ORGANIZATION MAN Chapter 19 section 2

BELONG Consider these words… CONFORM In your own words write a brief definition for each…

Which one gives you a positive feeling and which one gives you a negative feeling? CONFORM BELONG Mark each word with a “+” or a “-” based on your reaction to the word.

Criticism of the new “corporate culture” In the 1950’s giant corporations and conglomerates became a major source of employment in the US. *Read page 642 in your text and write the definition of conglomerate on your paper. In order to get a good paying job and advance in the corporate world people had to “fit in” to the new American “corporate culture.” *Read the top of page 643 & write down the behaviors rewarded by corporate America… TEAMWORK COOPERATION LOYALTY TO THE COMPANY Eventually critics of this new corporate culture said it “standardized” not only the products that were being sold, but also the workers. They said this SOCIAL CONFORMITY was threatening the American Dream that appreciated individualism rather than conformity.

“Organization Man”… So - in 1956 William Whyte wrote the best selling book “Organization Man” … and got a lot of attention for his ideas on the new corporate culture and how it was changing the nation. Read the following quote and WRITE DOWN ANY WORDS YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND AS YOU READ. “Corporate norms based on the pursuit of safety and security and characterized by conformity had spread to academic and scientific institutions and prevailed in the white-collar suburbs then proliferating across America. TRY A PARAPHRASE? Whyte said “the bold visions of individualists have been replaced by the modest aspirations of organization men who lower their sights to achieve a good job with adequate pay and proper pension and a nice house in a pleasant community populated with people as nearly like themselves as possible.''

More quotes from Organization Man… ''In our attention to making the organization work we have come close to deifying it. We are describing its defects as virtues and denying that there is -- or should be -- a conflict between the individual and the organization. This denial is bad for the individual. What it does is to rob him of the intellectual armor he so badly needs.'‘ ''Fight the organization,'' he wrote in his book. ''But not self-destructively. I write with the optimistic premise that individualism is as possible in our times as in others. I speak of individualism within organizational life.'‘ What is the TONE of the above passages? What can you INFER about the author’s position on INDIVIDUALISM vs giving in to organizational CONFORMITY?

Questions to consider… Is SOCIAL CONFORMITY good or bad? Would you give up your INDIVIDUALISM in pursuit of the “American Dream?” Which does America value more… INDIVIDUALISM or CONFORMITY?

What is your AMERICAN DREAM?

The American Dream in the 1950’s Achieving the American Dream meant… Getting a job with a corporation, conglomerate or franchise (this meant good pay and job security…which leads to… Achieving the suburban lifestyle (living in a single home); Having kids (“baby boom” went from late 1940’s to early 1960’s creating the largest generation in American history)

American Dream… Making sure your kids are healthy (Dr. Spock’s “Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care sold millions of copies) and well educated Being the best “homemaker” you could be (as shown on TB shows & magazine ads)despite the growing feminist movement led by women like Betty Friedan (working women were NOT the norm); Being able to fill your leisure time with goods & activities; Owning a car!!! (automania; the interstate highway system; + and – of new mobility)

CONSUMERISM At the heart of the American Dream was the ability to buy material goods became equated with success. Thousands of new products arrived in stores weekly & people scrambled to buy them, giving way to a new marketing strategy for businesses… Planned Obsolescence – manufacturers purposely designed products to wear out or become outdated quickly (new “models” introduced annually or quicker); also consumer credit purchased boomed again & the Advertising companies bombarded the public with images of what they “needed” to have. Consumerism led to the creation of shopping centers and malls all over the nation. And a new POPULAR CULTURE emerged in response to the new definition of THE AMERICAN DREAM (read section 3 p. 652-659 & do page 11 in the Ch. 19 packet).

BTW – about The American Dream… In 1931, when writer James Truslow Adams coined the term “the American Dream,” it had more to do with idealism than material prosperity. The American Dream, he wrote in The American Epic, was “that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.”