In View - Individualism
As a worldview, individualism is so deeply ingrained in the modern mind that it affects almost every aspect of our culture. At the same time, its ubiquity makes it hard to recognize – much like fish are blind to the water that surrounds them. What are the core tenets of individualism, and what are the consequences of viewing the world through its lens? What are its pitfalls, and what place might it have in a flourishing future?
The Latin root of ‘individual’ is in + dividuus, meaning indivisible. Individualism, in turn, is the view that the individual and its aspirations come before all else. The individual can be seen as the smallest possible unit for social and political purposes. It is not all too surprising, therefore, that individualism makes an appearance in many different movements, ranging from liberalism and anarchism to existentialism and humanism.
From a historical perspective, individualism seems to have emerged out of two contrary yet complimentary developments – one of confident creation, and one of disheartened destruction. On the one hand, Enlightenment thinking saw great value in individual liberty, progress and human reason; equally its countermovement Romanticism cherished the individual above all else, even while celebrating nature and emotion as opposed to industry and reason. On the other hand, individualism follows from a breakdown of collective identity – most importantly, the crumbling of Christianity. As social and religious belonging faded, all that remained was that which could not be divided further – the individual. As such, individualism is a natural consequence of eroding social structure as much as it is a positive value-driven project.
The values linked to individualism are freedom, independence and self-realisation. The question, of course, is what kind of freedom is advocated, from what independence is sought, and how the self ought to be realised. Since we cannot explore these questions fully here, we will limit ourselves to the context of capitalism.
Why capitalism? The above values allow for many varieties of individualism; accordingly, we see many forms of it all around us. The most dominant, however, appears to be the type of individualism that arises out of the marriage with capitalism – and it is a happy marriage indeed. Capitalism praises private property, production and profit, one of its main aims being economic growth through competition. Lining this up with individualism, we are left with a vision of society in which individuals compete to make money and amass possessions.
Through capitalism, the freedom of individualism becomes economic power at the cost of others, and independence becomes reprieve of social responsibility. Self-realisation, finally, becomes a lonely affair, where the significance of a sense of belonging to a larger whole is all but forsaken.
Hannah Arendt describes this worldview blend of individualism and capitalism as
a way and philosophy of life so insistently and exclusively centred on the individual's success or failure in ruthless competition that a citizen's duties and responsibilities could only be felt to be a needless drain on his limited time and energy.1
In other words, participating in social and political life becomes considerably less attractive in a society that values economic accumulation for the individual above all else. In Arendt’s eyes, this type of individualism is so inimical to the need of social belonging that it lapses into something much more dangerous – totalitarianism. When the individual is left utterly isolated in a world of relentless competition, the yearning for order and connection becomes so strong that dissolving one’s individuality into a collective unity, spearheaded by a supreme leader, suddenly sounds enticing. Arendt thinks this is exactly what led to the rise of Nazism in the 20th century.
It goes without saying that we cannot attribute the rise of totalitarianism solely to individualism. To ignore its role, however, would be equally misguided. We cannot fail to remember that separation from each other is acutely corrosive – and can have terrible consequences. Humans are social beings through and through, and the brand of individualism prevalent today fails to respect this fundamental truth.
Reaching a point where individuality can flourish safely and successfully is easier said than done. Individualism is as pernicious as capitalism, insofar as any attempt to subvert them are ultimately incorporated by them. Capitalist consumerism turns environmental awareness into products that can be consumed, thus nullifying the initial effort. Social initiatives, in turn, are reduced to ways in which we signal our individual identity to others, hoping to be admired for our uniqueness. Through these terribly tenacious tendencies, most attempts at trying to move away from individualism end up being no better than polishing the brass on the Titanic.
This is not to suggest that individualism must be abandoned completely. Individualistic aims such as autonomy, authenticity and self-determination can be noble aims, but they can only be expressed fruitfully when embedded in an awareness that there is no self without other. It is undeniable that we are constituted by our relationships to those that surround us. In an important sense, our connections to other selves are a condition for our very individuality; commonality is what makes singularity significant to begin with.
The favourable values of individualism have been hard-fought, and we should be wary not to throw out the baby with the bathwater. At the same time, its strong tie to capitalism forms a serious threat to our well-being - individually as much as collectively. The current global challenges of climate change, mass migration and depleting resources call for a shift of consciousness in which the individual can no longer take up centre stage. The needs and wants of the individual can only hold value if the world on which it depends is sustained. When continuing down the path of unbridled individualism means nothing less than imminent extinction, a deep awareness of our fundamental interdependence could not be more urgent.
Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism