We are undergoing one of the biggest social changes in human history as the power of many previously integral institutions diminishes.

Societies around the world are currently undergoing arguably the most profound transformation since capitalism and the industrial revolution upturned feudal societies in the beginning of the 19th century. The social structures that have kept societies functioning since then are currently splintering as evolving technologies and cultural norms present new challenges and opportunities.

Previously integral institutions such as community, social background, gender, religion and political ideology no longer confer people with an identity and path through life. People are now encouraged to create their own life paths, engaging and disengaging with education, careers, relationships, ideologies and lifestyles depending on whether they meet their desires and personal sense of self-fulfillment rather than maintaining the status quo. This is weakening, in some cases terminally, the social bonds that exist between people and creating a more individualised society.

Rights And Insecurity

These changes have occurred primarily because of the growth of individual rights and the need to protect oneself against the insecurity of the modern world.

Partly this is due to individual rights and needs growing in importance to the point where they are as significant, and sometimes more so, than the needs of society as a whole. This has transformed people’s relationship with the state and the institutions and organisations within it. It is a point of much debate whether this has occurred primarily due to cultural and political influences, such as identity politics and the social liberation of the 1960s, or due to economic ones, such as the predominance of consumerism and the free-market.It is also due to the greater perceived personal insecurity within modern societies resulting from their fast changing nature. Old certainties such as jobs, relationships and values appear to be constantly changing and leaving people vulnerable as a result of their transformation. People feel they have to invest more time and effort in looking after themselves and their assets, whether familial or financial, not primarily out of a sense of selfishness but because the perception is there is nobody else to do so.

The New Tensions

Many of the world’s problems are a result of tensions between old and new ways.

These changes haven’t completely wiped out the old social structures. Some, such as political ideology, gender and community, still have relevance. However, individualism has significantly altered the perception and experience of them. For example, the expectation of self-fulfillment and the reality of it is one of the root causes of many of society’s present ills.

People are continually negotiating new relationships between individuals and organisations in individualised societies throughout the world. For example, international Islamic terrorism has been described as both a reaction to individualism and the Western values it is perceived to embody, and as a form of individualised religion where the importance is placed on achieving individual salvation through one’s own actions.

This is a pertinent example of why it is vitally important to understand these social changes in order to better understand many of the developments in the modern world.