The Many Faces of Individualism

Individualism' and 'individualisation' are hotly debated concepts. Arguments about the definition and the moral and societal significance of these concepts are rife in the media and in scholarly circles. Whereas one side feels that these concepts designate processes of progress and individual freedom, the other side associates them with individual isolation, corrosion of social cohesion and other negative symptoms. This situation demands not a settlement for all differences of...
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Individualism' and 'individualisation' are hotly debated concepts. Arguments about the definition and the moral and societal significance of these concepts are rife in the media and in scholarly circles. Whereas one side feels that these concepts designate processes of progress and individual freedom, the other side associates them with individual isolation, corrosion of social cohesion and other negative symptoms. This situation demands not a settlement for all differences of opinion-which would be impossible- but a more precise view of the content and of the different frameworks in which these concepts can be used. This volume aims to address this task. After an introduction to the multifaceted nature of the central concepts, the essays in Part One focus on the sociological prevalence of individualism and on the multi-layered content of this concept. Part Two addresses the relationships between the dominant values of individualism and the political structure of Western societies. Part Three highlights the issue of social integration of individualising societies. Part Four examines the particular 'Gestalt' of society, which seems to fit processes of individualisation: Civil Society. Part Five deals with questions concerning the construction of personal and social identity in (post)modern society. The contributors are leading scholars in the field of moral and political philosophy, social psychology, sociology of religion, and theology: Veit bader, Bert van den Brink, Karel Dobbelaere, Naomi Ellemers, Kieran Flanagan, Loek Halman, Wilhelm Heitmeyer, Rudi Laermans, Eric Mack, Albert W. Musschenga, Gertrud Nunner-Winkler, Philip Selznick, Andrew Shanks and Gert Verschraege.