William A. Schwartz – författare

One of the most sweeping works of social criticism to appear in years, this work offers a bold theory of modern classes and a comprehensive portrait of the modern professional. Drawing on one of the largest studies ever undertaken, including interviews with over 1,000 professionals, the authors show how experts, claiming a monopoly on many types of knowledge, are radically transforming the economic and social order.This book demonstrates how this has resulted in many citizens becoming deeply insecure about their competence to manage private and public affairs without professional guidance. The authors make a case for a society that radically democratizes knowledge while retaining many non-exclusive aspects of professionalism.

Lawyer, doctor, scientist--these are the jobs Americans commonly cite when asked to list the most prestigious occupations. The word "professional" today implies expertise, authority, and excellence. To do a job professionally is to do it well. Yet in a society in which knowledge has become a prized asset and an advanced degree the ticket to wealth and power, the rise of professionalism has a darker, more ominous side. Power in the Highest Degree, one of the most comprehensive studies of professionals ever undertaken, exposes professionalism as a double-edged sword; it illustrates how experts have come to "own" and control knowledge, much like the wealthy control capital, thereby transforming capitalist and socialist society, both for better and for worse. Knowledge long predates money as a source of power and wealth in human society, and professionals are only the most recent in a long succession of powerful knowledge classes that have included shaman, witchdoctors, and the Confucian mandarins who ruled China for over a thousand years. Drawing on interviews with over 1,000 practicing professionals, the authors show how, by dispensing self-interested and morally colored judgements as scientific truth, modern professionals are consolidating a monopoly over what passes for objective knowledge. Experts discredit the ordinary knowledge of the general public to generate a vast market of dependent clients. The result is a powerful professional class that creates vital new knowledge and life-saving services, but also wields growing influence over a population deeply insecure about its ability to manage private and public affairs without "expert" guidance. This sweeping study also reveals that more and more experts are abandoning private practice to work for corporations, becoming junior partners in a new "Mandarin capitalism." While often outspoken advocates of a more socially responsible business world, professionals have joined big business to produce one of the most pronounced divisions of mental and manual work in history, creating a new dispossessed majority, the uncredentialed. We learn of an experiment at Polaroid to give machine operators more responsibility which is cancelled when managers and engineers decided that they "just didn''t want operators that qualified." The authors argue that, as this new "mandarin" class radically transforms the social order, it helps to reform some of the traditional scourges of the business world, but also poses a new threat to equality in America. To reverse this trend, they propose a post-professional society that de-emphasizes skill hierarchies and substantially democratizes knowledge. A bold and incisive new work of social criticism, this book provides a fascinating look at the modern professional and provokes Americans to think in a new way about democracy in the age of experts.

The Nuclear Seduction: Why the Arms Race Doesn’t Matter—And What Does presents a provocative challenge to the conventional wisdom surrounding nuclear weapons and global security. The authors argue that the relentless focus on the arms race—the build-up and reduction of nuclear arsenals—misdirects attention from the true drivers of nuclear danger: geopolitical conflicts and superpower interventions. Drawing on historical case studies and rigorous analysis, the book reveals that the number and nature of nuclear weapons have far less impact on global safety than the volatile political and military entanglements of the United States and the Soviet Union, particularly in the Third World.Moving beyond the "weapons paradigm," this groundbreaking work urges readers to consider how superpower actions in regions such as the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Central America perpetuate crises that could escalate into nuclear catastrophe. The book critiques arms control efforts as inadequate distractions and calls for a deeper reckoning with the political strategies that fan the flames of global instability. With a blend of incisive critique and bold insight, The Nuclear Seduction challenges policymakers, activists, and citizens alike to rethink the roots of nuclear peril and focus on the global conflicts that threaten humanity’s future.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.

This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1990.