by Morgan Johnson

Created on: February 06, 2009

It is fitting to discuss individualism as an aspect of modern society. Prior to the fifteenth century much of the world's population remained locked into a form of caste system. Where a person was born likely determined where they died; and that was likely the same location.

The only people able to express individualism by exerting influence on the world around them were those born to nobility. Whether duke, thane, emperor or sultan, these were the only people who could affect their land. They made the laws, allocated the resources and determined punishment and rewards for everyone else.

Changes in technology on the European continent permitted the development of large ships capable of sailing on the open ocean. In addition, understanding of the shape and laws of the universe permitted men to safely navigate around a globe.

Suddenly, ambitious men with connections could by wit, cunning and daring achieve above his station. A sailor, inventor or general could by conquest and discovery add to the land controlled by their nation and gain favor in the sight of their rulers. He might then be appointed viceroy (ruler is good stead) over the new lands.

There is usually enough wealth to share with the soldiers, sailors and laborers who made conquest and expansion possible. Thus men of low birth achieved landed status and prosperity. Social mobility became possible.

The Industrial Revolution both expanded individualism and crushed it. On the one hand, an inventor could create a process that made goods and services cheaper. It also made it possible to pay better wages and thus expand the middle class. Those better paid workers had more disposable income to purchase mass produced products. Workers making individual choices influenced society.

On the other hand, workers became part of the machine. Little thought was given to the the safety, comfort and welfare of those workers. To some industrialists their workers were disposable.

It took years of bloodshed, political wrangling and legislation to shift society to the point of view that every individual laborer, soldier and housewife mattered.

America contributed greatly to the spread of individualism in the 19th and 20th centuries. The Bill of Rights and the Constitutional guarantees of freedom has been reinterpreted of the decades until we have our current culture.

Power in America used to be expressed by the the vote; the will of the majority dominated. However, the pendulum has swung heavily in favor of the individual. America has suffered the "Tyrrany of the Minority" since the mid-sixties. Any determined individual can through the courts remove rights and freedoms from his fellow citizens; a power once reserved for kings.

Prayer was removed from school through the efforts of one individual who claim to be offended by it. Abortion became legal because of a disagreement between two people in a relationship.

President John F. Kennedy once challenged Americans to "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country." That idealism seems to be lost in modern society. From Europe to Asia to the Americas, people are more concerned with serving their own needs.

Everyone is a victim, every person has a right to be compensated for every percieved insult. But what is the price of the Almighty "I"? What has the modern world become and what does the future hold for a world dominated by rampant individualism?

The consistent fact is every word and deed done by most any person has the potential to offend another person. Because we now use the courts to legislate behavior and prevent offense individual freedoms are being eroded by INDIVUDUAL FREEDOM! In the end, our belief in absolute individualism will unltimately lead to slavery.

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