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Single Idea 20690
[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / D. Ideologies / 6. Liberalism / b. Liberal individualism
]
Full Idea
States and markets use their growing power to weaken the bonds of family and community. They made an offer that couldn't be refused - 'become individuals' (over marriage, jobs and residence). The 'romantic individual' is not a rebel against the state.
Gist of Idea
The state fostered individualism, to break the power of family and community
Source
Yuval Noah Harari (Sapiens: brief history of humankind [2014], 18 'Collapse')
Book Ref
Harari,Yuval Noah: 'Sapiens: a brief history of Humankind' [Vintage 2014], p.402
A Reaction
[compressed] See the film 'Breaking the Waves'. An interesting slant on the Romantic movement. See Wordsworth's 'Michael'. Capitalism needs shoppers with their own money, and a mobile workforce.
Related Idea
Idea 20718
Modern western capitalism has free labour, business separate from household, and book-keeping [Weber]
The
29 ideas
from 'Sapiens: brief history of humankind'
20663
|
If a group is bound by gossip, the natural size is 150 people
[Harari]
|
20664
|
Animism is belief that every part of nature is aware and feeling, and can communicate
[Harari]
|
20671
|
In order to explain both order and evil, a single evil creator is best, but no one favours that
[Harari]
|
20670
|
Dualist religions say the cosmos is a battleground, so can’t explain its order
[Harari]
|
20669
|
Dualist religions see everything as a battleground of good and evil forces
[Harari]
|
20673
|
Manichaeans and Gnostics: good made spirit, evil made flesh
[Harari]
|
20666
|
Most polytheist recognise one supreme power or law, behind the various gods
[Harari]
|
20667
|
Polytheism is open-minded, and rarely persecutes opponents
[Harari]
|
20668
|
Monotheism appeared in Egypt in 1350 BCE, when the god Aten was declared supreme
[Harari]
|
20665
|
Mythologies are usual contracts with the gods, exchanging devotion for control of nature
[Harari]
|
20674
|
The Nazi aim was to encourage progressive evolution, and avoid degeneration
[Harari]
|
20675
|
The more you know about history, the harder it becomes to explain
[Harari]
|
20676
|
History teaches us that the present was not inevitable, and shows us the possibilities
[Harari]
|
20677
|
Since 1500 human population has increased fourteenfold, and consumption far more
[Harari]
|
20679
|
We stabilise societies with dogmas, either of dubious science, or of non-scientific values
[Harari]
|
20678
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The Scientific Revolution was the discovery of our own ignorance
[Harari]
|
20684
|
Financing is increasingly through credit rather than taxes; people prefer investing to taxation
[Harari]
|
20685
|
No market is free of political bias, and markets need protection of their freedoms
[Harari]
|
20682
|
The main rule of capitalism is that all other goods depend on economic growth
[Harari]
|
20681
|
The sacred command of capitalism is that profits must be used to increase production
[Harari]
|
20683
|
The progress of capitalism depends entirely on the new discoveries and gadgets of science
[Harari]
|
20687
|
In capitalism the rich invest, and the rest of us go shopping
[Harari]
|
20686
|
For millenia people didn't know how to convert one type of energy into another
[Harari]
|
20690
|
The state fostered individualism, to break the power of family and community
[Harari]
|
20689
|
In 1750 losing your family and community meant death
[Harari]
|
20691
|
Real peace is the implausibility of war (and not just its absence)
[Harari]
|
20688
|
People 300m tons; domesticated animals 700m tons; larger wild animals 100m tons
[Harari]
|
20693
|
Freedom may work against us, as individuals can choose to leave, and make fewer commitments
[Harari]
|
20692
|
Money does produce happiness, but only up to a point
[Harari]
|