The Organization Man

Circa 1956: “The Organization” and Its War on Individuality

America’s giant corporations are laying the groundwork for a profound shift in societal values. Individuality is stepping down to give way to the promise of the “collective.” Management boards strive to stamp out originality so that everyone adheres to the organization’s line. Beguiled by robust executive training programs, generous pension plans and potential lifetime employment, white-collar workers acquiesce to groupthink, bureaucracy and the absolute need to belong to a group. These “organization men” lead cookie-cutter lives of drab conformity at work, and their wives do the same at home in soulless suburbs.

The “Protestant Ethic” once guided US workers to be individualistic, hard-working strivers so they could attain the American Dream. But that principle is gradually ceding its position as moral arbiter to the idea of the “Social Ethic,” which preaches coming together as a harmonious group for the benefit of all. The Social Ethic doesn’t overtly require mindless conformity. Rather, it stresses the beneficence of big organizations, and they are benevolent in many ways. The practical result is a brotherhood...