Institutional individualism: A study of socialization in contemporary individualistic culture

This proposal introduces a cultural sociological view on individualism grounded in the well-established sociological tradition of the later Durkheim (1898), Parsons (2007), Bell (1979), Bellah (1985), Meyer (2010) etc. In contrast with individualization theories (Beck & Beck-Gernsheim 2002; Giddens 1999; Bauman 2001; 2004) claiming that society is losing ground to the autonomous individual, this approach does not present an atomistic view of the individual. To the contrary, it is the cultural framework of individualism that shapes our way of perceiving the individual and that forms as well an institutionalized narrative in diverse functional domains. Based on historical developments and recent literature, the theoretical frame of this project constructs a distinction between three varieties of the emphasis on the individual. Utilitarian individualism stands for the maximization of one's own interest and is most closely related to egoism (MacPherson 1962, Tocqueville 1840) . This form of individualism is hyperinstitutionalized in the sphere of the economy and the strategical action of interest politics (Habermas). Furthermore, moral individualism has its historical roots in early christianity and stands for the principal equality of each individual (Joas 2013). In its turn, this form of individualism finds a clear institutionalization in law in general and human rights and notions of citizenship in particular (Marshall 1981, Dean 2012). Finally, expressive individualism lays emphasis on the particularity of each individual and its personal developement (Heelas 1996, Martin 1981). This tripartite distinction is developed on the basis of the literature, nevertheless, the empirical question remains whether there are other possible discourses of individualism embedded in Western culture. In addition, this project will investigate how these three forms of individualism are related to each other in concrete cases. For the selection of the cases, the goal is to achieve maximum variation, they are situated in very diverse functional domains, such as therapy/spirituality, a political context and the economic context and they are all courses where a socialization into the values of individualism is likely to occur. More specifically, in a mindfulness course, a civic integration program and a management training, the questions are posed which content individualism takes and how the course members are socialized into the prevailing ideas on the individual in the given context. To map out the socialization processes, I will first conduct a content analysis of relevant literature, subsequently do participant observation in each of the courses and finally take in depth interviews with the trainers and the course members.