Society in the 21st century presents us with many puzzles and the German philosopher, economist and journalist Andreas Herteux tries to solve them in his essay “SOCIETY IN THE 21st CENTURY: THE THE THEORY OF THE AGE OF COLLECTIVE INDIVIDUALISM”. It was published in the International Journal of Social Science & Economic Research and shows interesting new views on reality.
In his contribution Herteux puts forward the following theses – in summary:
- Humanity has entered a new age: that of collective individualism
- The new era was initiated by the change of times or is being dynamised by it
- This dynamic makes development difficult to manage, predict or control
- The age is characterized by a steady disintegration of global societies into individual milieus
- These milieus are characterised by different world views, values and behavioral patterns and
- inevitably come into conflict with each other (milieu struggle)
- At the same time, there is an unstoppable tendency towards individualisation, which is driven
- by behavioral capitalism, the modern stimulus society and homo stimulus, among other things
- This tendency towards individualization leads to the embedding of the individual in his own
- World
- Between the role as an individual and that as part of a milieu, a so-called identification dissonance can arise
(Reference: Herteux, A. (2020, June). SOCIETY IN THE 21st CENTURY: THE THEORY OF THE AGE OF COLLECTIVE INDIVIDUALISM. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 5(6), 1466-1475. Retrieved from ijsser.org/more2020.php?id=102)
What do you make of it? The essay contains a summary of his thoughts and also a glossary explaining the terms he used, which were often created by him in the first place.
What do you make of it? The essay contains a summary of his thoughts and also a glossary explaining the terms he used, which were often created by him in the first place.
His thoughts seem strange at first glance, at second glance logical and at third glance probable. Yes, the world could be as he describes it, but this is not so easy to accept.
In his sources Herteux refers to the work of the Erich von Werner Society, a relatively young research institution from Germany, as well as to his publications and books. Most of these have also been published in English.
Andreas Herteux has his own homepage . The Erich von Werner Society can be found at https://www.understandandchange.com/. There is a longer list of publications on both sides.
Both the person and the institution seem to find it worthwhile to monitor future publications.
In summary, the essay should be recommended to others. It is available free of charge at http://ijsser.org/more2020.php?id=102.
References:
Herteux, A. (2019) First Foundations of Behavioral Capitalism: A New Variety of Capitalism Gains Power and Influence Erich von Werner Verlag, 25.09.2019, ISBN-13: 978- 3981900675, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3469568
Herteux, A. (2019) Homo stimulus: Fundamentals of Human Adaptation and Development in the Age of Collective Individualism. Erich von Werner Verlag, 19. Februar 2020, ISBN 978- 3948621131, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3675389
Herteux, A. 2020, Grundlagen gesellschaftlicher Entwicklungen im 21. Jahrhundert: Neue Erklärungsansätze zum Verständnis eines komplexen Zeitalters, Erich von Werner Verlag, 01.08.2020, ISBN 978-3948621162, DOI 10.5281/zenodo.3932359