X-Book

Systems of Survival

This book is not purchasable in your country. Please select another book.

Listen to a sample

What to expect

With intelligence and clarity of observation, the author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities addresses the moral values that underpin working life.

In Systems of Survival, Jane Jacobs identifies two distinct moral syndromes—one governing commerce, the other politics—and explores what happens when these two syndromes collide. She looks at business fraud and criminal enterprise, government’s overextended subsidies to agriculture, and transit police who abuse the system the are supposed to enforce, and asks us to consider instances in which snobbery is a virtue and industry a vice. In this work of profound insight and elegance, Jacobs gives us a new way of seeing all our public transactions and encourages us towards the best use of our natural inclinations.

Critics Review

“Altogether magnificent…Probably no single thinker has done more in the last fifty years to transform our ideas about the nature of urban life.”

Chicago Tribune

“[With] piercing analysis, crystalline prose and [a] finely-honed sense of morality, Jacobs covers an amazing amount of ground.”

Cleveland Plain Dealer

“Superb…Cobbling together a little urban anthropology, a little economic history, and a vast store of highly nuanced personal observations…Jacobs is an indispensable provocateur.”

Village Voice Literary Supplement
Author Jane Jacobs
Narrator Kate Rudd
Duration 9 hours and 23 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9798212033497
Format Audiobook
Publisher Blackstone Publishing
Genre Business ethics and social responsibility, Central / national / federal government policies, Social theory
Availability US

About xigxag

xigxag is an independent, UK-based audiobook platform and the UK’s only B Corp certified audiobook company. We offer nearly 150,000 audiobooks, all with professional human narration. No AI-generated voices. xigxag is rated an Ethical Consumer Best Buy for audiobooks and a top-rated ethical bookshop.

There is no subscription. You buy the audiobooks you want, you own them permanently, and prices start at £8.99. The more you listen over the year, the less you pay per book, and there is always a selection in Listen for Less from £3.99. You can also send audiobooks as gifts using our audiobook gift cards or in-app gifting.

Every audiobook on xigxag has honest reviews covering both the book and the narration, and our community features make it easy to share what you are listening to, discover what others recommend, and find your next listen.

Download or stream on iOS, Android, or in your browser. Browse the full catalogue at xigxag.co.uk.