Review by Ellen Young

Cultures@SiliconValley by Jan English-Lueck  © 2002 by the Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University

For the past decade, a team of anthropologists has been quietly compiling data on the way life is lived in Silicon Valley.  The Silicon Valley Cultures Project has now published some of its findings in a book titled, appropriately enough, Cultures@SiliconValley.  Authored by Jan English-Lueck, the chair of the anthropology department at San Jose State University, the book attempts to give an overview of the “Silicon Valley way of life.” 

Beginning in 1991, the SVCP has been following, interviewing and taking copious notes on a wide variety of the valley’s residents—engineers, managers, temporary workers, janitors, massage therapists, psychiatrists, people who work in startups or in laboratories as well as people who work in machine shops. This is the first of three books planned to present the study’s findings, and it’s quite an eye-opener.  Especially in this time of economic slowdown, it may serve as a useful guide to where we’ve been and a marker for where we might be heading.  Even though this book is written from an academic study, English-Lueck lays off the anthropological jargon enough to present the information in a way readable to the rest of us.  For my two cents, it’s definitely worth a read. 

Opening this book, I felt a bit like a Trobriand Islander peeking through the field notes taken on my tribe and me.  Some of what I found was expected, such as the central role of work, but other things surprised me.  For instance, we’re a very sociable people in general; did you know that?  The stereotypical computer geek who stands in for all Silicon Valley residents all over the world is only a small part of the real story.  Success in Silicon Valley relies on communication, and we tend to be a very communicative community.  Social hermits are not evident in this book.
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What did not surprise me to read about in this book is how deeply work encroaches on every aspect of life here.  According to the book, the overriding theme underlying the Silicon Valley way of life is work, to the extent that there is “a colonization of life by work.”  Because of all the technical gadgets that make communication and work possible at all times and places, the concept of free time has changed.  Even time not spent online or on the cell phone is often spent thinking about work. 
Work seeps into other parts of life so that life as a whole “becomes a series of projects.”  When I read that phrase, I laughed.  Since moving to Silicon Valley four years ago, I’ve found myself referring to things in my life as “projects,” which I didn’t used to do.  I have my work and school projects and also my home decorating project, my weight loss project and my financial security project.  Hmm.  And then there are my neighbors.  I live in a live/work loft building, and half the time, if I see someone out in the parking lot, he’s on a cell phone, talking about work.  I moved here from a smaller town where the buzz  of work  felt  much more  removed  from non-work hours.  Here, if I’m not either busy or connecting with someone for some useful purpose (including the useful purpose of relaxing), I tend to feel a little out of place, and a little lonely. 

But still, I like it here, work-obsessed and all.  Actually, work doesn’t come off looking so bad in this book.  Work is not seen as a sterile thing but in fact quite the opposite.  “People in SV put their heart and soul into their jobs,” says English-Lueck.  And what our work culture has wrought is the really interesting thing.  Because we produce high tech, we are also prone to use it more than people in other places.  We not only produce technology, we also consume it at rates higher than in other parts of the country, simply because we have more invested in it.  As English-Lueck describes it, Silicon Valley is “technologically saturated” to a marked degree.

In fact, the book shows us how much we love our high tech, and how much we incorporate it into our lives and depend on it in a way that might be seen as a bellwether for the rest of the country.  Even those of us who aren’t technologically proficient understand the nature of the beast that surrounds us.  We know we live in what one of the study’s subjects, a receptionist/massage therapist, calls “a technical place.”  Whether we’re involved in high tech or not, we’re affected by the nature of the dominant industry and the way of  life it  has  spawned.  In a sense, we live in a “post-modern company town.” 

The other very significant feature of our way of life that work has wrought is our status as a global community, a place where people from many different countries around the world come to work and live.  Even when people return to their native lands, they often continue to maintain their ties here too, so the global network remains quite strong.  This complex juxtaposition of so many cultures in one place is a major strength for the area, according to English-Lueck.  “Using jokes, politeness and a sizable dose of tolerance, Silicon Valley people have created an ethos of civility, where cultural gaffes are expected and forgiven.  This ethos is justified by a very real instrumentality.  One never knows who might be needed for the next favor, the next job, the next son-in-law.” 

Another thing that surprised me was the stress on family, which English-Lueck says is extremely high on the list of concerns for residents in Silicon Valley.  In fact, the face of the modern family as it is evolving may be seen right here, with families who stay in touch through pagers and cell phones and email.  Is the technological face of family communication a good thing, or a bad thing?  The book does not attempt to answer such questions, leaving them for us, which is as it should be. 

Here in Silicon Valley we confront the “forces that will significantly shape the future… in America.”  If you have any curiosity about what it means to live in Silicon Valley at the turn of the millennium, this book is for you. 

An Interview with Jan English-Lueck, anthropologist studying Silicon Valley.  Jan English-Lueck is the chair of the anthropology department at San Jose State University and author of the book Cultures@SiliconValley.

By Ellen Young