Self-control as social control: The emergence of symbolic society

Accepting Ulrich Beck's and Anthony Giddens’ diagnosis of contemporary society, many sociologists have equated post-tradition with reflexive modernization and with a social order characterized by a strong degree of individualization. This article reviews relevant empirical evidence concerning that individualization thesis, and concludes that it should be rejected. It proposes to view post-tradition, not as the harbinger of increased reflexivity and individualization, but as a shift in the mode of social control. Scarcity, religious belief and ideology, traditional ethics and roles, sensitivity to command and respect for authority, have lost much, if not all of their steering and controlling capacity. This does however not herald an epoch of individual autonomy, but a new form of social control, centered around the self, and in which schooling, the mass-media, the world of goods and therapy play an important role.