Hello? Is anyone there? 'The Homeless Mind'

individuality

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INTERPERSONAL : SCIENCES              

humanistic ------------------------------- mechanistic

SOCIOLOGY : POLITICAL   

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group

'Put differently, the componentiality of the cognitive style pertaining to technological production extends to identity. Again, a specific kind of double consciousness develops. In this case the dichotomy is between concrete identity and anonymous identity. The individual now becomes capable of experiencing himself in a double way: as a unique individual rich in concrete qualities and as an anonymous functionary. This dichotomization in the subjective experience of identity makes it possible for the individual to establish subjective distance vis-à-vis certain features of this identity.9  For example, the individual will now experience that portion of his identity that contains his anonymization as a 'worker' as being 'less real' than his identity as a private person or family man. Since each portion of identity relates to specific roles, it now becomes possible for the individual to perform some of these roles 'tongue in cheek'. The componentiality of identity, as the componentiality of social relations, makes possible an 'engineering' practice. This time what is involved is the 'engineering' of one's own self. Those aspects of identity that a defined as 'more real' must be protected against threats coming from the 'less real' components of identity.' p.37-38.

The homeless mind: Modernization and consciousness Helpful reference to ideas of multi-relational synchronization and institutional vectors and how our mind's became homeless. Also encouraging, even though 'historic', discussion on life plans and life planning.

'A basic presupposition is that life careers are not firmly fixed but are at least relatively open. Put simply the individual is faced with a number of alternative careers, especially in his " younger years, and therefore must make decisions about these svailable Options. It is possible for the individual to imagine, himself as having different biographies. This possibility has both positive and negative consequences for the emotional economy of the individual. Positively, it may give him a feeling of frees dom to shape at least certain parts of his life. Negatively, it increases the likelihood of frustration regarding specific careers One is, after all, less likely to resign oneself to a particular situation if one believes that other situations are, in principle, possible.' p.67. 'Implicit in this scale of probabilities is a general 'sociology', on whatever level of theoretical sophistication. The individual has a `map of society' within which he can locate and project himself in terms of both past biographical recollection and future projects. The individual's life is perceived as a trajectory across this 'map'. There is also a large body of factual knowledge, most of which is 'weighted' in terms of the individual's life plans. Thus if a particular career appears to the individual as a realistically plausible project, he will have more factual knowledge about it than about a career in which he can participate only in pragmatically irrelevant fantasy. In other words, a good deal of background knowledge is related to 'anticipatory socialization'. p.68. 'However vaguely this may be defined, there is the underlying concept of life plan, both for the individuals and for the a family unit. This life plan is the totalization of all the relevant timetables, their grand sum and their integrative meaning In modern society, such life planning has become a value in itself. Its absence is commonly an occasion for reproach. The family unit thus operates as a life-planning workshop.' p.69.

'There is a general expectation of justice. It is expected that everyone in the relevant category - as, for example, those en-titled by law to a passport - will receive equal treatment. It is, of course, understood that certain persons may be excluded from this relevant category - for example, resident aliens or convicted criminals. It is also understood that the bureaucratic procedures may codify certain preferences, for example, in favour of diplomats or other people travelling on urgent government business. Once the categorial system has been established, however, the presumption of equality holds within each category. In the most general way, bureaucracy is expected to conform to the Roman principle suum cuique. An implication of this is that there will be no favouritism or any other intrusion of personal bias in the bureaucrat's handling of each client's case. The bureaucrat is expected to handle every case sine ira et studio. In other words, there is the general expectation that bureaucracy will operate impersonally and with 'affective neutrality'.2 These considerations bring us to an important point: unlike anything discussed in the preceding chapter, the cognitive style of bureaucracy contains a moral quality, not just as a limiting factor (after all, there are also moral assumptions about technological production - for example, that no one will be killed in the course of it), but as an intrinsic part of its own structure of consciousness. The source for this moral element is probably to be sought in the primary social location of bureaucracy in the political sphere.' pp.52-53.

Berger, P. L., Berger, B., & Kellner, H. (1973). The homeless mind: Modernization and consciousness. Penguin. 

Cover image: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/3368465-the-homeless-mind

⁹ This is an amplification, by way of phenomenological description, of what Erving Goffman has called 'role distance'.

² This term was coined by Talcott Parsons.

See also: 'homeless'