Society Against Itself: Political Correctness and Organizational Self-destruction

Front Cover
Karnac Books, Jan 1, 2010 - Psychology - 216 pages
"Political correctness" involves much more than a restriction of speech. It represents a broad cultural transformation, a shift in the way people understand things and organize their lives; a change in the way meaning is made. The problem addressed in this book is that, for reasons the author explores, some ways of making "meaning" support the creation and maintenance of organization, while others do not. Organizations are cultural products and rely upon psychological roots that go very deep. The basic premise of this book is that organizations are made up of the rules, common understandings, and obligations that "the father" represents, and which are given meaning in the oedipal dynamic. In anti-oedipal psychology, however, they are seen as locuses of deprivation and structures of oppression. Anti-oedipal meaning, then, is geared toward the destruction of organization.

About the author (2010)

Howard S. Schwartz grew up in New York City, where he attended the Bronx High School of Science. His bachelor's degree is in philosophy from Antioch College, and he studied philosophy as a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh and the University of California, San Diego. His PhD, from Cornell University, is in organizational behaviour. He is a professor of organizational behaviour in the School of Business Administration at Oakland University, and now divides his time between Lake Orion, Michigan and New York City.

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