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A spurious democracy has influenced both our research methods (I am sometimes tempted to define “validity” as part of the context of an experiment demanding so little in the way of esoteric gift that any number can play at it, provided they have taken a certain number of courses) and our research subjects (it would be deemed snobbish to investigate only the best people).

— David Riesman Individualism Reconsidered (1954)

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More quotes by David Riesman

Etiquette can be at the same time a means of approaching people and of staying clear of them.

The Lonely Crowd (1950)

The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading: men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other.

The Lonely Crowd (1950)

The mass media are the wholesalers; the peer-groups, the retailers of the communications industry.

The Lonely Crowd (1950)

Those who are excluded from meaningful work are, by and large, excluded from meaningful play.

Individualism Reconsidered (1954)

Today the future occupation of all moppets is to be skilled consumers.

The Lonely Crowd (1950)

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Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: David Riesman (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.