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Systems of Survival: A Dialogue on the Moral Foundations of Commerce and Politics
by
Jane Jacobs
The author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities looks at business fraud and criminal enterprise, overextended government farm subsidies and zealous transit police, to show what happens when the moral systems of commerce collide with those of politics.
Paperback, 256 pages
Published
January 13th 1994
by Vintage
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I had reservations about reading this one for quite some time. Mostly because of how it's written. That is, in the form of a series of conversations between 5 or 6 friends in a New York apartment. I really wanted it to be written in the author's voice, and I kinda still feel that way. However, Jane Jacobs' voice still shines through, albeit, indirectly. As I read I actually came to find these talking heads useful, asking the right questions, helping navigate very dense and complex issues on the...more
This book should be required reading in every high school in America. The examples are somewhat dated, but the philosophies and concepts portrayed are timeless. I read the book for a second time, twelve years after it was published, and it all still holds water. Not many books on business have that kind of longevity. The tale is told through the dialog of members of a dinner club. Basically, there are two ways to survive – you either barter or steal. Over time, these two survival strategies evol...more
Thought provoking insight into the unwritten rules we use (or should use) to do our business and governing.
In this slim and readable volume, Jacobs articulates the two moral systems humans have evolved over the centuries: that of traders (commerce), and that of guardians (government). Once stated, they seem so obvious, but failure to recognize the differences results in serious chaos. This book was a big help to me when I moved from the private sector to the public; suddenly, the foreign behaviours and attitudes I was encountering made sense. As topical today as it was in the 1990s, this book is a mu...more
This is a profoundly important book! Jacob's observation that a failure to understand that there is a difference in moral character required between those who are guardians of a society and those who are its entrepreneurs. She argues that a society will fail if it allows itself to relax the distinction and have the role of the guardians taken over by the entrepreneurs, because their lure for the lucre lead easily to corruption. She suggests that the guardian role tends to be resistant to change,...more
I read this book for am Ethics class on Jane Jacobs and I absolutely loved it. It is completely different from what I have ever read and it was just an amazingly well thought out way of how our society works and how we teach ourselves to ruin it... but yet, how to fix it.
if you're a hard-nosed literary critic it's going to be really hard for you to get past the central conceit of this sociology book-- it's written as a dialogue, with characters and a bare minimum of plot-- and while it's also written by one of the greatest urbanists and essayists to ever walk the planet, it was not written by one of the greatest novelists. i wish that jane jacobs had couched these ideas in a book of essays in her own voice.
BUT: the ideas are pretty neat. if you're interested in...more
BUT: the ideas are pretty neat. if you're interested in...more
Compares the values of commerce (trade, transparent, open, innovative) with politics (war, secret, closed, loyal). One works in realm of police, the other in trade. Read on Long Wharf.
I'll definitely be reading more Jane Jacobs. She was clearly a very insightful cultural critic. This book presents some useful tools for looking at systems of morality, but the discussion loses traction thanks to its format as a fictionalized dialogue.
Awesome discussion about the need for balance between government (the guardians) and commerce. Well researched and documented, conveyed in conversational style. I loved it.
Highly recommended examination of the morality of earning a living. Turns out there are two ways, raiding and trading (to use terms Jacobs explicity rejects), both of which have their place in a balanced society as a check on the cancerous growth of the other. Very insightful. This book can change your take on work and the economy.
Wow. Moral Obligations are created by whom?
The culmination of her work, and the crown jewel of a brilliant life of the mind.
Apr 13, 2008
Seth Galbraith
rated it
5 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
everyone
Recommended to Seth by:
B. F. Galbraith
This book is fantastic but everyone forgets to read the sequel, The Nature of Economies. Don't be like them. Read The Nature of Economies too.
Jun 10, 2013
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Jane Jacobs, OC, O.Ont (May 4, 1916 – April 25, 2006) was an American-born Canadian writer and activist with primary interest in communities and urban planning and decay. She is best known for The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), a powerful critique of the urban renewal policies of the 1950s in the United States. The book has been credited with reaching beyond planning issues to inf...more
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