ABSTRACT
Crozier exhibits little familiarity with data on labor, organized or otherwise. From such a perch, Crozier addresses America's Constitution, its schools, and public optimism, which he condemns as popular narcissism. An easier, more ready-to-hand explanation lies in the long-run economic trends that have catapulted the United States to a leading position in every major indicator, from levels of production to amounts of consumption. Crazier sees America as a land of instant action and immediate gratification, of unilateral individualism, without regard to community or providence. Crozier moves from disdain for Americans' boundless optimism to distaste for their sense of the immediate. Americans are counselled to forget dreams and become humble. After Vietnam and Watergate, Americans are presumed to require eternal penitence. Crozier is deeply offended by the sense of happiness he detects in Americans, as if the task of analysis were to dictate moral and cultural taste instead of to explain why and how a people express certain moods.
