Triumph of Emptiness: Consumption, Higher Education, and Work Organization

A stimulating read from the critical management school that I enjoyed, but over-written and repetitive. Would have been a better book if it were a third shorter. The main thesis is an interesting one, calling into question many of the follies of neo-liberal social organisations and structures with their obsession with branding and external appearance. Definitely worth reading if you feel you are stuck in a strange fantasy world where reality is denied in a modern social organisation. You will understand why most of the time you feel you have lost the plot and don't understand why when the rhetoric is of excellence and consumer care, your experience is of neglect and things getting worse. A sort of horrible vade mecum to the willed self-deception prevalent in the Purgatorio of the contemporary world of work.

I am Programme Director for PostGraduate Studies at Durham University Business School.My review: I rather like this read. Mats came to give a talk at Durham and whilst I was charged with delivering an introduction to his work; this was as good an excuse as any to read his latest work. Mats writes well; this is light on academic references - deliberately so. If you are looking for 'heavy' and loaded theoretical confirmation of what you already know; read a textbook.The 'creation of value' is through a range of critical accounts of Mats own involvement with organisations, and enthusiastic, if not 'grandiose' [you'll get this 'pun' after you've read the intro] and positive outlook.The ideas are ripe and juicy. Students will like it for its self-confidence and collective reflexivity. Other academics will enjoy the lack of footnotes and range of seductive ideas.This is not heavy theory; this is a multi-coloured tour de force that is (if I were to be critical) at times not as strongly presented as it could be. But reasoning is thoughtful and cynicism genuine.This makes it a must read on my shelf.

Excellent book

A good book.