Individualism

8 Key excerpts on "Individualism"

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  Mind and Politics

  An Approach to the Meaning of Liberal and Socialist Individualism

  • Ellen M. Wood(Author)
  • 2023(Publication Date)
  • University of California Press

    (Publisher)

  The political dimension 127 Individualism is a novel expression, to which a novel idea has given birth. Our fathers were only acquainted with igoisme (selfishness). Selfishness is a passionate and exaggerated love of self, which leads a man to connect everything with himself and to prefer himself to everything in the world. Individualism is a mature and calm feeling, which disposes each member of the community to sever himself from the mass of his fellows and to draw apart with his family and his friends, so that after he has thus formed a little circle of his own, he willingly leaves society at large to itself. Selfishness originates in blind instinct, Individualism proceeds from erroneous judgment more than from depraved feelings; it originates as much in defi- ciencies of mind as in perversity of heart. Selfishness blights the germ of all virtue; Individualism, at first, only saps the virtues of public life; but in the long run it attacks and destroys all others and is at length absorbed in downright selfish- ness. Selfishness is a vice as old as the world, which does not belong to one form of society more than another; Individualism is of demo- cratic origin.. . Later in the book, de Tocqueville elaborates on his concep- tion of men in an individualistic society: Each of them, living apart, is a stranger to the fate of all the rest; his children and his private friends constitute to him the whole of man- kind. As for the rest of his fellow citizens, he is close to them, but he . does not feel them; he exists only in himself and for himself alone; and if his kindred still remain to him, he may be said at any rate to have lost his country. 2 An "individualistic" society, then—to use currently popular terminology—is characterized by privatization and atomistic so- cial relations, qualities which, if not synonymous with egoism in a narrower sense, always threaten to degenerate into it.

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  World Politics

  Rationalism and Beyond

  • Ralph Pettman(Author)
  • 2001(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  It results in a particularly virulent ideology of its own. It creates a sense of Self even more distanced than rationalism allows. This, as discussed just above, is ‘Individualism’, and it prioritizes a very particular kind of identity in very specific politico-social terms. In prac- tice it is manifest in doctrines like those of human rights and democ- racy, which are first articulated by highly individuated individuals at the meta-social level at which they think and talk, and which are then promoted as preferred ways for everyone else to live. This is what might be called ‘social liberalism’, and as a key product of the mod- ernist project, it now obtains worldwide. In politico-economic terms, Individualism is the basis of ‘economic liberalism’ too. The more radical liberals are committed to the maximum amount of personal freedom to invest, produce, trade and work that is commensurate with state-made market protection. The 108 R. Pettman, World Politics © Ralph Pettman 2001 more moderate liberals are prepared to countenance more state inter- vention, not only so that the system might be sustained, but also so that it might be made (by means of Keynesian state controls, for example) to work better. Both sorts of liberal (the moderate and radical) imagine an economic realm separate from the political and social ones, however, where the entrepreneur works not only for his or her private benefit, but also for the benefit of all. Both valorize competition, self-realization and self- maximization, not least because of the way these can be used to promote divisions of labor, both locally and worldwide, with all the productive benefits that then accrue. Liberalists Heed Adam Smith, for example, who more than anyone else might be deemed the founding father of the modernist liberalist creed (Smith, [1776] 1892: 3, 5, 343–7): The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour … seem to have been the effects of the division of labour … .

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  Why Americans Hate Welfare

  Race, Media, and the Politics of Antipoverty Policy

  • Martin Gilens(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • University of Chicago Press

    (Publisher)

  But proponents of the new liberal state, in America and elsewhere, em- braced Individualism as a corrective to the rigid social hierarchies and ascriptive norms of European society. In his study of Individualism, Steven Lukes identifies a number of philosophical varieties and includes the following among the central components of Individualism: belief in the intrinsic value and dignity of individual human beings, belief in the autonomy of individuals from social pressures and norms, belief in the value of privacy and the right of individuals to be left alone to pursue their own ambitions, and belief in the ability of people to develop themselves in their own unique ways.4 Each of these ideas has a place in American political cul- ture, yet none captures the dominant chord of American Individualism, which concerns its economic rather than philosophical implications.In America, according to Lukes, Individualism came to refer to "equal individual rights, limited government, laissez-faire, natural justice and equal opportunity, and individual freedom.'j5 Individualism, SELF-INTEREST 33 It was this American Individualism of individual rights and limited government that Alexis de Tocqueville described in his classic study, Democracy in America. A French aristocrat and civil servant, Tocqueville journeyed to America in the 1830s to study the most democratic and egalitarian society of his time. Although there was much that he ad- mired about American society, Tocqueville also expressed deep con- cerns about the impact of Individualism on Americans' social and political life.

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  The Wiley Encyclopedia of Personality and Individual Differences, Clinical, Applied, and Cross-Cultural Research

  • (Author)
  • 2020(Publication Date)
  • Wiley

    (Publisher)

  Individualists encourage creativity and personal differences, valuing equality of individuals and liberty from others. Therefore, they are inclined to satisfy their own desires and goals over that of others, focusing on action that allows for personal benefit. Individuals also maintain equality through rejection of authority figures and distribution of rewards. In their political and social systems they have been identified to spend large amounts of money on military spending. In particular, American individualists value separation from family, religion, and community (Berry et al., 1997). Individualists aspire to achieve self‐satisfaction, and reach one’s full potential (Berry et al., 1997; Triandis, 1995). Consequently, individualists maintain an internal locus of control, assuming personal responsibility for their actions and well‐being. In order to attain such goals, individualists deny rigid standards and avoid social pressures of conformity. Hence, it Alice Wenjui Cheng 1 , Silvia Rizkallah, 2 and Mariya Narizhnaya 2 1 Bridgewater State University 2 University of Hartford Individualism vs. Collectivism Individualism vs. Collectivism 288 is likely that individualists maintain looser connections to people in their immediate group and larger society. Relationships with others are evaluated and maintained when considered beneficial to the individual and consistent with his/her beliefs. However, anthropologists have viewed individualists as more accepting of differences in relation to family structure and aesthetics. Furthermore, individualists have more freedom to maintain differing politi-cal and religious affiliations (Triandis, 1995). Literature has identified two types of Individualism, horizontal and vertical (Triandis, 1995). Both groups value high freedom, independence, achievement, and an autonomous view of self (i.e. independence). Based on this premise, achievement is determined from one’s contributions (e.g. effort) for both groups.

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  Constructing 21st Century U.S. Foreign Policy

  Identity, Ideology, and America's World Role in a New Era

  • K. Schonberg(Author)
  • 2009(Publication Date)
  • Palgrave Macmillan

    (Publisher)

  81 Disagreement over the answers to these questions has led individuals to assert very different understandings of what constitutes the national interest and the requirements of national security. The relative importance of American sovereignty and the danger presented to it by participa- tion in foreign politics; the relative importance of promoting justice (meaning a Liberal definition of individual human rights, capitalism, and democracy); the relative importance of foreign trade to U. S. economic prosperity; and the relative value of and danger to the lives of U.S. troops posed by foreign activism—differences over these issues have given rise to the competing ideological systems that have animated each of the pivotal debates that have marked the history of American foreign policy. Ideology and Identity in the History of U.S. Foreign Policy The concluding section of this chapter will suggest the ways in which national identity and ideology have shaped the creation of U.S. for- eign policy over the course of the past two centuries. It will argue that differences in emphasis and interpretation within this common Th e o ry a n d H i s to ry 49 ideational framework explain the divergent visions of America’s world role that have animated the critical foreign policy debates in U.S. history. While national identity comprises the overall socio-cognitive structure within which foreign policy debate occurs, within this broad system particular ideological schools of thought have emerged time and again, such as liberal and conservative isolationism and interna- tionalism. At moments of change in the international system, one of these approaches has gained ascendance over its competitors to define a new foreign policy consensus for the decades that follow.

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  Virtue in Global Governance

  Judgment and Discretion

  • Jan Klabbers(Author)
  • 2022(Publication Date)
  • Cambridge University Press

    (Publisher)

  For them, international politics is a matter of what states do, how states interact, how states respond to each other, and how states engage in cooperation and conflict. The discipline is highly state-centric: its central unit is the state. The state, in turn, is said to be driven by a lust for power, as it attempts to survive in an anarchic world. While this is often labeled “methodological Individualism,” it is not about individuals; it is, instead, about imagining that states act as individuals could or might. There are nuances, of course. If die-hard “realists” tend to think actors other than states are completely irrelevant (“epiphenomenal,” in jargon), “institutionalists” pay at least some attention to other actors, most often intergovernmental organizations. Even then, though, these organizations are viewed mostly as vehicles for state action. 5 On such a reading, states 3 Salter, “Woodrow Wilson,” 159. 4 Note that this division corresponds quite nicely with that between consequentialists and deontologists in ethical theory, as observed by Joel Rosenthal, “Rethinking the Moral Dimensions of Foreign Policy,” in Charles W. Kegley Jr. (ed.), Controversies in International Relations Theory: Realism and the Neoliberal Challenge (New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1995), 317–330. 5 With the state again often conceptualized as if it were an individual, with “preferences,” “intentions,” and a “will” of its own, disregarding the circumstance that states are also forms of organization, and that thus international organizations are typically composed of 58 3 the individual in global governance create international organizations in order to advance state interests, including a bid for increased state power; and hegemonic states, such as the United States in the years following World War II, or China in the early twenty-first century, create and support international organizations in order to cement their hegemonic positions.

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  Handbook of Political Theory

  • Gerald F Gaus, Chandran Kukathas, Gerald F Gaus, Chandran Kukathas(Authors)
  • 2004(Publication Date)
  • SAGE Publications Ltd

    (Publisher)

  While liberal political philosophers instruct us to revise individ-ual life plans but remain committed to the constant values of liberty, human rights and human progress, Ideology, Political Theory and Political Philosophy 9 students of ideology demand revised assessments of the frameworks and constraints that propel groups into preferring one combination of ideas to another. However, to endeavour to account for the features, sources and outcomes of political ideologies is by no means an endorsement of all their manifesta-tions; it does not promote a relativism in which ‘anything goes’. Indeed, local forms of thinking may share some features with each other in a kind of contingent universalism that acts as a cultural constraint on what societies may legitimately do. Political idea systems are a product of interacting, even overlapping, human minds, and also exist within differentiated geographical, historical and cultural spaces. The comparative study of ideolo-gies has to address these problems of translation, when differences are often masked by ostensible similarities of language, while similarities are dis-guised by disparate ways of expression. IS PHILOSOPHY LIBERAL PHILOSOPHY, OR EVEN LIBERAL IDEOLOGY? The parallel to philosophical misgivings about ideo-logies, and their study, is a continuous attempt by students of ideology to reduce Western political philosophy, especially in recent decades, to the one ideological dimension of liberalism. Analysts of ideology point out that the story of contemporary philosophy is tantamount to that of liberalism itself, and that political philosophy in the twenty-first century has become incapable of absorbing, and react-ing to, a broader spectrum of extra-liberal political thinking.

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  International Politics

  Power and Purpose in Global Affairs

  • D'Anieri, Paul D'Anieri(Authors)
  • 2016(Publication Date)
  • Cengage Learning EMEA

    (Publisher)

  72 INTERNATIONAL POLITICS: Power and Purpose in Global Affairs Military capability, economic capacity, and prestige or cultural power are important components. Combining all of these factors in a way that allows researchers to deter-mine which countries are more powerful than others is impossible, yet realist analysis relies on the ability to do so. Realism also tends to ignore other manifestations of power, such as institutional power, “soft” power, structural power, and collaborative power (see Chapter 1). LIBERALISM Political liberalism arose in the eighteenth century and took a practical form when it inspired the American Revolution and was embodied in the U.S. Constitution. Liberal theory took hold more slowly in the international realm than in the United States, but its influence has gradually increased over time. Both international and domestic liberalism were responses to the problem of anarchy that had been set out by theorists such as Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes argued that in order to solve the problem of domestic anarchy, a powerful monarch, the “Leviathan,” was necessary. In the international realm, with a single international “monarch” (a global empire) or world government viewed as impossible, realists argue that anarchy, with all its consequences, is unavoidable. Although liberal theories vary considerably, all share a rejection of the realist notion that the consequences of anarchy cannot be mitigated. Liberal domestic theory centers on the rights (liberties) of the individual. The politi-cal theorist John Locke and later liberals argued, contrary to Hobbes, that individuals could freely join together to form governments that would protect them from anarchy without resorting to authoritarianism. The limitation of state power and the guarantee of the rights of individuals are still the core of liberalism (which, in contemporary usage, is often simply called democracy ).

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