Nikolai Genov - Challenges of Individualization

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The aim of the present monograph is to contribute to the sociological diagnosis of our time. It is marked by the enormous rise of the rights and responsibilities of individuals. Their orientation, decisions, and actions matter a lot to the local and global economy, politics, and culture. The life projects of individuals, the means by which they are carried out, and their outcomes are a fundamental component of the contemporary historical situation. That is why the topic of accelerated individualization is so attractive for scholars. Styles of study vary as a result of dealing with human beings in time and space, with statistical averages concerning the parameters of individualization or with explanatory models of the interplay between individuals, groups, communities, organizations, and societies. Thus, the study of individualization is already broad and sophisticated enough to bring about highly relevant results in both scientific and practical terms. However, one major obstacle lies in the way of a cumulative understanding of the subject: the plurality of individualization concepts. When talking about individualization, it is not always clear what is the subject of discussion.

The analysis and argumentation in this monograph is guided by the understanding of individualization as upgrading individuals capacities for autonomous and efficient problem management. Framed in this way, individualization has two dimensions of structure and action. The first is linked to the differentiation and enlargement of social space(s) available for the autonomous and efficient orientation, decision-making, and action of individuals. This development might be the outcome of evolutionary changes in organizational structures and patterns of functioning. However, reflexive individuals might choose to struggle for organizational change facilitating their individualization. The action dimension of individualization refers to the improvement of the abilities of the individual(s) to get oriented, make decisions, and act in an autonomous and efficient way. This outcome is achieved mostly by upgrading individual levels of knowledge and quality of skills. Depending on the circumstances, individualization might be constructive or destructive. The former fosters activity and creativity in the development and realization of individuals and their enabling natural and social environment. The latter is marked by disintegration and degradation of individuals and their natural and social environment.

This is the guiding conceptual framework of the present monograph. It is the outcome of efforts to synthesize ideas that have been mainly studied separately. The attempted synthesis takes a clear stance on controversial visions. Instead of individualization in general, the stress here is on the recognized and burning need for the precise identification and analysis of processes within specified time and space. Instead of regarding individualization as characteristic to modern and post-modern societies alone, the guiding idea of the study is that phenomena of individualization can be identified throughout human history. Instead of being limited to debates on individualization in Western Europe and North America, the discussion takes into account challenges of individualization in other parts of the world as well. More than just relying on the so far largely predominant theoretical approach to individualization, the development and application of indicators for measuring advancements and declines of individualization are regarded as crucially important in the study on the subject. Instead of the typical cognitive focus of discussions on individualization, their practical relevance is underlined too.

As defined in this way, the strategy for the study of individualization is based on the understanding of its present-day status as a global social trend with deep historical roots. The analysis and argumentation is guided by the idea that this global trend powerfully shapes contemporary social life and will shape it in the future. This happens in the interplay of individualization with three other global trends: upgrading the rationality of organizations, the spread of instrumental activism, and the universalization of value-normative systems.

There are multiple factors fostering or hindering individualization today. Most influential among them is the increasing active involvement of individuals in the global division of labor, which offers them a plethora of opportunities to reach global markets. Modern means of transportation and communication have greatly condensed time and space, thus allowing for the diversification of individual aspirations and activities. The increase in labor productivity and the related spread of relative affluence have also facilitated the autonomy of individuals, particularly those who belong to the growing global middle class. Democratization has transformed national and international political systems by enabling millions of people to actively participate in political life. Millions are involved in a cultural exchange which has already brought forth a global culture. Its value-normative core is the respect to the universal human rights of individuals together with the stress on the existential relevance of the idea and practices of sustainability.