Video's Richard Sennett

What’s the effect of the build environment on human behavior? Sociologist Richard Sennett has an interest in architecture and urbanism which goes back to his time as a student. In this video he talks about his interest for the build environment and the influence of the physical arrangement of the city on conflict.

Nineteenth factories were horrible. But at least there was a boss present on the work floor. In our globalized world a lot of labour is outsourced and the contact between boss and employee lacks a face to face contact. Sociologist Richard Sennett states that, because of a lack of informal communication, the contact between boss and employee became directive instead of communicative.

All neoliberal systems create inequality. It’s part of what makes the machine work. But sociologist Richard Sennett doubts the neoliberal systems capability of survival. He pleads for a social division of labour, like in the Netherlands, Germany or Scandinavia.  Inequality will always exist, but we need to question ourselves what amount of inequality is bearable.

Intolerance isn’t something we can weed out. It’s more like a chronic condition that has always been part of the collective human body. So, according to sociologist Richard Sennett, it’s more a question of what can repress the symptoms of intolerance. His answer: physical mixture, living in the midst of people who are different.