The Organization Man

Published in 1956 by William H. Whyte, editor of the up-market business magazine Fortune, The Organization Man offered a portrait of American manhood suffocating under a blanket of dull conformity fostered by American corporate culture. After World War II an economic boom had brought prosperity, but for many commentators of the time the ensuing rise of faceless business corporations and the inexorable expansion of suburbia had pushed American masculinity into the paralyzing doldrums of uniformity. The Organization Man exemplified these perceptions through its portrayal of a white-collar bureaucracy that rewarded conformity rather than initiative, crushing individual identity and autonomy beneath the collective will of the organization.

Drawing on evidence from a study of a new middle-class housing development in Illinois called Park Forest, The Organization Man ...