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INSTITUTIONALIZING THE NEW SELF

ABSTRACT This paper maps the unequal development of detraditionalization in rich societies. It views detraditionalization as a shift in the mode of social control from reliance on scarcity, belief and ideology, self evident tradition and obedience, to self-control. Self-control is based upon belief in an autonomously choosing subject (individualism) and a set of institutional conditions able to guide the choices of the individuals (such as education, mass media, the world of goods, and therapy). This paper investigates the relationship between detraditionalization and the rise of such an individualist conception of the self. It shows that such a development cannot be understood in terms of individual detraditionalization, i.e., as a shift in personal attitudes, but is related to specific institutional developments, in casu the development of the psi-disciplines and the therapeutization of society. The persistent influence of Protestant tradition on the individualist conception of the self in strongly secularized societies is explained by the same institutional development.