URBAN PSYCHOLOGY IN SENNETT’S WORKS: THE INDIVIDUAL VERSUS THE MODERN CAPITALIST CITY

Abstract

One of Sennett’s most important contributions to social sciences has been his Works on the impacts of cities on individuals and their roles in shaping the lives of people in the modern world. In this aspect, Sennett has become an important thinker in the field of urban psychology. The aim of this study is to reveal the negative psychological effects of the modern city built on secularcapitalism on its inhabitants in Sennett’s studies. In this context, Sennett’s various works are scanned and examined, and his views about the relations between the modern city and the individual are tried to be revealed by using his key concepts. According to Sennett, the modern city, which is a place of differences, was not planned in such a way that a culture of living together could be established. Due to the weakening and silencing of public life, and thus the deprivation of the opportunity of healthy socialization from the inhabitants of the city, people are removed from being an actor and reduced to the position of a spectator and are condemned to individuality and a narcissistic personality. Authoritarian relations in the modern city create a sense of shame and inadequacy in individuals. Working conditions in the new type of flexible capitalism arouse feelings of risk, anxiety, and uncertainty in individuals instead of feelings of freedom, loyalty and continuity. Against capitalism, which causes a kind of character erosion, Sennett proposes a culture of craftsmanship, which is a self-sufficient mode of production. However, Sennett, who believes that people will change with the change of space, emphasizes the importance of city planning in which socialization areas are activated.