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ASKED what he specialised in, Daniel Bell replied: “generalisations”. Mr Bell lived a varied life. He grew up in New York City, so poor that he sometimes had to scavenge for food. Yet he ended his days in bourgeois comfort in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He spent 20 years as a journalist, mostly as Fortune’s labour editor, before decamping to academia. His boss, Henry Luce, desperate to keep his star writer, asked him why he was leaving. He gave four reasons: June, July, August and September.
His taste for generalisations grew with the eating. He produced three of the great works of post-war sociology: “The End of Ideology” (1960), “The Coming of Post-Industrial Society” (1973) and “The Cultural Contradictions of Capitalism” (1978). On the Times Literary Supplement’s list of the 100 most influential books since the second world war, two were by Mr Bell.
Many of Mr Bell’s insights remain as relevant today as when he first broached them. For example, the transition from industrial to consumer capitalism, which he chronicled in America decades ago, is now happening in China and India. Even when he was wrong, Mr Bell was wrong in thought-provoking ways. A few hours with his oeuvre is worth more than a week in Davos (and is less likely to cause skiing injuries).

A. 어휘
specialise 전공하다. generalisations 일반화, 槪括(개괄).
varied 다양한. scavenge 먹을 것을 찾아다니다, 쓰레기를 치우다.
decamp 급히 떠나다, 도망가다. desperate 必死的(필사적)인.
Contradiction 모순. Literary 文筆(문필)의, 문학의.
Supplement 보충. insights 통찰. relevant 관련된, 適切(적절)한.
broach 제기하다, 끄집어내다. transition 이동.
chronicle 연대순으로 기록하다, 年代記(연대기). provoke 일으키다, 挑發(도발)하다.
oeuvre 전작품, 일생의 일.