Week 2 - The Power of Individualistic Thinking and its Consequences PDF

Week 2 The Power of Individualistic Thinking and its Consequences Sociology 1210 Dr. Elisabeth Rondinelli Announcements Syllabus Explainer PART 1: WHAT SOCIOLOGY IS & IS NOT (weeks 2 & 3) PART 2: WHAT ARE THE KEY TOOLS IN SOCIOLOGY? SOCIAL STRUCTURE, CULTURE, SOCIA...

Week 2 The Power of Individualistic Thinking and its Consequences Sociology 1210 Dr. Elisabeth Rondinelli Announcements Syllabus Explainer PART 1: WHAT SOCIOLOGY IS & IS NOT (weeks 2 & 3) PART 2: WHAT ARE THE KEY TOOLS IN SOCIOLOGY? SOCIAL STRUCTURE, CULTURE, SOCIAL INTERACTION, AGENCY (weeks 4-8) PART 3: WHAT KIND OF SOCIETY DO WE LIVE IN? Applying the sociological approach to contemporary society (weeks 9-13) Lecture Watch for yellow slides; quiz explainer Order of Studying Use weekly study guide; do readings and do readings question; listen to lecture and take notes; do quiz What do you want me to know about you? See “Introductions” week 'Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.’ -Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love Learning Objectives Define individualism Give examples of individualism Explain how individualism sees society and social problems Explain how individualism is a historical and cultural product Give examples of how individualism gets reproduced in our society Explain the effects of individualism on individuals and society Explain why individualism is the greatest challenge for sociology Remember! Sociology has its own language Individualism: a recent, dominant worldview that encourages us to see society as a collection of individuals and therefore to explain social problems in terms of individual thoughts, feelings, intentions, actions, and abilities When we use individualistic explanations to understand the world, we tend to look only to individual characteristics, not social explanations NOTE: Individualism is not the same as 'selfishness'! Examples of individualism 'Ethnicity plays in people, but I don't look at it as part of my shortcomings. Every day I look in the mirror, and I could bullshit you right now and tell you anything I wanted to tell you. But at the end of the day looking in the mirror, I know where all my shortcomings come from. From the things that I either did or did not do or I did and I just happen to fail at them.’ Julian, unemployed 27-year-old, quoted in Silva, pgs.17-18 'I would have to say just where I grew up, and like, how I grew up. And the fact that, like, my parents, they've been addicted to so many things. I don't hold that against them, whatever....and so, it's like not growing up with some kind of foundation. It's like you can definitely, if you're a weak-minded person, you can get stuck thinking this is the only thing you are capable of doing. Like you're not capable of doing more...I feel like it's their fault that they don't have nothing’ Wanda, 25-year-old server, quoted in Silva, pgs. 11-12 Typical Individualistic Statements People are poor because they are lazy, unintelligent, unskilled People are unemployed because they are unmotivated People are poor because the rich are greedy Bad people commit violent crimes People are addicted because they can’t control themselves People commit suicide because they are hopeless How does individualism see society & social problems?  Individualistic view of society Individualistic view of social problems Society is nothing more than a Social problems can be explained collection of individuals in terms of individual problems, You can understand society by weaknesses, etc. understanding individuals’: Intentions Social problems can be solved by Character applying individual solutions Personality Thoughts, fears, hopes Personal strengths and weaknesses Skills Habits, actions Individualism 'works like this: first, it compels one to identify pathological thoughts and behaviours; second, to locate the hidden source of these pathologies within one's past [and personal experience with other people]; third to give voice to one's story of suffering in communication with others; and finally, to triumph over one's past by bringing into being an emancipated and independent self' (Silva, pg. 19) 'If we think everything begins and ends with the individual – our personalities, life stories, feelings and behaviour – then it's easy to think that social problems must come down to flaws in individual character' (Johnson, pg. 9) How do sociologists see individualism? Enlightenment: the intellectual movement beginning in the 1700s that challenged the authority of the church by encouraging the use of human reason to improve the human condition and to advance the goals of knowledge, freedom, and happiness. Every human has the ability to use reason Every human deserves rights These ideas migrated to N.America via colonialism Individualism was an 'unintended consequence' of this movement Industrial Revolution: Historical change from an agrarian and handicraft economy to one dominated by industry and machine manufacturing. This process began in Britain in the 1700s and from there spread to other parts of the world. It involved a massive migration from rural to urban settings Daily life broke with tradition, custom, kinship, and communal ways of thinking Individualism was an 'unintended consequence' of this movement Individualism Represents a Radical Break with the Past Individualism breaks with generations of human social arrangements Millions of years of evolution designed humans to think and live as community members, not individuals Kin, tribe, location in the world Our survival depended on this ‘collectivist’ worldview Individualism undermines the influence of community in our lives According to sociologists, how does individualism get reproduced in today's society? It is embedded and reproduced in our material world  It is embedded and reproduced in our culture Habit-tracking economy: apps, devices, professions, and literatures designed to track (and sometimes modifying) your habits and preferences Mood economy: market of apps, devices, professions and literatures designed to assist you in identifying, explaining, and managing your emotions and inner psychological states (Silva) both generate a self that is "inner-directed" and "preoccupied with its own emotional, psychic [and physical] development" (Silva, pg 19)  Individualism is common in our 'everyday interactions, propagated through school psychologists, family services, the It is embedded and service economy [of therapists, reproduced in our counsellors, life coaches], self-help literature, online support groups, intersubjective addiction recovery groups...[social relations media, and conversations with friends]' Silva, pg. 21 (with my additions in square brackets)  For sociologists, what are the consequences of individualism?  Self-blame, guilt, sense of failure, exhaustion, anxiety, and self-hate when reflecting on your own circumstances There are Lacking empathy, being judgemental and arrogant consequences for when reflecting on the circumstances/experiences of others the individual When faced with discussion of 'racism’ or ‘sexism’, a person responds with anger, defensiveness, denial, guilt and withdrawal 'When women talk about how sexism affects them, individualistic thinking encourages men to hear this as a personal attack: 'If women are oppressed, then I must be an evil oppressor who wants to oppress them.' Since no man wants to see himself as a bad person, and since most men probably do not consciously intend to act in oppressive ways towards women, men feel unfairly accused' (Johnson, pg. 9)  Social causes of inequality remain ignored, unexamined There are Social problems remain unfixed and seemingly consequences unfixable for society Status quo of inequality, privilege, and oppression continues  So why is individualism the greatest challenge to thinking sociologically!? Individualism locates social problems within the individual and tries to fix them through individual solutions. It identifies the source of social problems inside of the individual, with no understanding that explanations and fixes have to be found in society As we will see next week: identifying social problems and patterns, explaining social problems and patterns, and providing pathways out of social problems is the job of the sociologist 'Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.’ -Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love Week 2 Key Concepts individualism habit-tracking economy mood economy The Enlightenment The Industrial Revolution