Individualism and Collectivism in the Context of Technological Progress

The article explores the concepts of individualism and collectivism through the lens of fundamental transformations occurring within the individual as a subject of social action. The author introduces an original framework conceptualizing social action as a dichotomous unity of freedom and algorithm, or free and algorithmized action. Within this paradigm, the subject of social action is understood as a synthesis of actor (acting subject) and agent (subject-function). The unfolding and resolution of this contradiction manifest differently in Western and Russian contexts, which are analyzed as two distinct versions of modernity, differentiated by the degree of market relation development. It is demonstrated that technological development within market conditions engenders a technological system that colonizes society holistically, including its cultural sphere. Free action is replaced by algorithmized action, leading to the displacement of the actor by the subject-function. Consequently, the individual is reduced to a functional element of the technological system, transformed into an atomized unit capable of equally executing programs of individualism or collectivism. In contrast, Russian (Soviet) modernity, characterized by a limited market, exhibits a reverse colonization, or symbiosis, between culture and system, which preserves a space for free action and the actor. Under these circumstances, the dialectic of individualism and collectivism becomes a nuanced process, potentially encompassing individualists oriented toward the common good. Collectivist orientations emphasize alignment with a “good collective” and the value of friendship. Contemporary trends are marked by contradictions, as the expansion of the technological system coexists with the persistence of individualism and collectivism rooted in Russian (Soviet) modernity. The article concludes by suggesting that the Russian experience of modernization offers valuable insights into achieving a balance between individualism and collectivism, algorithm and freedom, technological development and the preservation of human individuality under current conditions of global transformations.

1. Aksenova O.V. (2016) The Paradigm of Social Action: Professionals in Russian Modernization. Moscow: RAS Institute of Sociology (in Russian).

2. Aksenova O.V. (Ed.) (2022) Sociocultural Foundations of Soviet Modernity. Moscow: FCTAS RAS (in Russian).

3. Akhiezer A.S. (1991) Russia: Critique of Historical Experience (Vol. 2). Moscow: Philosophical Society of the USSR (in Russian).

4. Bauman Z. (2004) Globalization: The Human Consequences (M.L. Korobochkin, Trans.). Moscow: Ves Mir (Russian translation).

5. Bauman Z. (2005) The Individualized Society (V.L. Inozemtsev, Ed. & Trans.). Moscow: Logos (Russian translation).

6. Bauman Z. (2008) Liquid Modernity (Yu.V. Asochakov, Ed. & Trans.). Saint Petersburg: Piter (Russian translation).

7. Beck U. & Beck-Gernsheim E. (2008) Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences. London: Sage.

8. Blum A. & Mespoulet M. (2006) Bureaucratic Anarchy. Statistics and Power under Stalin. Moscow: ROSSPEN (Russian translation).

9. Callon M. (1987) Society in the Making: The Study of Technology as a Tool for Sociological Analysis. In: Bijker J., Hughes T., & Pinch T. (Eds.) New Directions in the Social Studies of Technology (pp. 83–103). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

10. Chernysh M.F. (2022) On the Historical Past and Identity of Modern Russians. In: Gorshkov M.K. (Ed.) Historical Consciousness of Russians: Assessments of the Past, Memory, Symbols (Experience of Sociological Measurement) (pp. 175–185). Moscow: Ves’ mir (in Russian).

11. Davydov A.P. (2023) Individualism and Collectivism as a Subject of Social-Philosophical Analysis (Reflections on the Eve of the Scientific Conference “Individualization and Collectivism in Contemporary Russian Society”). Russian Journal of Philosophical Sciences = Filosofskie nauki. Vol. 66, no. 4, pp. 140–159 (in Russian).

12. Dyatlov A.V. & Kovalev V.V. (2023) Efficiency of Management of Higher Education in Russia in the Practices of Application of Managerial Tools. Vestnik instituta sotziologii = Bulletin of the Institute of Sociology. Vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 70–91 (in Russian).

13. Ellul J. (1980) The Technological System. New York: Harper Torchbooks.

14. Habermas J. (1993) Relations Between the System and the Lifeworld in the Conditions of Late Capitalism. THESIS. Vol. 2, pp. 123–136 (Russian translation).

15. Lash S., Szerszynsky B., & Wynne B. (Eds.) (1996) Risk, Environment and Modernity. London: Sage.

16. Latour B. (2005) Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network-Theory. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

17. Osipov A.M. (2023) Priorities of Studying Education in the Light of the Problem of Bureaupatologies. Vestnik instituta sotziologii = Bulletin of the Institute of Sociology. Vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 15–33 (in Russian).

18. Pantin V.I. (2020) Value Divisions and Splits in Modern Societies: Impact on Socio-Political Development. Istoriya i sovremennost’ = History and Modernity. No. 3, pp. 23–41 (in Russian).

19. Pantin V.I. (2021) West and East: Socio-Ecological Crises in the Past and Present. Istoriya i sovremennost’ = History and Modernity. No. 4, pp. 20–38 (in Russian).

20. Touraine A. (1998) Return of the Actor: Social Theory in Postindustrial Society (E.A. Samarskaya, Trans.). Moscow: Nauchnyy mir (Russian translation).

21. Yadov V.A. (1998) Individualization. In: G.V. Osipov (Ed.) Russian Sociological Encyclopedia. Moscow: NORMA-INFRA-M (in Russian).