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

- David Riesman

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

- David Riesman

America is not only big and rich, it is mysterious; and its capacity for the humorous or ironical concealment of its interests matches that of the le…

- David Riesman

It is among the less privileged groups relatively new to leisure and consumption that the zest for possessions retains something of its pristine ener…

- David Riesman

Words not only affect us temporarily; they change us, they socialize or unsocialize us.

- David Riesman

The media, far from being a conspiracy to dull the political sense of the people, could be viewed as a conspiracy to disguise the extent of political…

- David Riesman

It is no longer clear which way is up even if one wants to rise.

- David Riesman

Nowadays, truth is the greatest news. The mass media are the wholesalers, the peer groups, the retailers of the communications industry.

- David Riesman

The premonition of death may for many be a stimulus to novelty of experience: the imminence of death serves to sweep away the inessential preoccupati…

- David Riesman