The improvising society

The Improvising Society sheds new light on the complexity of today's society. Feelings of chaos and confusion are common. There is discontent among citizens, and uncertainty and lack of direction among administrators, managers, and public of cials. Itseems as though no one has a clear perspective on what is happening to society, and yet ... perhaps we have overlooked something? 'Boutellier has written a brave study that explores the ever changing contours of our social experience. This book makes an important contribution by forcing us to take a deep breath so that we can be bit more relaxed about experiments with life.'Dr. Frank Furedi, School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, The University, Canterbury, Kent. 'This analysis is liberating in the way it helps make sense of the bewildering changes that we have lived through in the past 20 years. It shows that we have been striving for a structure and stability in society that is fundamentally beyond our reach. The book introduces the notion of "improvisation" and shows how it can provide us with thetools to better navigate a networked world.' Prof. Kees Dorst, University of Technology, Sydney. 'Boutellier's The Improvising Society describes a time, our time, when the horizontality of prosumers, crowd sourcing and the like has given rise to new ordering possibilities. He challenges us to compose, while we perform, as we reimagine who we might become as individuals and societies. A profound book.' Clifford Shearing, Faculty of Law, University of Cape Town.