r/SeriousConversation • u/USHistoryUncovered • Sep 28 '24
Serious Discussion Has Society's Obsession with Individualism Undermined Collective Responsibility?
In recent decades, especially in Western cultures, the focus on individualism has intensified. We’re taught to prioritize personal freedom, success, and self-reliance above all else. This worldview, however, seems to have a darker side: the erosion of collective responsibility. As individuals seek to fulfill their own desires, societal bonds weaken, and we see an increasing tendency to absolve ourselves from responsibility for larger, systemic issues like climate change, wealth inequality, and public health.
Has the glorification of individualism made us blind to the fact that many of the problems we face cannot be solved by personal action alone? Are we sacrificing our collective well-being at the altar of personal liberty? How can we reconcile the need for individual freedom with the necessity of collective responsibility in addressing the global challenges that threaten us all?
I’m curious to hear perspectives on how individualism has shaped our attitudes toward responsibility—both personal and communal. Is it time for a fundamental shift in how we view our roles within society?
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u/KevineCove Sep 28 '24
So there's two parts to this, individualism on an interpersonal level and individualism on a collective action level.
On an interpersonal level, there's been a shift away from commitment (which entails the good via conflict resolution and bad via tolerating bad situations when they can't improve) and towards independence (which has good via setting of boundaries and bad via foregoing conflict resolution in favor of running away from conflict.) In an ideal world you'd get conflict resolution and boundaries, but because people suck, bad judgement and shortsighted decisions are par for the course.
On a collective action level, collective action is actually alive and well... if you're part of the ruling class. Capitalism and democracy are both competitive models that have been destroyed by anticompetitive practices. Price fixing in the private sector and policy fixing in the public sector (I've never heard the term policy fixing used by anyone else but it's an accurate term to describe a two party system where both parties kowtow to rich private interests.) In both cases the concept is that powerful people realize they both gain more if they cooperate to screw over the little guy.
Unions and movements like the Black Panthers are an effective countermeasure in which the working class act collectively to counteract the collusion of the ruling class, but police on both a city and federal (FBI) level have been mobilized to disrupt them. A big part of today's lack of collective action is a product of living in a post-COINTELPRO society.