The Naked Society

by Vance Packard

A terrifying expose of the growing problem of professional snoopers and the invasion of the privacy of the individual.

Genres: Nonfiction, Sociology

Paperback

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Vance Oakley Packard was an American journalist and social critic. He was the author of several books, including The Hidden Persuaders and The Naked Society. He was a critic of consumerism.

Reviews

[D. Meador · Rating 5 out of 5]

Number 27 for #read26fw I started reading this seven or eight months ago, just after finishing The Circle by Dave Eggers. It is quite a contrast between the two, much more than the fifty year gap between when they were written might suggest. The increasing abandonment of the concept of privacy that is so evident in today's society is seen by Packard as something that could end up destroying our society rather than democratizing it. Something worth thinking about.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this for research about life in 1964. I have been following Vance Packard’s books since his first in 1957, The Hidden Persuaders. That was an examination of how our thoughts and feelings are manipulated by business, media and politicians.

The Naked Society concerns the mounting increase in surveillance of citizens by means of hidden cameras, phone tapping, personality tests given in employment interviews, etc. In naked terms it is also called invasion of privacy.

I have learned much from his books though his style is dry and boring in the extreme.

Therefore, I won’t bore you further except to say that it all feels like a weak version of what we experience every day in 2024.

[Olivia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read as published. As a young person at the time attempts to discuss Packard's writings in the regular channels of study or youth club were mostly met with scepticism or humour.
The more radical social organisations and trade unions were ready to listen.
Of course there are now so many books on 'the sociology of...work, change, industrial or technological...change' David Silverman and his early sociological pieces on time and workplace studies and others on 'how change changes social and personal lives' that we forget Vance and his work.
Received as radical, Orwellian even his overviews and ideas of the changes to come in material consumerism and social order were discussed at cocktail parties and London academic gatherings...until...

[Elvis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Vance Packard is a very respectable author and some of his books will stay reasonable and fresh for eternity. However, this book in particular is severely outdated. In the 1960's, especially in America, it was in trend to hire psychologists, former FBI-agents, lie-detector professionals and other investigators to "spy" on the companies workers. As indicated by the author himself those means are already outdated, because workers work more efficiently if the trust is put into them (as the author indicated himself). Furthermore, the gadgets and various methods of public surveillance, which were described in the book, are outdated completely.

[Barbara Ab · Rating 3 out of 5]

Basically American as for the data he analyzes, out of date for the most of it, but still interesting in some parts

[Fred · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this in 1969. Very enlightening, and still timely! Even more so!