The Capitalist Personality: Face-to-Face Sociality and Economic Change in the Post-Communist World

258 Pages·2012·1.42 MB·English

by  Christopher S. Swader

ROUTLEDGE ADVANCES IN SOCIOLOGY
The Capitalist Personality
Face-to-Face Sociality and Economic Change
in the Post-Communist World
Christopher S. Swader
The Capitalist Personality
Modern capitalism favors values that undermine our face-to-face bonds
with friends and family members. Focusing on the post-communist world,
and comparing it to more “developed” societies, this book reveals the
mixed ef ects of capitalist culture on interpersonal relationships. While
most observers blame the egoism and asocial behavior found in new free-
market societies on their communist pasts, this work shows how relation-
ships are also threatened by the profi t orientations and personal ambition
unleashed by economic development. Successful people in societies as
diverse as China, Russia, and Eastern Germany adjust to the market econ-
omy at a social cost, relaxing their morals in order to obtain success and
succumbing to increased material temptations to exploit relationships for
their own fi nancial and professional gain. The capitalist personality is inter-
nally troubled as a result of this “sellout,” but these qualms subside as it
devalues intimate qualitative bonds with others. This book also shows that
post-communists are similarly individualized as people living in Western
societies. Capitalism may indeed favor values of independence, creativity,
and self-expressiveness, but it also rewards self-centeredness, consumer-
ism, and the stripping down of morality. As is the case in the West, capitalist
culture fosters an internally confl icted and self-centered personality in
post-communist societies.
Christopher S. Swader is an assistant professor of sociology at the National
Research University—Higher School of Economics in Moscow. He teaches
social theory, focusing on individualization and modernization, critical
theory (the Frankfurt School), the life course, and historical sociology.
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Masataka Katagiri and Post-Communist World
Atsushi Sawai Christopher S. Swader
The Capitalist Personality
Face-to-Face Sociality and Economic
Change in the Post-Communist World
Christopher S. SwaderK
NEW YORK LONDON
First published 2013
by Routledge
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© 2013 Taylor & Francis
The right of Christopher S. Swader to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Swader, Christopher.
The capitalist personality : face-to-face sociality and economic change
in the post-communist world / Christopher S. Swader.
p. cm. — (Routledge advances in sociology ; 86)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Post-communism—Social aspects. 2. Social values—Former
communist countries. 3. Capitalism—Social aspects—Former communist
countries. 4. Former communist countries—Social conditions. 5. Former
communist countries—Economic conditions. I. Title.
HN380.7.A8S93 2013
306—dc23
2012027697
ISBN13: 978-0-415-89221-6 (hbk)
ISBN13: 978-0-203-07271-4 (ebk)
Typeset in Sabon
by IBT Global.
Printed and bound in the United States of America on sustainably sourced
paper by IBT Global.
But enough! enough! I can’t take any more. Bad air! Bad air! This
workshop where ideals are manufactured—it seems to me it stinks
of so many lies.
—Friedrich Nietzsche, On the Genealogy of Morals (1967, 47)
Contents
List of Figures xi
List of Tables xiii
Permissions xv
Preface xvii
1 Introduction 1
2 Becoming Homo-Economicus 12
3 “The Wall in the Head”: Mechanisms of De-socialization 45
4 The Chinese, Russian, and Eastern German Contexts:
Social Values and Economic Change 77
5 Individualism, Ambition, and Work 96
6 “Get Rich First!”: Materialism and Consumerism 113
7 Family Relationships and Friendship 133
8 Morality, Religion, and Politics 158
9 The Wild West? 172
10 Discussion: Ambivalent Individualization and Capitalist Culture 183
Appendix A: Methods 191
Appendix B: T-test Results 213
Appendix C: Results on Social Values and Gender 221
Notes 223
Bibliography 225
Index 235