ABSTRACT
William H. Whyte's The Organization Man was targeted primarily at the general public rather than academic audiences, though the book has come to be a core text in many history and business programs. Whyte had no formal background or academic training in anthropology, history, or even business or management scholarship, and nor was there a body of established intellectual thinkers or well-published authors on this subject at the time he was researching and writing. Whyte was, in many ways, a trailblazer both in the field of business management literature and in the growing number of authors commenting on the complacency and conformity of post-World War II American culture. He was an experienced business writer at Fortune magazine, which at the time was one of the most prominent business publications in America. Whyte combined this background in business journalism with the growing number of critiques from sociology and history scholars and pop culture artists.
