In what ways do modern societies give rise to processes of ‘individualization’? How are these processes liable to affect people?

In what ways do modern societies give rise to processes of ‘individualization’? How are these processes liable to affect people?

Individualization is a relatively new concept within modern sociology. In a pre-modern individuals were seen to be tied down by institutions that put forward a set of norms and values many people ran their life by. A good example of this is religion. In a pre-modern world most of society were seen to be part of a religion and if you weren’t it was seen badly within communities and people were often then separate to society. In modern Britain this is now different. Society is much more secular and people are less drawn to religion and the norm and values in draws upon. Therefore in this instance people are less drawn down to common religious practice and it is therefore easier for people to become more individualistic. This is just one example and many more will be drawn upon within this work looking at other social institutions such as education which you can now argue encourages individualization, although theorists have argued against this.

When looking at key theorist within the idea of individualization one key theorist to draw upon is Georg Simmel. drew upon work from Durkheim, Marx and Weber to look at society from a individualistic point. This was very different to what was written in sociology before and has been key in creating what modern sociology is today. Simmel looked at society of being made up of many different individuals that create society through interactions with other free individuals. He believes individuals are born with certain needs and feelings and most social interactions are formed by these needs and desires. Simmel doesn’t believe that culture any key impact in building society but the individual actions of people does and in many cases the idea of culture is not part of a individuals social life. In many cases Simmel believes that a person cannot grasp or understand the idea of universal culture and he believes this can cause tension between the individual and society. Simmel work is very much outdated and it is hard to link his idea into modern societies although you can see in his work he sees the importance of individualization. Although Simmels work did look at the process of urbanization and how this effected the individual and this can be linked to how modern societies give rise to the processes of individualization. Simmel saw in modern societies the importance of money and wealth compared to pre modern societies. In a sense you can agree with his idea as many people to work in order to consume and fit in with the norms in the modern societies. Having money in the modern society does increase freedom for the individual and as well gives rise to individualization. Although Simmel sees how this can affect people in modern societies as it may give rise to anomie, the breakdown of social bonds between an individual and society. Some people may either earn less than other and not be able to buy what other do and therefore become disenchanted with society. Similarly certain people gain too much money and therefore over-consume and the attachment to goods once had is gone. This can also give rise to anomie. Simmel quotes ‘life is composed more and more of these impersonal contents and offerings that tend to displace the genuine personal colorations and in comparabilities. This results in the individual’s summoning the utmost in uniqueness and particularization, in order to preserve his most personal cores. He has to exaggerate this personal element in order to remain audible even to himself’. Simmel is here backing up the point that in modern societies where money is key to an individual can provide individualization in society but at points can change a person so even they don’t know where the fit in society and can become lost on the idea of culture.
Beck saw how the modern society has now changed how an individual acts in society. In the pre modern society individuals mainly had their choices made for them although in modern society Beck feels that indiviuals have to in a sence fend for themselves more than they had to in previous years. Beck looks at the pre modern society and looks at how restrictions were put on people so they had less choice, ‘traditional giudlines often constrained servere restrictions or even prohibitions on actions’. Beck used the example of how non property owners were not allowed to marry in a pre-modern society. Beck is focusing on how their was little choice in a pre modern and the idea of individualization wasn’t prominent in these pre modern socities. Whereas when looking into modern society people are encouraged to to be individual. Goverments provide for students for example a student loan and therefore these individuals are encouraged to provide for themselves and be less dependant on others. This then gives rise to individualization from a young age. To summerise Beck looked at how an individual in a pre modern world had conditions already in place such as housing laws and religion for example in a sence telling people how to run their lives. Whereas in a modern society people are encourage to fight for themselves. These norms and values are lessened and people are encouraged to make their own choice on a day to day basis. Beck sums this point up ‘One has to do something, make an active effort. One has to win, know how to assert one self in the competetion for limited rsources’.

Beck’s theory on how society has changed to making it more about the individual has many impacts upon people in society. One key issue is the increase of risk upon the indidivual in society. In a pre-modern society when certain factors in a person life went wrong their were many other institutions to rely on such as strong family values and the ideas within religion. Whereas in the modern society there is less of this. People are encouraged to stand for themselves and this in itself can destroy an individual. A individual can pick a wrong career path from a young age and then fall into bankrupcy. This can happen from a early stage in life and can be hardt o recover from. For example many people may pick the wrong course at university and due to this find it hard to find a job once finished education. This can lead to further financial repercution and the individual may feel sperated or disinchanted with society itself. Beck see’s how the capitalism can intise people with the ideas behind invididualization but can quickly turn negative, ‘The façade of prosperity, consumption, glitter can often mask the nearby precipice. There is an argument that the processes of individualization in modern society is more likely to set you up to fail than it used to in pre modern society.

Although you can argue that is it not only a negative factor. In the modern societies class is less of a issue and therefore people from many different social classes have more chance of success in the modern individualized sociey. People are less likely to be judged but their finicial and family backrounds and more likely to be judged on other factors of their personality and education. In a pre modern society people from a lower working class backround were not offered the chance of higher education and therefore were less likely to achievly highly in society. Whereas in modern Braitan student loans are offered to anyone and therefore people can individualise and in a sense create their own future not dependent on factors outside their control.

Durkheim looked into the division of labour in society and this can link in with the idea of individualization. In his book Division Of Labour In Society he looks at how in modern societies jobs are more specialized and sees the impact this has on society. ‘the activity of each is as much more person as it is specialized’. With this Durkheim is comparing modern organic societies to the pre-modern mechanical societies and sees how the job market asks for much more specialized tasks than it once had. From this individuals jobs are more specialized and therefore become more personal to the individual. They can therefore leave their own mark on the job and this gives rise to individualization. Durkheim goes on further to back up this point by saying, ‘the yoke that we submit to is much less heavy than when society completely controls us, and it leaves much more place for the free play of our initiative’. From this Durkheim again putting forward the idea of individualization by saying in many parts of society it can be hard to see individualization as there are many social systems controlling certain practices within society. Although when a person goes into work they have their own place to think for themselves and become innovative and as said before this leads to the rise of individualization.

Captilastism in the modern society can be seen as a huge consideration when arguing the point of individualisation in modern society. The capitalist society bases much upon the ideas of Durkhiem ideas around everyone having their own specific task in society. You can argue that a capitalist society push the idea of competetitve indivisualisation. You can see this through process in education for example, people are encouraged from a young aim to achieve as high as possible and higher than others to gain an advantage in the social world. You can also see this in the job market. People try to make them selfs as different and uninique in order to differeniate themselves from the others. You can argue it is a negative impact on your personality if you are just like everyone else espicailly in the job market. This idea links in with the ideas put forward by Durkhiem in the division of labour where he show each person needs to specialist tasks to gain recognistion for the individual tasks. This idea of competitve individualisation put forward from the ideas of capitalism can be seen as a way society can distribute resources fairly and furthermore pushs the ideas of working hard as an individual rewards a person as an individual. This idea also works for society as a whole as people feel rewarded from their work aswell as society running smoothly economically.