A Basic Summary on Social Evolution and Character

Abstract

What is taken away by ecology, the weakening sense of social solidarity that comes with increasing social anonymity and bureaucratization, can be returned by a more sophisticated self-consciousness. That in a nutshell describes how personal psychology is affected by the social evolution from gemeinschaft (community) to gesellschaft (association). Details are provided on the kinds of constraints that are characteristic of pre-feudal (patrimonial), feudal, and post-feudal societies. There is special emphasis on how post-feudal societies like America try to limit the bureaucratic and amoral tendencies of gesellschaft. The functions of fantasy in authoritarian and in narcissistic societies, particularly in modernizing authoritarian societies and in de-modernizing narcissistic societies, are also emphasized. The sincerity that eighteenth century America referred to as “republican simplicity” is emphasized for its effects on society. That early sincerity that in effect was centered in the superego since it was rooted in morality has been largely replaced by sincerity rooted in the ego, or even in the id. I conclude with discussion on how vulnerability to anxiety has changed with the evolution of society. When relationships are far from ideal, the result is not analogous to the loving concern of the family as in a well-run collectivistic society (resulting in somewhat authoritarian personalities) nor the mutual comradeship as in an individualistic society (resulting in somewhat narcissistic personalities), but often a kind of neurotic clinging that can develop into sadomasochistic tendencies in the authoritarian social environment, or into dependence on addictions (rather than on the goodwill of people) in the narcissistic social environment. Also, both authoritarian and narcissistic societies can evolve by different routes into the common result of elite rule over a passive population.