly persuasive, and I plan to put it to the test in coming months. I recommend this book highly.
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Title: Cities and the Wealth of Nations by JANE JACOBS ISBN: 0394729110 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 March, 1985 List Price(USD): $12.50 |
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Title: The Economy of Cities by Jane Jacobs ISBN: 039470584X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 12 February, 1970 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The Death and Life of Great American Cities by Jane Jacobs ISBN: 067974195X Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 01 December, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Nature of Economies by Jane Jacobs ISBN: 0375702431 Publisher: Vintage Pub. Date: 13 March, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.00 |
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Title: Dark Age Ahead by JANE JACOBS ISBN: 1400062322 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 04 May, 2004 List Price(USD): $23.95 |
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