Not surprisingly, less stable human identities became one of the underlying causes of the degradation of the values. Values gradually become empty shells, the voracity of marketisation and mediazation is mirrored by a world with less culture, less values, less reflexivity, less opinions. People lose their individuality and identity and hide themselves under seemingly safe shelter of conformity. And in the situation when individuals tend to behave in a conform way, hypocrisy is literally blossoming.
The nature as a historical environment was replaced by institutions. In fact, once the nature and natural conditions determined the development of the society. In the course of
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the history, both parties exchanged their roles. Institutionalized and rationalized society does not provide any fastening points to individuals searching for their own identities. As mentioned, this society is moreover currently ‘enriched’ by ubiquitous projects and networks. People as natural entities are missing fastening points in the darkly abstract, institutionalized and dehumanized world. Convulsive and desperate endeavor for finding our identity often leads to the membership in small groups of an extreme character. Having fluid identities or no identities people are becoming aimless and disorientated.
Subsequently, the majority surrender to the attacks of reality. Masses get increasingly tired, energy-lacking and passive. They act to certain extent in unified manner, lose their individuality and adjust to the general atmosphere. Such adjusting isolates concrete persons from their nature. By adjusting and resignation we suppress our nature, our capabilities. That is why the individuals are receding and behave in conform way. Conformity means in this sense acting in the way that most other people do. Former heterogeneity expressed in the plurality of behavior of individuals is replaced by the homogeneity of the behavioral conformity.
Our traditional living customs undergo considerable alterations just in view of time-space compression and increased pace of life. Events everywhere in the world grow older as never before. No matter, whether something happened a year ago, a week ago or yesterday – everything is far away, unimportant and we are indifferent to it. Henry Ford claimed already in 1916 that history is essentially nonsense and we do not need tradition. We want to live at the present and the only
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history which is important is that we are creating today and now. That is why everyone who wants to be competitive enough in a contemporary world, must be mobile, flexible, variable and not bound by tradition.
Not surprisingly, such circumstances lead to the chain of causes and consequences resulting in the vicious circle of living without responsibility. Decisions are often short-sighted and aim to the mere satisfaction of the needs in a short run. The degree of utility determines the behavior. Deliberate concentration of this book on the reflection of certain, let us say less favourable aspects of the present could spread the pessimism. Sooner or later we should ask ourselves, what is the strategy for future sustainable development. The general answer lies in the communication of various entities. This does mean among others the participation in the decision- making. Communication is substantial part of well-running communities and shapes the space for the whole set of other development-harmonizing practices.
It seems to be absurd that in the era of high technologies and modern communication systems the real communication becomes increasingly difficult. Different interest groups pursue their own objectives. They are responsible just in the small territory bordered by their spheres of interest. Although in recent years we could contemplate the growing number of so-called ‘win-win’ situations that provided real qualitative move, it is not sufficient. Moreover, the way of thinking and acting remained essentially the same.
And going back to the leitmotiv of the subchapter, one has to ask why our homo consumensis is beneficial for global economic players and elites managing obsolete but somehow
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still functioning nation states? The answer is relatively simple: bread and games keep the society satisfied and that is why there is diminished probability of the opposition to the central authorities within particular nation states.
Secondly, for transnational corporations, homo consumensis is a blessing for two reasons: consumers raise the profits of transnational corporations; naturally, these corporations widely utilize the advantages stemming from their positions of monopolies or oligopolies. Media and consumption culture deform the human nature in such a way that possible competition for main influential global players can only hardly grow in such kind of environment. People thus act as obedient consumers and obedient citizens. Such individuals are pretty distant from public affairs in general and even more from self- governing consciousness, feeling and thinking. That is why both political and economic elites are enormously interested in assembly production of homo consumensis.
Inability to concentrate on truly important issues is not supported only by the world of media. If we look into the offices of great corporations, for example, we can see big spaces that are separated either only symbolically or by transparent materials. These corporations have no offices in traditional sense any more. Officially, it is claimed that open spaces promote team spirit. The true purpose of these offices is to facilitate practically permanent control of workers that are represented by increasingly atomized individuals. Bosses can check their subordinates at almost any time and their subordinates either work or at least are forced to pretend that they work. At the same time, the concentration of these workers is intensely distracted by open spaces, which naturally leads to the creation of individuals, which have the
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characteristics that are most required in current world: volatility, flexibility and inability to concentrate on relevant affairs. In other words, fluid identities are appearing more and more.
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