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MASCULINITY RECONSTRUCTED

CHANGING THE RULES OF MANHOOD--AT WORK, IN RELATIONSHIPS, AND IN FAMILY LIFE

Levant's practical, realistic approach to a new masculinity has little use for ``taking on animal names and dancing naked in the woods.'' Still, says Levant (Psychology/Harvard Medical School), men are at a point where they can and must redefine manhood. While he recognizes that the rise of feminism and the influx of women into the workforce have had a profound impact on traditional notions of masculinity, blaming women is simply ``wrong-headed.'' And he rejects Robert Bly and the quest for the ``wild man'' within, arguing that Bly points to the past rather than to the future. To think, writes Levant, ``that men can restore their lost sense of masculine purpose and pride'' by indulging in the rites and rituals of a culture not their own is ``a romantic pipe dream.'' What men can do, he says, through therapy and counseling, is find a middle ground between the traditional masculine role and the new, sensitive man. Among the traditional masculine traits worth preserving and reemphasizing, he believes, are the willingness to sacrifice personal desires to provide support for others; the willingness to withstand hardship to protect loved ones; the expression of love by doing things for others; and the virtues of integrity, steadfastness, and loyalty. But typically masculine traits that must be discarded are an overindulgence in anger; the propensity to ``simultaneously depend on, distance from, and take advantage of female partners''; the inability to identify or express feelings; chronic fears of failing to measure up as a man; and discomfort with sexual intimacy. Levant designs individual counseling programs by allowing men to do what they traditionally do best: identify a problem, devise a strategy to solve the problem, and then implement that strategy until the goal is reached. A refreshing departure from all the chest thumping and campfire flatulence of the recent men's movement.

Pub Date: March 13, 1995

ISBN: 0-525-93846-X

Page Count: 256

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1995

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THINKING, FAST AND SLOW

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our...

A psychologist and Nobel Prize winner summarizes and synthesizes the recent decades of research on intuition and systematic thinking.

The author of several scholarly texts, Kahneman (Emeritus Psychology and Public Affairs/Princeton Univ.) now offers general readers not just the findings of psychological research but also a better understanding of how research questions arise and how scholars systematically frame and answer them. He begins with the distinction between System 1 and System 2 mental operations, the former referring to quick, automatic thought, the latter to more effortful, overt thinking. We rely heavily, writes, on System 1, resorting to the higher-energy System 2 only when we need or want to. Kahneman continually refers to System 2 as “lazy”: We don’t want to think rigorously about something. The author then explores the nuances of our two-system minds, showing how they perform in various situations. Psychological experiments have repeatedly revealed that our intuitions are generally wrong, that our assessments are based on biases and that our System 1 hates doubt and despises ambiguity. Kahneman largely avoids jargon; when he does use some (“heuristics,” for example), he argues that such terms really ought to join our everyday vocabulary. He reviews many fundamental concepts in psychology and statistics (regression to the mean, the narrative fallacy, the optimistic bias), showing how they relate to his overall concerns about how we think and why we make the decisions that we do. Some of the later chapters (dealing with risk-taking and statistics and probabilities) are denser than others (some readers may resent such demands on System 2!), but the passages that deal with the economic and political implications of the research are gripping.

Striking research showing the immense complexity of ordinary thought and revealing the identities of the gatekeepers in our minds.

Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2011

ISBN: 978-0-374-27563-1

Page Count: 512

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2011

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THE CULTURE MAP

BREAKING THROUGH THE INVISIBLE BOUNDARIES OF GLOBAL BUSINESS

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.

“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.

These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.

Pub Date: May 27, 2014

ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1

Page Count: 288

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014

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