Art and Joseph Bensman teamed up to publish the "New American Society." Originally issued in 1971, this revised edition issued by Bergin and Garvey Publishers, brings their original analysis of American society into the realities of the late seventies and early 1980s when the United States began to face unprecedented economic challenges with emerging economies in Southeast Asia and the failure of our nation to police ourselves and the world and to maintain political leadership over our ascendant allies.
Art and Joe were constantly reassessing the state of our nation and this book represents a "status report" on American Society.
Art published this book in 1985 with his colleage Stan Lyman. Art wrote a commentary in the book he signed to me that said "Charles and Clare - With all due respect for those who are religiously musical from one who is not - yet as you will see in this book other worldliness and this worldliness are not that far apart! - Dad."
His note, written on March 24, 1985 reflected his deep and long standing interest in the inextricably close link between the world of the sociologists and the daily life of those seeking answers to the fundamental questions of life on earth.
This was one of his most important works - even though the sociology profession has failed to grasp the depth of his analysis of their profession.
Art and Joseph Bensman collaborated on many books. This one was perhaps one that brought them into the greatest level of collaboration any two sociologists might ever hope to achieve. Their work portrayed the 'revolution" of the American middle class in the Post World War II era. Their assessment of the new middle class would be the first of numerous ongoing "status reports" on how the American experiment in political democracy was faring.
The book was extremely well received. Robert Nisbet praised the authors and their book stating "first rate - more than any single book I can think of, it avoids the pitfalls and meets the realities which lie in front of anyone seeking to do justice to the complexities of American social stratification. The authors have faced up to the fact that social class in the 19th and early 20th century sense no longer exists... I hope profoundly that this book, with its wealth of revealing details, its crystal clear perspectives, and its extraordinarily lucid writing, will remove the cant and ritual which are the common baggage of writing on social class in this country. Almost for the first time, this a book on social status in America that has the benefit of sure insight into the revolutionary changes that have taken place in the American poltical and economic structure sine the New Deal. I wish for it the widest possible reading."
Art and Joseph Bensman teamed up to publish the "New American Society." Originally issued in 1971, this revised edition issued by Bergin and Garvey Publishers, brings their original analysis of American society into the realities of the late seventies and early 1980s when the United States began to face unprecedented economic challenges with emerging economies in Southeast Asia and the failure of our nation to police ourselves and the world and to maintain political leadership over our ascendant allies.
