The central thesis of Dutch philosopher Ben Kuiken’s new book is that capitalism has overgrown, even destroyed, individual sense-making. By reducing everything to money, capitalism has subordinated values such as community, well-being, happiness, family, friendship and love. The ontology of the market, the causality of customer demand, the superiority of economic efficiency and the sanctity of profit have become so dominant that hardly anyone dares to question them. It has become self-evident to organize efficiently and effectively, to minimize input and maximize output. It is so logical for everyone to look through a capitalist lens that most of us are no longer aware that we are using lenses at all.
Kuiken argues that we miss a lot because of that. Making sense is an individual process that is necessary for living; in order to live a good life, you must be able to answer the question of the meaning of life. However, the individual has a hard time competing with the forces of the market economy. That is why the author advocates identifying and bundling counterforces, especially in organizations. Kuiken sees it as the task of philosophy to go beyond what is generally accepted and to formulate problems in a new way.
Making sense in organizations is an important part of Kuiken’s book, which is based on his dissertation. The author refers several times to the American professor Karl Weick, who defines organizing as the reduction of multiplicity: we reduce the reality that can be interpreted in multiple ways to one meaning or explanation. I would add that this is an important task for leaders. They take their employees on a joint journey by choosing a desired future, telling the story about that future passionately and being consistent in the choices of what should and should not be done. As a result of reducing multivocality, observable coherent behavior arises.
The organization takes shape because people enter into relationships with each other, create shared images by talking to each other, interpret each other’s gestures, attach importance to certain things and not to others. People not only talk to each other but also to themselves to find their meaning. Thoughts, sometimes contradictory, are constantly going through our minds, only a part of which is conscious and leads to meaning.
The book invites readers to think about how they deal with their individual sense-making and how this works in the organizations to which they are affiliated. In doing so, Kuiken refers in an exemplary manner to the ideas of philosophers such as Nietzsche, Foucault and Deleuze. Recommended reading.
Ben Kuiken. Het zinnigste boek dat je ooit zult lezen. Hoe we weer zin kunnen maken van de toekomst. S2uitgevers, 2024. For more information about Ben Kuiken, see his website https://www.benkuiken.nl/