Play and Craft: review of Richard Sennett's 'The Craftsman'

I was delighted to be asked to review the social thinker Richard Sennett's new book The Craftsman for the Scottish Review of Books. I have devoured his last four books - Corrosion of Character, Respect, The Culture of the New Capitalism - because I share his concern with the subjective and social effects of new technology and new business models. Though we come to ultimately different conclusions. Sennett believes we can revive an ethos of 'good work', even in the age of flexible occupations and networked capitalism. I believe that the same conditions push us forward to forge a new ethos of productivity and creativity, one that accepts - even embraces - a degree of open chaos and emergence in our lives: a 'play ethos'.

What is fascinating about The Craftsman is that Sennett is now directly engaging with play, and our essentially playful natures. He believe that the 'universality' of our early play experiences - our relentless experimentation with material stuff, our commitment both to the rules of games, and the bending of them - is the basis for his belief that we can all be potentially craftsmen (and craftswomen). Our childhood show we can easily be deeply invested in our activities, incrementally improving our mastery of the world. In a beautiful phrase - invoking the Jeffersonian ideal that democratic competence resides in the skills we exercise to change our material conditions - Sennett suggests that "good citizenship found in play, is lost at work".

I post the entire review below - which has a personal dimension for me, as various parents and grandparents of mine have had a complex, even troubled relationship to an ideal of 'craft' - and invite your responses.