I’m reading more of Hartmut Rosa’s narrative of Social Acceleration. Paraphrasing:
It made sense to have a stable, personal identity when the pace of social change meshed with the change of generations; this is a marker of classical modernity (like, 1800-1970). Before that, and in traditional societies with slower rates of social change, people find themselves defined by pre-existing, enduring structures–an intergenerational identity. After that, in a super-fast-changing society like late modernity (now) pushes us toward a flexible identity, away from continuity. These days,
[People] must either conceive themselves from the very beginning as open, flexible, and eager to change
This describes me, and I considered it a virtue. Now I consider it advantageous. A small identity and willingness to shift occupations as the occasion offers, and take pride in new things every few years–useful.
Rosa goes on to describe the alternative:
suffering permanent frustration when their projected identities are threatened with failure by a quickly changing environment.
That describes a lot of America right now!
Our individualist culture made sense in that ~150 years when we got to have a stable identity that wasn’t tied to our ancestry. But modernity is built upon acceleration (of tech; pace of life; and social change), so it didn’t stay there. Now the way the world works changes faster than we can grow up, so we have to grow up over and over.
Right now we’re growing into people who use AI for everything. It’s jarring! Exciting, and also difficult. Most of us did not ask for this. Most of us would like to be who we are for a few more decades.
There was a moment when individualism was compatible with human identity formation, a golden age when our lifetime and the pace of social change coincided.
What to do about it?
Now I want an identity that stretches longer than a decade. I don’t think I can build one for my lifetime, plus that doesn’t make sense. Maybe I can weave into other people in the past, future, and now to find a narrative that extends beyond me. If I’m gonna make the world better, it’s can be both very local (the people around me) or slower than my lifetime. The day of a great Hero who Changes the World and lives to see it… that moment is gone.