HOW SOME PEOPLE
ADJUST
77. Not everyone in
industrial-technological society suffers from psychological problems. Some
people even pro fess to be quite satisfied with society as it is. We now
discuss some of the reasons why people differ so greatly in their response to
modern society.
78. First, there
doubtless are differences in the strength of the drive for power. Individuals
with a weak drive for power may have relatively little need to go through the
power process, or at least relatively little need for autonomy in the power
process. These are docile types who would have been happy as plantation darkies
in the Old South. (We don’t mean to sneer at the “plantation darkies” of the
Old South. To their credit, most of the slaves were NOT content with their
servitude. We do sneer at people who ARE content with servitude.)
79. Some people may
have some exceptional drive, in pursuing which they satisfy their need for the
power process. For example, those who have an unusually strong drive for social
status may spend their whole lives climbing the status ladder without ever
getting bored with that game.
80. People vary in
their susceptibility to advertising and marketing techniques. Some are so
susceptible that, even if they make a great deal of money, they cannot satisfy
their constant craving for the the shiny new toys that the marketing industry
dangles before their eyes. So they always feel hard-pressed financially even if
their income is large, and their cravings are frustrated.
81. Some people
have low susceptibility to advertising and marketing techniques. These are the
people who aren’t interested in money. Material acquisition does not serve
their need for the power process.
82. People who have
medium susceptibility to advertising and marketing techniques are able to earn
enough money to satisfy their craving for goods and services, but only at the
cost of serious effort (putting in overtime, taking a second job, earning
promotions, etc.). Thus material acquisition serves their need for the power
process. But it does not necessarily follow that their need is fully satisfied.
They may have insufficient autonomy in the power process (their work may consist
of following orders) and some of their drives may be frustrated (e.g.,
security, aggression). (We are guilty of oversimplification in paragraphs 80-82
because we have assumed that the desire for material acquisition is entirely a
creation of the advertising and marketing industry. Of course it’s not that
simple. [11]
83. Some people
partly satisfy their need for power by identifying themselves with a powerful
organization or mass movement. An individual lacking goals or power joins a
movement or an organization, adopts its goals as his own, then works toward
those goals. When some of the goals are attained, the individual, even though
his personal efforts have played only an insignificant part in the attainment
of the goals, feels (through his identification with the movement or
organization) as if he had gone through the power process. This phenomenon was
exploited by the fascists, nazis and communists. Our society uses it too,
though less crudely. Example: Manuel Noriega was an irritant to the U.S. (goal:
punish Noriega). The U.S. invaded Panama (efort) and punished Noriega
(attainment of goal). Thus the U.S. went through the power process and many
Americans, because of their identification with the U.S., experienced the power
process vicariously. Hence the widespread public approval of the Panama
invasion; it gave people a sense of power. [15] We see the same phenomenon in
armies, corporations, political par ties, humanitarian organizations, religious
or ideological movements. In particular, leftist movements tend to attract
people who are seeking to satisfy their need for power. But for most people
identification with a large organization or a mass movement does not fully
satisfy the need for power.
84. Another way in
which people satisfy their need for the power process is through surrogate
activities. As we explained in paragraphs 38-40, a surrogate activity is an
activity that is directed toward an artificial goal that the individual pursues
for the sake of the “fulfillment” that he gets from pursuing the goal, not
because he needs to attain the goal itself. For instance, there is no practical
motive for building enormous muscles, hitting a little ball into a hole or
acquiring a complete series of postage stamps. Yet many people in our society
devote themselves with passion to bodybuilding, golf or stamp-collecting. Some
people are more “other-directed” than others, and therefore will more readily
attach importance to a surrogate activity simply because the people around them
treat it as important or because society tells them it is important. That is
why some people get very serious about essentially trivial activities such as
sports, or bridge, or chess, or arcane scholarly pursuits, whereas others who
are more clear-sighted never see these things as anything but the surrogate
activities that they are, and consequently never attach enough importance to
them to satisfy their need for the power process in that way. It only remains
to point out that in many cases a person’s way of earning a living is also a
surrogate activity. Not a PURE surrogate activity, since part of the motive for
the activity is to gain the physical necessities and (for some people) social
status and the luxuries that advertising makes them want. But many people put
into their work far more effort than is necessary to earn whatever money and
status they require, and this extra effort constitutes a surrogate activity.
This extra effort, together with the emotional investment that accompanies it,
is one of the most potent forces acting toward the continual development and
perfecting of the system, with negative consequences for individual freedom
(see paragraph 131). Especially, for the most creative scientists and
engineers, work tends to be largely a surrogate activity. This point is so
important that it deserves a separate discussion, which we shall give in a
moment (paragraphs 87-92).
85. In this section
we have explained how many people in modern society do satisfy their need for
the power process to a greater or lesser extent. But we think that for the
majority of people the need for the power process is not fully satisfied. In
the first place, those who have an insatiable drive for status, or who get
firmly “hooked” on a surrogate activity, or who identify strongly enough with a
movement or organization to satisfy their need for power in that way, are
exceptional personalities. Others are not fully satisfied with surrogate
activities or by identification with an organization (see paragraphs 41, 64).
In the second place, too much control is imposed by the system through explicit
regulation or through socialization, which results in a deficiency of autonomy,
and in frustration due to the impossibility of attaining certain goals and the
necessity of restraining too many impulses.
86. But even if
most people in industrial-technological society were well satisfied, we (FC)
would still be opposed to that form of society, because (among other reasons)
we consider it demeaning to fulfill one’s need for the power process through
surrogate activities or through identification with an organization, rather
than through pursuit of real goals.
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