A NATION OF STRANGERS

by Vance Packard ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 8, 1972

Vance Packard's principal accomplishment is not that he writes reasonably readable social science, nor that he has been able to popularize social research which in the hands of most of his colleagues would have turned to methodological mud. Instead it is his adroitness -- call it a knack -- for touching live nerves in this society. Surely that accounts in large measure for the success of such works as The Status Seekers, The Waste Makers, The Sexual Wilderness, and The Hidden Persuaders. And his latest book, which could or should have been titled The Plastic Strangers, is no exception. Packard offers data here affirming that Americans are increasingly ""nomadic,"" moving from place to place and job to job, a condition which he suggests is eroding our traditional sense of community and belonging (to family, neighborhood, town), ultimately creating a society of rootless, insecure, shallow, distrustful, indifferent, hedonistic, lonely, alienated transients. ""Under the flag of technological progress -- with its unthinking demands for giant institutions, environmental turbulence, urban sprawl, and high mobility -- we have been pursuing a depersonalizing course that is dangerously radical for man as a social animal."" In his typically low-key manner of sociological sleuthing, Packard trudged around the country, case-studying selected communities (Darien, Conn.; Akron; Houston), interviewing migratory Americans, and assessing the behavioral impact of rootlessness and social fragmentation, finding a society ""that is coming apart at the seams."" He concludes with a number of recommendations to reverse the trend -- corporate and governmental programs to curb geographic mobility, ideas to strengthen family solidarity, a vague plea ""to stop glorifying growth for growth's sake"" -- but the essential value of Packard's study is the amplification of the problem, not the solutions proffered. A Nation of Strangers will be backed with heavy publisher promotion and it should find that same large audience which might be on the move but is no stranger.

Pub Date: Sept. 8, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McKay

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION