Don't Take It Personally

In Don't Take It Personally, Eviatar Zerubavel comprehensively addresses the fundamental distinction between the specific and generic visions of personhood. While the former focuses on specifically "who" individuals are, as embodied by their driver's license and signature, the latter vision concerns itself with "what" they are, as interchangeable members of particular social roles or groups. Over the course of the book, Zerubavel articulates the fundamental features and underlying logic of impersonality and considers what is gained and what is lost by impersonalizing so much of modern social life.