Disconnected: Snippets and Reviews
A few pieces about Disconnected in the weekend papers:
- The Australian carries an extract in its “Inquirer” section (update: and an article this week by Angela Shanahan)
- The SMH has a review article by Adele Horin (who also wrote a generous quote for the dustjacket)
- The Canberra Times has a book review by Don Aitken in its “Panorama” section (not online at this stage)
And on the radio…
- Tripe J’s Hack ran a segment on Disconnected, which provoked quite a discussion on their Facebook page.
[...] A list of other newspaper articles about Disconnected can be found on Andrew Leigh’s blog. [...]
Andrew, I wonder why you have not discussed the theory of Emile Durkheim who tells us that economic and social development in a (now with new technology) industrial age moves too fast for its society to develop a new morality. He called it “anomie”. Anomie, being created by unlimited consumerism, is causing social disintegration.
In my world I am more in tune with Eva Cox and Michael Pusey in that I see the creation of capitalist individualism of its citizens (not privatisation of its assets) the cause of our being disconnected from one another. I have sons who are forging careers for themselves and see their struggles to prevent alienation occurring in their world due to the need to support oneself and families without cohesion.
Suburbs have become dormitories due to the way of work, a 24/7 world which leaves no room for social cohesion. Add to that the individualist mentality of economic capitalism, along with specialisation fragmenting many professions, I am therefore left wondering which world your research subjects inhabit.
It is my opinion that governments following capitalistic rules and expecting its citizens to be entrepreneurs which is destroying our society. In the world I live in I certainly mourn the loss of social capital, but nowhere is it being encouraged by governments who wish to rule its citizens by divide and conquer methods.