All Rise Somebodies, Nobodies, and the Politics of Dignity

Somebodies and Nobodies (2003) initially diagnosed the malady of rankism-what somebodies may do to nobodies. It is abuse and discrimination based on the power of rank, and it is on the rise in both the workplace and the political arena. This sequel to that bestselling title explores rankism's social and psychological costs and envisions a "dignitarian" society that disallows the abuse of rank. Drawing on his experience as a scientist, college president and public diplomat, Robert Fuller argues that we are all equal when it comes to dignity, an argument that will draw a wide audience and appeal to people in all camps.

Robert W. Fuller earned his Ph.D. in physics at Princeton University and taught at Columbia, where he coauthored the classic text Mathematics of Classical and Quantum Physics. The mounting social unrest of the 1960s drew his attention to educational reform, and at the age of thirty-three he was appointed president of Oberlin College, his alma mater.
In 1971 Fuller traveled to India as a consultant to Indira Gandhi, and there witnessed firsthand the famine resulting from the war with Pakistan over what became Bangladesh. With the election of Jimmy Carter, Fuller began a campaign to persuade the new president to end world hunger. His meeting with Carter in the Oval Office in June 1977 contributed to the establishment of the Presidential Commission on World Hunger.