This classic example of the sociological essay examines the unspoken social agreements known as conventions and describes how they originate and how they can be used to solve problems that elude legal or political solutions.
I have experienced the public world from various vantage points: as a lawyer on Wall Street; chief-of-staff on capitol Hill; state commissioner in New York; deputy mayor of New York City; public authority board member; professor at Yale and the New School; and president of Blackburn College.
I have authored two previous books, When Strangers Cooperate (Free Press, 1995) and Organization Smarts (Amacom, 2002); and co-edited two more, Agent of Democracy and A Different Kind of Politics (Kettering Foundation Press, 2008 and 2009). Currently, I serve as the ongoing editor of the Higher Education Exchange, an annual publication of the Kettering Foundation.
I have another book coming out in January 2012 with ABC-CLIO (Praeger), The Real Change-Makers: Why Government is Not the Problem Or the Solution, under my full name, David Warfield Brown. (I've learned with the last name of Brown, it's best to use the full middle name.)
All of my work remains centered on the social dimensions of problem solving--the who and how of real social change. My new book argues that it's time to stop pointing the finger at government for doing too much or too little. Our social attention and the self-organizing of "enough others" offer the promise of being both cheaper and more effective, especially given the financial squeeze that all governments now confront.
