Individualization : institutionalized individualism and its social and political consequences / Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck-Gernsheim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beck, Ulrich, 1944-2015.

Contributor:

Beck-Gernsheim, Elisabeth, 1946-

Series:

Theory, culture & society (Unnumbered)

Theory, culture & society

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Individualism.

Physical Description:

xxv, 221 pages ; 24 cm.

Place of Publication:

London ; Thousand Oaks, Calif. : SAGE, 2002.

Summary:

Individualization argues that we are in the midst of a fundamental change in the nature of society and politics. This change hinges around two processes: globalization and individualization. The book demonstrates that individualization is a structural characteristic of highly differentiated societies, and does not imperil social cohesion, but actually makes it possible. Ulrich Beck and Elisabeth Beck Gernsheim argue that it is vital to distinguish between the neo-liberal idea of the free-market individual and the concept of individualization. The result is the most complete discussion of individualization currently available, showing how individualization relates to basic social rights and also paid employment; and concluding that in as much as basic rights are internalized and everyone wants to or must be economically active, the spiral of individualization destroys the given foundations of social co-existence.

Contents:

Authors' preface: Institutionalized individualism xx

1 Losing the traditional: Individualization and 'precarious freedoms' 1

2 A life of one's own in a runaway world: Individualization, globalization and politics 22

3 Beyond status and class? 30

4 The ambivalent social structure: Poverty and wealth in a 'self-driven culture' 42

5 From 'living for others' to 'a life of one's own': Individualization and women 54

6 On the way to a post-familial family: From a community of need to elective affinities 85

7 Division of labour, self-image and life projects: New conflicts in the family 101

8 Declining birthrates and the wish to have children 119

9 Apparatuses do not care for people 129

10 Health and responsibility in the age of genetic technology 139

11 Death of one's own, life of one's own: Hopes from transience 151

12 Freedom's children 156

13 Freedom's fathers 172

14 Zombie categories: Interview with Ulrich Beck 202.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0761961127

OCLC:

46909646