Roots of Individualism in Western Society
In order to make capitalist experiment successful, they deemed it necessary to break up all kinds of social bonds.
Roots of Individualism in Western Society
By Shah Muhammad, Ghotki
With the advent of Industrial Revolution in Western societies in mid-18th century, capitalism's foundation was being laid as an economic ideology that would govern the industrial economy. The capitalists took up the task of restructuring society to establish supremacy of capital over human, and, thus, amass unlimited profits. They had the support of the then political and intellectual segments of society in this regard. In order to make capitalist experiment successful, they deemed it necessary to break up all kinds of social bonds. This is where individualism was introduced in Western society as a well-planned strategy.
It is well-understood that a society based on collectivism, i.e. strong social bonds, offers resistance to free market economy. In order to sell maximum products and to exploit industrial labour, society had to be turned into one big market. The first and foremost target was family system; capitalists shrewdly thought that if family system was broken up, all other social bonds would fall apart by themselves. Thus, the heart of family was pierced by a twofold attack.
1. Take out the children
2. Take out the mother
With the help of mass-media and various social institutions, the western culture was rewired and altered to suit individualism. Children were taught that being "individual" was the same as being "liberated." They were indoctrinated not to be dependent on their parents, and live their lives for themselves, not for their families. They were taught to look towards their future individually and not care about the rest of the society. In the same lines, various feminist movements were launched that forced women to be more like men. Resultantly, women were exploited as cheap labour in the industry and ended up losing their dignity. Hence, the parental supervision was effectively weakened by turning mother into a mere "working woman."
In essence, by making the society individualistic, capitalists caused "commercialization of all social relations." People's thoughts and behaviours became guided by capital instead of ethics and social values. Thus, capital became the nucleus around which the entire society revolved. People started befriending those who had more money, valuing those who had more money and they started sacrificing their dreams for a good-paying job. Even the highest earning individual became the most respectable member of the family. Things like honour, morality, loyalty and love became products that could easily be bought and sold in the market.
Due to rampant individualism, there is currently a hidden crisis ready to explode in European societies, that is, erosion of parental authority. Children take no pride in respecting their parents, and parents do not always feel obligated to raise and groom their children as good human beings. This is taking a toll on psychological health of Western population, which would obviously endanger their overall social health.
The problem does not stop here. The capitalist-led globalization has embarked on the sinister objective of "internationalization of individualism" by using electronic media, social media, international institutions and NGOs as tools. They now want to turn the entire world into a free market to accumulate more and more profit, where family, morality and social bonds have no dignified place. The unholy capitalism-individualism nexus has put the future of whole humanity at stake.
It is immensely important to understand that individualism is unnatural and contradictory to the basic definition of human society. Society is inherently interconnected and interdependent, with collectivism being its soul. It is high time for critical, enlightened and responsible individuals to organize themselves under an ideology that is based on collectivism, rather than individualism, and dedicate their lives to re-establish the supremacy of human over capital in order to salvage the future of humanity from this capitalist onslaught