The Era of Choice: The Ability to Choose and Its Transformation of Contemporary Life (Bradford Books)

344 Pages·2005·1.61 MB·English

by  Edward C. Rosenthal

#815639 08/10/2005
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philosophy/cultural studies 0-262-18248-3 “Once men and women had hardly any choices in life, and now there are so many that choice itself
has become a source of anxiety.Switch off your 500 cable channels and read Edward Rosenthal’s
important new book.”—Gregg Easterbrook, author of The Progress Paradox
THE ERA OF CHOICE
EDWARD C.ROSENTHALis Associate Professor of Management “Insightful and broad-ranging ruminations on the ever-increasing array of choices we face.As The Abilityto Choose
Scienceand Operations Management at the Fox School of Business Rosenthal ably demonstrates, these options play a surprisingly pervasive role in shaping our and Its Transformation
and Management at Temple University. psyches, our economy, and our culture.” of Contemporary Life
THE
—John Allen Paulos, author of Innumeracyand AMathematician Reads the Newspaper
EDWARD C. ROSENTHAL
ERAOF
“Edward Rosenthal makes a challenging argument that the hallmark of modernity is that ‘choice’
has been extended to every corner of our lives—the material, the social, the cultural, the con-
CHOICE
ceptual, and the moral.To make his case, he discusses ...everything! There is an idea or an Todaymost of us are awash with choices.The cornucopia of material
observation worth thinking about on every page of this extraordinary book.” goods available to those of us in the developed world can turn each
—BarrySchwartz, Dorwin Cartwright Professor of Social Theory and Social Action, Swarthmore of us into a kid in a candy store;but our delight at picking the prize is
College,author of The Paradoxof Choice:WhyMore Is Less undercut byour regret at lost opportunities.And what’s the criterion
for choosing anything—material, spiritual, the path taken or not
“The Eraof Choicesheds light on a central dilemma of our time.In an erawhen weare freer to taken—when we have lost our faith in everything? In The Eraof
choose than ever,weare increasingly overwhelmed byour choices.Edward Rosenthal brings his Choice Edward Rosenthal argues that choice, and having to make
ROSENTHAL
prodigious knowledge of philosophy,social theory,and historyto help us better understand how choices, has become the most important influence in both our
we got to this point and where we might go from here.” personal lives and our cultural expression.Choice, he claims, has
—Richard Florida, Hirst Professor of Public Policy, George Mason University, author of The Rise transformed how we live, how we think, and who we are.
of the Creative Classand The Flight of the Creative Class The Ability to Choose This transformation began in the nineteenth century, catalyzed
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to form oppositions;this, says Rosenthal, has spawned a keen interest
in dualism, dilemmas, contradictions, and paradoxes.In response,
we have developed mechanisms to hedge, compromise, and synthe-
size.Rosenthal looks at the scientific and philosophical theories and
cultural movements that choice has influenced—from physics (for
example,Niels Bohr’s theory that light is both particle andwave) to
postmodernism, from Disney trailers to multiculturalism. He also
reveals the effect of questions of choice on the personal level, where
wegrapple with decisions that range from which wine to have with
dinner to whether to marryor divorce, as we hurtle through lives of
The MIT Press
Massachusetts Institute of Technology instant gratification, accelerated consumption, trend, change, and
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142 speed.But we have discovered, writes Rosenthal, that sometimes,
ABradford Book The MIT Press•Massachusetts Institute of Technology•Cambridge, Masshatctphu:/s/metittsp r0e2s1s4.2m•it.hetdtpu://mitpress.mit.edu wecan have our cake and eat it, too.
The Era of Choice

The Era of Choice
The Ability to Choose and Its Transformation of Contemporary Life
Edward C. Rosenthal
A Bradford Book
The MIT Press
Cambridge, Massachusetts
London, England
© 2005 Massachusetts Institute of Technology
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any elec-
tronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information stor-
age and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher.
MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales
promotional use. For information, please email [email protected] or
write to Special Sales Department, The MIT Press, 55 Hayward St., Cambridge, MA
02142.
This book was set in Sabon by Graphic Composition, Inc., and was printed and bound
in the United States of America.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Rosenthal, Edward C., 1959– .
The era of choice : the ability to choose and its transformation of contemporary life /
Edward C. Rosenthal.
p. cm.
“A Bradford book.”
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-262-18248-3 (hc : alk. paper)
1. Philosophy and civilization. 2. Culture—Philosophy. 3. Decision making. I. Title.
BF611.R67 2005
153.8′3—dc22
2004062536
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
To my parents, Florence and Harold, who nurtured me
To Bryony, who has given so much, and
To our lovely children, Jordan and Chloe

Contents
Preface ix
1 Choice: More Than Wanting to Have Your Cake and Eat It Too 1
2 Behind the Scenes of Choice: The Historical Precursors 15
3 Free Will and the Vicious Spiral of Choice: Who’s in Control? 31
4 Many Branches, Many Worlds, and the Splintering of Reality 45
5 The Blurring of Reality 63
6 Postindustrial Society: Our Break with History? 75
7 Decision Making: Is There a Method to Its Madness? 89
8 Oppositions: Saussure, Structuralism, and More 105
9 Freedom and Existentialism 121
10 Risk: What It Means to Us 143
11 The Individual versus the Group 155
12 The Turning Point: The 1960s 169
13 High and Low Culture, Subjective and Objective Mentality 179
viii Contents
14 From Modernism to Postmodernism 195
15 Postmodern Manifestations, Self-Reference, and Beyond 215
16 Critics of Contemporary Life 241
17 Societal Problems and Conflicts: Where Are We Headed? 257
18 Have We Been Here Before? 275
19 Policy Implications, and Conclusions 287
Bibliography 303
Index 311
Preface
The essential thesis of this book is this: for the majority of us, having choice—
and having to make choices—has become and will continue to be the most im-
portant factor that influences both our personal lives and our prevailing
culture.
Years ago, I was struck suddenly by the notion that being “modern” means
being able to choose.Most of us in the developed world, particularly in the
United States, have vastly more choice both on a daily basis and with respect
to our life paths than did our predecessors just one hundred years ago.
Often, people say that the United States of America is an idea.Central to
this idea is, of course, freedom. Freedom to choose.People first came to Amer-
ica to exercise the right to choose their religion, and others followed hoping to
shape a new and more prosperous life. For one reason or another, throngs have
chosen to come here for nearly four centuries. Choice is practically in our
blood.
But other parts of the globe—especially Europe and much of the Pacific
Rim—have now caught up to the U.S. and Canada in terms of material bounty
and democratic freedoms. What we will discuss in this book applies to those
prosperous nations as well. They too embrace a world of choice that was only
a dream a century ago.
Being able to choose means being freeto choose. But freedom need not en-
tail choice. Indeed, for most of human history, the realization of pure freedom
had usually been met by the cold reality of a lackof reasonable choices. People
were therefore not truly empowered to shape their destinies. In fact, as I shall
argue, the dearth of choice that has characterized the great majority of human
lives has rendered true freedom a mere hypothetical concept. Until now. Only
in relatively recent times has our standard of living been high enough, for
enough of us, to feature the ability to choose as the preeminent influencing