Stanford University Press Blog

Culbert’s Beyond Bullsh*t Reviewed in Financial Times and Times Higher Ed

Beyond Bullsh*t (2008), Samuel A. Culbert’s engaging guide to straight-talk at work, has gotten some significant attention lately. Stefan Stern recently wrote a piece on the book for the Financial Times in which he says: “It is not, as you might expect, an appeal for honesty at all costs. Rather, the book takes a sophisticated look at why we talk to each other the way we do, and why a certain amount of BS at work may be necessary and even advisable.”

Susan Bassnett also reviewed the book for Times Higher Education, in which she explains: “Culbert's basic premise is that bullshit is inevitable in any working situation. Without it, he says, ‘the workplace would be about as serene as the lawless Wild West’. He shows, through a series of examples, how interaction in a working context involves a whole range of strategies and subterfuges, some of which aim to deceive, and others to shield people from a truth that might be unpalatable.”

Beyond Bullsh*t’s basic tenants have also caused a flurry of blog posts. The Assess Systems blog writes: “Readers will find this book personal—which is unusual for a business book; they will think that many of the stories are about them. They will be engaged and delighted as the text demystifies the obstacles to getting beyond bullsh*t and guides them in developing straight-talk relationships at work.”

 

Lynch on China and the Olympics

With the 2008 Summer Olympics now underway in Beijing, the spotlight is on China to see if their role as host will cast a new image on the communist nation which has recently been under attack by civil rights groups for its stance in Tibet and Sudan.

Daniel C. Lynch, author of Rising China and Asian Democratization: Socialization to "Global Culture" in the Political Transformations of Thailand, China, and Taiwan, recently wrote an article for Far Eastern Economic Review entitled "Will the Olympics Change China?"

Lynch notes that the Olympics is a prime example of China's integration into global affairs which along with their rapid economic development and Internet usage are proving how Chinese society is changing.

Lynch notes that despite the fact that these developments are often moves toward democratization, there are several reasons why democracy will be more difficult to apply in China. For example, the popularity of patriotic notions that democracy is a ploy by Japan and the West to impede China's progress contributes to the nation's resistance to political change.

Read Lynch's full article here.

Interview with Leo Chavez in the OC Register

A recent article from U.S. News and World Report explores the question of allowing illegal immigrants to enroll in college – most of whom are Latino. It ponders: “While a 1982 U.S. Supreme Court decision entitles illegal immigrants to a free education from kindergarten through high school, neither Congress nor the courts have figured out what to do with the estimated 65,000 undocumented immigrant students who graduate from high school each year once they decide to attend college.”

 

This is just one of many unresolved issues concerning Latinos that Leo Chavez explores in The Latino Threat: Constructing Immigrants, Citizens, and the Nation (2008). In this critical investigation of how and why Latinos are portrayed as a threat to American society, Chavez shoots down various stereotypes including Latino’s “out of control” birthrate, refusal to learn English, and secret desire to reclaim the American Southwest.

In a recent interview conducted by the OC Register, Chavez puts his opinion bluntly: “I think politicians have learned that railing against the immigration threat, particularly the Latino Threat, brings in votes. For the common people who get riled up… a lot of their constituents, I think what they really feel, bottom line, is that the movement of people in the world across national borders really is a threat to the kinds of rights and privileges they deserve as citizens.”

Chavez’s opinions on illegal immigration are debatable, but he is indisputably correct that people get riled up. This interview alone generated 626 comments on the OC Register’s website and critical commentary on the Hispanic Trending and Law Librarian blogs.