![]() Packard cannot resist writing books which are only extended versions of mass magazine articles that make one simple point and present some confirmatory evidence. (One of Chase’s older books, The Tragedy of Waste, written in 1925, elaborates on some of the very themes discussed in The Waste Makers-waste in production, in use of natural resources, and in advertising.) Despite the claims of his publisher and of some reviewers, however, Vance Packard’s work does not meet this need. Yet no journalist has come forward to fill the gap left by the sociologists’ refusal to address the larger intellectual public-Stuart Chase has made the best attempt so far. Psychology, economics, and anthropology, on the other hand, have all been better served by their intellectual leaders, a fact which may reflect the greater self-confidence of these disciplines perhaps sociology is too anxious about its status as a science to be willing to enter the popular arena. American sociology, because most of its practitioners disdain writing for a lay public, has insufciently influenced general social policy. ![]() Packard seeks to popularize for that part of the public which belongs to book clubs and reads best sellers, some of the findings of social science concerning status, the influence of the mass media, determinants of taste, and corporate sales policies (though in The Waste Makers, he relies more heavily on exposés of business than on social science research). Packard’s publishers describe as a continuing study of American society. The Waste Makers now adds a third piece to what Mr. They have been widely heralded in newspaper reviews as among the keenest analyses of American culture in recent years. The Hidden Persuaders and The Status Seekers, both of them harsh attacks on the mores of the business society and the behavior patterns of the middle and upper classes. Vance Packard has achieved notable financial and critical success with his two previous books.
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