My Own Book Review

Karl E. WEICK (1979), The Social Psychology of Organizing, Second Edition.

Abstract

What constitutes a self-review of the second edition of “The social psychology of organizing (hereafter spo2)? Since such a review is supposed to be “performative” and “auto-ethnographic” it won’t necessarily look like a traditional book review consisting of “book, overview, bits of excerpt, some wrangling, some praise, followed by the larger pronouncement” (Birkerts, 2015). Bits of excerpt, however, set this commentary in motion. The very first sentence in the book reads, “This is a book about organizational appreciation.” Appreciation? The last 2 sentences in the book read, “Organizations keep people busy, occasionally entertain them, give them a variety of experiences, keep them off the streets, provide pretexts for storytelling, and allow socializing. They haven’t anything else to give.” That’s appreciation? What goes on in between that ties these two thoughts together? That middle can be described in terms of substance, historical embedding, intentions, form, tools deployed, wishes, and summation.