The rise of individualism (with its focus on the self and inner feelings) and decline in social norms that accompanied the modernisation of society also meant that the community and the family
were no longer able to provide the same support for individuals as they once did. And research has shown that being embedded in social networks – for example, being actively engaged in your community and connected with friends and family – has major
health benefits.
As the social fabric deteriorated, it became much harder to meet the basic need for meaningful connection. The question moved from what is best for other people and the family to what is best for me. The modernisation of society seemed to
prize fame, wealth, celebrity above all else. All this, combined with the breakdown in social ties
created an “empty self, shorn of social meaning”.
Lasch proposes that since
World War II, post-war America has produced a
personality-type consistent with clinical definitions of "pathological narcissism." This pathology is not akin to everyday
narcissism, a hedonistic egoism, but with clinical diagnosis of
narcissistic personality disorder. For Lasch, "pathology represents a heightened version of normality."
[3] He locates symptoms of this personality disorder in the radical political movements of the 1960s (such as the
Weather Underground), as well as in the
spiritual cults and movements of the 1970s, from
est to
Rolfing.
Narcissism and Modern Culture on JSTOR
Nihilism:
The term
nihilism was first used by
Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi (1743–1819). Jacobi used the term to characterize
rationalism[14] and in particular
Immanuel Kant's "critical" philosophy to carry out a
reductio ad absurdum according to which all rationalism (philosophy as criticism) reduces to nihilism—and thus it should be avoided and replaced with a return to some type of
faith and
revelation. Bret W. Davis writes, for example, "The first philosophical development of the idea of nihilism is generally ascribed to Friedrich Jacobi, who in a famous letter criticized
Fichte's idealism as falling into nihilism. According to Jacobi, Fichte’s absolutization of the ego (the 'absolute I' that posits the 'not-I') is an inflation of subjectivity that denies the absolute transcendence of God."
[15] A related but oppositional concept is
fideism, which sees reason as hostile and inferior to faith.
With the popularizing of the word
nihilism by
Ivan Turgenev, a new Russian political movement called the
Nihilist movement adopted the term. They supposedly called themselves nihilists because nothing "that then existed found favor in their eyes
Nihilism is often associated with the German philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche, who provided a detailed diagnosis of nihilism as a widespread phenomenon of Western culture. Though the notion appears frequently throughout Nietzsche's work, he uses the term in a variety of ways, with different meanings and connotations. Karen Carr describes Nietzsche's characterization of nihilism "as a condition of tension, as a disproportion between what we want to value (or need) and how the world appears to operate."
[24] When we find out that the world does not possess the objective value or meaning that we want it to have or have long since believed it to have, we find ourselves in a crisis.
[25]
Nihilism - Wikipedia
Hibbs describes nihilism as a state of spiritual impoverishment in which "there is no higher or lower, in which the higher aspirations that have motivated mankind over the ages lose their attractions for the human soul," and in which "there is no fundamental meaning or ultimate point in human life."
He sees a trend toward such shrunken aspirations in the greater culture reflected in American films, television and music of the past generation. Films once presented evil as a serious threat that was to be overcome by virtue, Hibbs said. But in recent years, provision has rarely been made for the pursuit of justice. Rebellion has been all, he said, and the result has been a void.
"If nothing positive comes out of rebellion, both rebellion and convention seem foolish," he said, "and you're left with snickering irony," a smirking "detachment from everything" a la "Seinfeld" that is the seedbed for cynicism. Evil ceases to be terrifying and becomes merely banal, he said, resulting in a comic view of life as meaningless.
This year's Oscar nominees for Best Picture represented "an unprecedented walk on the dark side for the Academy," Hibbs said, with nominated films dwelling on abortion, capital punishment and a child haunted by the dead, and the winner, "American Beauty," presenting a dark portrait of the American dream as nightmare.
"Nietzsche and Dostoyevsky were on the opposite ends of the spectrum regarding God," mused Hibbs, "but both said that without God, anything goes." Take the route of nihilism, he added, again citing Nietzsche, and you choose "not only Jerry Seinfeld - but Columbine."
Nihilism and Popular Culture
Alienation
Many sociologists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries were concerned about alienating effects of modernization. German sociologists
Georg Simmel and
Ferdinand Tönnies wrote critical works on
individualization and
urbanization. Simmel's
The Philosophy of Money describes how relationships become more and more mediated by money. Tönnies'
Gemeinschaft and Gesellschaft (
Community and Society) is about the loss of primary relationships such as
familial bonds in favour of
goal-oriented, secondary
relationships. This idea of alienation can be observed in some other contexts, although the term may not be as frequently used. In the context of an individual's relationships within society, alienation can mean the unresponsiveness of society as a whole to the individuality of each member of the society. When collective decisions are made, it is usually impossible for the unique needs of each person to be taken into account.
The American sociologist
C. Wright Mills conducted a major study of alienation in modern society with
White Collar in 1951, describing how modern consumption-capitalism has shaped a society where you have to sell your personality in addition to your work. Melvin Seeman was part of a surge in alienation research during the mid-20th century when he published his paper, "On the Meaning of Alienation", in 1959 (Senekal, 2010b: 7-8). Seeman used the insights of Marx, Emile Durkheim and others to construct what is often considered a model to recognize the five prominent features of alienation: powerlessness, meaninglessness, normlessness, isolation and self-estrangement (Seeman, 1959).
[19]Seeman later added a sixth element (cultural estrangement), although this element does not feature prominently in later discussions of his work.
Social alienation - Wikipedia
Cont.
I understand "not this, not that", at a slightly different level. It's not a matter of finding yet one more system or model, or one more truth verses that in a matter of evaluation and elimination. If you're still doing that, you have not arrive yet at "not this, not that". 