ABSTRACT
Initial reactions to William H. Whyte's The Organization Man were largely positive, with many contemporary authors acknowledging its importance. The Organization Man launched a number of similar critiques on conformity, suburbanization, and mass culture. Whyte shifted focus to urban design issues shortly after publication of The Organization Man. He received much praise in book reviews and comments from fellow authors shortly after publication, many of which confirmed the trends he had observed and described and underscored their importance. However, as the popularity of The Organization Man continued to grow, and Whyte moved on to other topics, Whyte's own statements about its meaning became lost in popular culture's interpretation of his work. It can be easy to misinterpret or selectively quote Whyte's The Organization Man without full understanding of the nuanced motives that propelled Whyte to a household name and The Organization Man to a classic character of yesterday.
