RICHARD SENNETT writes about cities, labor, and culture. He teaches sociology at New York University and the London School of Economics, and is recipient of the 2010 Spinoza Prize. Sennett has explored how individuals and groups make social and cultural sense of material facts – about the cities in which they live and about the labor they do. He focuses on how people can become competent interpreters of their own experience, despite the obstacles society may put in their way. His research entails ethnography, history, and social theory. As a social analyst, he continues the pragmatist tradition begun by William James and John Dewey. Sennett is the author of both non-fiction and fictional works, including ʻThe Uses of Disorderʼ, ʻThe Fall of Public Manʼ, ʻThe Culture of the New Capitalismʼ, and ʻThe Craftsmanʼ, focusing on the basic human impulse to create with skill and do a job well for its own sake.