Self-Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society [First Edition]
About this ebook
In his classic treatise Self-Renewal, John W. Gardner examines why great societies thrive and die. He argues that it is dynamism, not decay, that is dramatically altering the landscape of American society. The twentieth century has brought about change more rapidly than any previous era, and with that came advancements, challenges, and often destruction. Gardner cautions that "a society must court the kinds of change that will enrich and strengthen it, rather than the kind of change that will fragment and destroy it."
A society's ability to renew itself hinges upon its individuals. Gardner reasons that it is the waning of the heart and spirit—not a lack of material might—that threatens American society. Young countries, businesses, and humans have several key commonalities: they are flexible, eager, open, curious, unafraid, and willing to take risks. These conditions lead to success. However, as time passes, so too comes complacency, apathy, and rigidity, causing motivation to plummet. It is at this junction that great civilizations fall, businesses go bankrupt, and life stagnates. Gardner asserts that the individual's role in social renewal requires each person to face and look beyond imminent threats.
Ultimately, we need a vision that there is something worth saving. Through this vision, Gardner argues, society will begin to renew itself, not permanently, but past its average lifespan, and it will at once become enriched and rejuvenated.
About the author
John William Gardner (October 8, 1912 - February 16, 2002) was Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare (HEW) under U.S. President Lyndon Johnson.
A native of California, John W. Gardner attended Stanford University. He received the A.B. degree "with great distinction" and went on to an M.A. degree in psychology. During his undergraduate years he won a number of Pacific Coast swimming championships and set several records.
In 1936, he took a job as teaching assistant at the University of California, where he earned his Ph.D. in 1938. He later taught psychology at Connecticut College and Mount Holyoke College.
In the early days of World War II he was chief of the Latin American Section, Foreign Broadcast Intelligence Service. Then he entered the Marine Corps. He was assigned to the Office of Strategic Services and saw overseas service in Italy and Austria.
Mr. Gardner joined the staff of Carnegie Corporation of New York in 1946 and was elected president in 1955. In the same year he was elected president of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
He has served as an adviser to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations, and as a consultant to the U.S. Air Force, which awarded him the Exceptional Service Award in 1956. He was a member of the board of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He was a director of the New York Telephone Company and the Shell Oil Company, and chairman of the U.S. Advisory Commission on International Educational and Cultural Affairs.
He died in Palo Alto, California in 2002 at the age of 89.
