Is Progressive Individualism Conducive to the Production of a Safe Social Space? An Attempt to Identify Directions for Exploration

Abstract

Individualism is one of the fundamental processes changing the fabric of life in modern societies. The progressive strengthening of autonomy, independence and the individual’s right to his or her social self-determination are significantly reshaping the fundamental relationship for collective life, which is the interdependence of the individual with society. This raises two fundamental questions. The first concerns the question of what, with increasing individualism, happens in the field of normativity, while the second relates to how the integrative function of normativity is changing. The problem thus outlined is examined in relation to the theoretical concepts of individualisation and individualism, as well as to selected research results on the process of individualism in Polish society. Both frames of reference of the analysis of the problem under consideration, show certain directions of the search for an answer to the problem posed.