the private man and society, otto kirchheimer

8/22/2019 The Private Man and Society, Otto Kirchheimer

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Private Man and SocietyAuthor(s): Otto KirchheimerReviewed work(s):Source: Political Science Quarterly, Vol. 81, No. 1 (Mar., 1966), pp. 1-24Published by: The Academy of Political ScienceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2146858 .

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PrivateMan and Society

OTTO KIRCHHEIMERColumbiaUniversity

"Der wirkliche Mensch ist der Privatmensch der jet-zigen Staatsverfassung."

MARX, KritikderHegelschenStaatsphilosophie.do How does the individualacquire he capacitytoparticipaten the generalaffairsof the state? How does it becomepossiblefor all citizensto approachpublicaffairs,not as particularindividuals,but in such a manner that their assembledparticularwills embrace hestate as theircommonaffair?

THE MIRAGE OF CONSENSUSThisalphaandomegaof democraticheorywould lose its explosivepowerif we substitutea theoryof consensusfor concentration nthe difficultiesof the individual n his capacity as a fundamentalconstituentof the state. Were we to hypothesizesomething ike anationalconsensus,sometimesswelling to a mighty chorus,some-times runningunderground,but always strong enough to drownout or interposeitself between the thousand individual conflictsituationsbetween he rich and the poor, the mighty and the small,we wouldnot needto botheraboutthe riddleof the commonwill.The individualsspontaneouslyat one with the state on theirmostvital commonconcernsmay safely leave to the executiveranks thedetailsof policy.But theoremsof the nation as fundamentally ne,despite heir requentuse, have a fragileexistence. n the face of reli-gious, nationality,economic,and ideologicalcleavages they oftenareforced o beat a retreat n favor of morepragmatic ests.Volume LXXXIMarch 1966 Number 1 1

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2 / POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY

If substantiveagreement emainsan elusivepropositionn socie-ties whose membersoften have widely disparategoals, consensusmightstillbesaved,so it seems,on a narrower asis.Althoughdiffi-cult to agreeon last principles,agreementmight still be foundonwhat to do here and now under the changingcircumstances f theday. We might decide to emphasizecivil rights or internationalpeace,but still be willing, when acutedangerthreatens, o call outthe police or build the arsenalof democracy.Who knows, perhapswe couldall follow theLow Countries' erzuiling system,and erectourpolity on some neatly built up fortressesof separateWeltan-schauungen. We could then startnegotiatingendlessly with eachother,providedwe werereasonable noughto buildup an ironcladcodexabouthow to conductour negotiations.To haggle endlesslyover substancebut keep the system going via sacrosanctways ofproceduremay be one worthwhileand well-knownway out of ourdilemma.The value of this procedure,however, may be circum-scribedby a commonsense observation: o ride together n a buswhile wanting to go to differentplacesmay be all right,providedthatthe destinationsare not too different romeach other.Recentlyourquantitative rethrenhaveuttereddoubts.They in-dicate hatwhat theyare wont to calltheinfluentialsandthepublicatlargeshow,as expected, ittleagreement nmajorpremisesof thepoliticalsystem.Moreover, f questionedclosely, and not allowedto mouthconventionalphrases,the publicappears o be muchlessconcernedover the necessityfor procedural uarantees han theirmoregenteel brethren.1We could play downthis difference,as anAmericanpeculiarity,andpoint out that otherindustrialcountrieswith a differenthistoricalandinstitutional ecordmaybe moreuni-versallyconsciousof proceduralalues.Or,we might surrender othehappyconscienceof the technological litist, andguess that aslongas thegoing is good, therunof the millof thecitizenrywill notenterthepoliticalmarketexcept n defenseof their own specializedinterest.Or,if theyentertheywill be guidedby thecommonman'srecognitionof the superiorworkmanship f the moreexaltedcom-munitymembers n performingparticularunctional asks.2Or,wecouldrejoicewith thecivic culturemanover thefact thatthecitizens

'HerbertMcCloskey,"Consensusand Ideologyin AmericanPolitics,"Ameri-canPolitical ScienceReview,LVIII X964),365.2 CarlJoachimFriedrich,The New Image of the CommonMan (Boston,1950).



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PRIVATEMAN AND SOCIETY | 3

of this outstandingpilot democracyhave such a high estimate oftheirown political ubjective ompetence, ndneednotbeconcernedunnecessarily boutthe gap betweenthe citizens'assertionof sub-jective competence nd theirostentatious ailureto makeuse of it.3Thus,consensus tatementsof any kind remainratherproblematic.Besides,as we have alreadymentioned, onsensus tatementsmightrun nto the barrier f quantitativenquiries.The less such inquiriesareguidedby imagesof desirableparticipant oliticalstructures, hemorethey areproneto castdoubtson the natureof theties betweentheofficialpoliticalestablishment nd the underlyingpopulation.

THE MARKET DEFINITION OF FREEDOMA closer analysis of the structureof man's mind in relationto thesurrounding ocial universemay put the inquiry on a more securefootingthan eitherconsensus heoriesor selectedopiniontidbitsre-lating to a complicated tructure f social reality canprovide.Thishiatusbetweenasserted ubjective ompetence nd inability o use itconnotes failure to connectofficial policies with man'sfate. Fromthe recent nquiriesregarding he average ndividual'splacein so-cietyandstate,Lane'sbookseemsto offerthe bestpointof departureforour critical nterprise.5t accompanieshecitizen,so to speak, nhis engagementwith socialrealityand watcheshow he internalizeshis variousexperiences.Thus, society'sapparatus oesnot only ap-pear as an outside agentto be avoided,resisted,managedone wayor another,but alsoas an element n his own personality tructure.Insteadof juxtaposing, s the civic culturemandoes, ndividualsandinstitutionsand tabulating he former'srelations o the latter on apreconceived cale of integrativeor disintegrativetraits viewedthrough he eyes of the best availablemodelof stateorganization,Lane tries to show us the resultsof the individual'sconfrontationwithsociety's deologiesand realities.Thus the typesof answershereceivesarenotpredeterminedy his mode of analysis.We arepre-sented with the individual curriculaof fifteen native-bornwhite

'GabrielAlmondand SidneyVerba,The CivicCulture Princeton,1963), 481.'"Consensusis one of the more elusive andmisleadingconceptsto have beenintroducednto recentpolitical theory,"DankwartA. Rustow,TheWorldof Na-tions (Washington,D.C., 1965), mimeographed,Chap.I, 21. See also BemardR.Crick, n Defence of Politics (rev. ed.; Baltimore,1964), 24.'Robert E.Lane,Political Ideology(New York,1962).



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people,with quite divergentpersonalitystructures,whose occupa-tions runfromvariouskinds of machineoperativeso truckdrivers,policemen,bookkeepers, nd supplyclerks. Variations n reactionpatternsareasa resultprobablymuchbroaderhan f the authorhadstudiedpeopleon a somewhat owerrungof the socialladderandwith asmallerdegreeof skill specialization r lessregularworkhab-its. Despitethesevariations,anddespite he existenceof an irrecon-cilableminorityof four citizenswho adoptedrrational xplanatoryschemes andviewed theirsurroundingswith a cabalist'sbelief inthepresenceof secretgroupsbehindthe sceneactingas creatorsofpoliticalreality, enough common hemes runthroughLane'sanal-ysis to meritcloseattention.Only withintheir ocal environmentsthepoliticalexperience f thesemenanimmediate ne;withintheselimits somepossibilityof accessto localmachinesand politicalfig-uresexists,and, occasionally, he adjustment f a particular riev-ancemaytakeplace.Outside the strictly local sphere, the importanceof which isdimmed or theindividualby the highfrequency f interlocalmobil-ity, politicalexperiences mediated hroughother ayersof thesocialsystem, such as unions. As none of these upper-working-classgroupshas a wide rangeof professional hoice, there s littleques-tion of having consciousoptions in social existence.Theirliberty,then,is bestdescribedas the possibility of foraging aroundwithintheconfinesof thesystem for a rewarding ob combination peningup maximumaccessto consumergoods. These men's universal ib-erty is, then, the liberty of the consumer'smarket.But one wouldthinkthatlibertymustsomehowbe related o the options in one'slife: how to fill one's time after the necessitiesare taken care of. Itbecomesreadilyapparent hatin the time horizonof Lane'ssamplecollective, magesof nation, religion,or classhave little part.Onemightthinkthat thereexistsuchthingsasworkingtime and leisuretime, individual ime and grouptime,private ime and publictime,with as manyvariations n measurementss therearevariations nintensity of pursuitsand of intergroupand interpersonal elations.Yet,forLane'smen, onlyoneuniversalequation eems to exist: theendlessreversibility f two coordinateswhich arethemen'sprimaryresources,imeandmoney.Thisreduction f life into a time-moneyequation imits thehori-zon of the future.Not toomanytime units can beexchanged,as the



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PRIVATE MAN AND SOCIETY 1 5

humansupplyof timerunsout ratherquickly. norder o escape hisnatural imitationone would haveto convert ndividual nto collec-tive time, switch from short- andmiddle-range onsumerexpecta-tion to more universalentities, thus transcending he time-moneyequation.But ProfessorLane is quiteemphaticon this point: "thefailure o extend heirprivaterangeof interestand attentionbeyondtheirown generation ends to limitthe social goals that havemuchappeal o them."6How do Lane'smen then see their relations to the surroundingworld?Letus examinetwo aspectsof this problem.The first con-cernstheirnotion of how to relate hemselves o those on the lowerand upper evels of societyand through hese relations o formulatetheir particularnotion of equality.The answer is clear-cutagain.They do not look at the quest forequality as a desirablepostulate,but as an unwelcome agent of social destabilization.They havereacheda certainplateau-with a slight overestimation f their in-dividual contribution s againstmore general social conditionsasthe causalfactor-and their psychologicalnvestment n this posi-tionmust be defendedagainstthemoreunfortunate lasses.Inorderto get the maximumbenefitfrom this form of ego defense,the mis-fortuneof these ower-levelgroupswill be ascribed o theirshiftless-nessrather hanto causesbeyondtheir control.7By the same token,theirpositionseemsto favor the recognition f a meritorious lite astheprecondition or security n theirown ranking.Thus the questforequalitydisappears r is reduced o smallincrements f mobilityallowingfora limitedamountof advancement s a preconditionorthe smoothfunctioningof the social system. The status satisfactionof Lane'sworkersrequiresthat the cleavage between their ownranks and the lower ordersbe upheld,and at the same time legiti-mizes thepositionof their betters.

If equalityas adynamicconceptwhich abates ntergroup istanceIbid.,293.' The inclination to emphasize ndividualrather than collective or accidentalchances of personal success can be seen also in the data in Alfred Willener,Images de la societe et classes sociales (Bern,1957), III, 115. Sixty per cent ofhis Swiss sampleemphasize actors relatingto individualeffort as preconditionsof success; twenty-one per cent emphasizethat success is socially conditioned;and nineteenper centemphasizepure chance.The samedistinctionsaremadein

a discussion of the causes of poverty: individual factors, fifty per cent; socialfactors,twenty-fourper cent; chance factors,twenty-five per cent.



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meets with littlecomprehension,what aboutsocial relations n theworker'sown worldmadeup of factory, office,andcolleagues?Awidevariety of evidencewould show, at best,a somewhatnarrowrange or initiativeandautonomy,varying fromoppressive o toler-ableaccording o the job structureand formof authority.A half-heartedcamaraderiemay occur, restingon sharedexperienceandlimitedby the continualpresenceof competitiveelements;suchcamaraderiecarcely xtends o the level of sharedpurposeandclosefriendship. n Lane's nterpretation,he lessons of industrialdisci-pline, punctuality,attention o detail,and avoidanceof waste,helpto create he self-reliantman. The industrial itizenacceptsrespon-sibility for his owndestiny, though n a more imitedway thandidhis forefathers.While thisknowledgehas not yet beenrationalizedintoa new beliefsystem,the workerhascometo rely on thehelpinghandof thestate in anincreasingnumberof situations n whichhisownwillingnessto dohis stint would not suffice.Yet with all hisunderstandingor the worldof theself-reliantn-dustrialmanwho lacks a senseof sharedpurposeor evil, Lanehaslittle confidencen man'spoliticalabilityor judgment.Withslightlycondescending raise for their sturdy qualities,Lane turnstowardtheprofessional lassesrather han the businessand laboringclassesfor therealization f themajordemocraticalues, libertyandequal-ity. Giventhe picturehe drawsof his sample'sdistinctivequalities,I fail tosee what else he couldhave done. Captivesof theirsurround-ing civilization n morethan one sense, industrial ungle-dwellersandone-dimensionalrivates n the consumers' rmy,Lane'swork-erscontribute ittle to thepublicenterprise eyond theirpresenceasproducers nd consumers.Whatdo we need to addto Lane'sdescription? hatlibertyfromthe viewpoint of the populationat largeis first and above all per-ceived n consumer erms s by now a well accepted hesis. Butwhatis the genesis of this freedom?Doesit reston the accidentalunctureof massproduction, igherwages,and some sort of communal are?Socialsecurityand medicalserviceshave allowed the lowerstrata,for the firsttimein history,to think n termsof consumer oodsbe-yond the area of primaryneeds.The lower strata's nitiationintoconsumer ociety requirednothingbut the exchangeof theirworktime fordesirable onsumer oods.Thisinitiationtookplacewith a



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highdegreeof spontaneityand a markedabsenceof coercion,whichwas present n thepreviousmajorsocialexperiences f this group.Moreover,what was the alternative?How frequentlyhas ad-vanced ndustrial ocietyoffered hese executants8hepossibilityofparlaying heirearningsntoenoughpowerto work a radical rans-formationof their presentoccupationalposition?Whatever theirchances or socialmobility,suchchancesdid not essentiallydependon doubtsaboutfully entering he consumer oods market.Yet,therestrictionof freedomexclusivelyto consumergoods orientationmay also be grounded n something ike substitutesatisfaction.Itseems,therefore,o thepointto lookat thepositionof variouswork-ing-class strata n the productionprocessand to see to what extenttheirpositionoffersan explanationor the shrinkageof freedom othechoiceof consumer oods.

PRIVATIZATION,COMPETITION,AND ISOLATIONWhatstrikesus first s thegreatvarietyof positions n the industrialprocess.The problems to find a commondenominator etweenthepre-industrial rtisan, still abundantn many regionsof southemEurope, heoften-analyzed utomobileworkerwhose rhythm s setby the conveyorbeltabovehim, the girl in the textilemill simulta-neously supervisinga dozenlooms, thechemicaloperatorwatchinghis dialsat regular ntervalsandadjusting nstruments orrespond-ingly, and his higher level maintenance olleaguereadingthe fun-nies while waiting tohurryto somerepair ob. If onethinksprima-rily in termsof outlets for initiativeand variation, hereexists littlecommon measure for their respectivejob experiences.Initiativewouldbecomea disturbing actor f the paceof work andthe timeallowed or it is exactlyregulatedby therhythmof theperformancerequired rom the individual.A workgroupor an individualmightpetitiona foreman,and throughhim the engineer,to changetherhythm; f eitherattempted o do so on his own,chaoswould result.Thegirl watchingthe loomsmaydetermine n whatorder o exam-ine themachines,and not muchelse.Nonetheless, he operator nd

8The executantclasscomprisesall positions, whetherblue collar or white col-lar, where a job is narrowlycircumscribed y strict hierarchical ubordinationand/or restriction o a single phase of a largerproject.



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themaintenanceman in a fully automated nterprise an use theiringenuityand play aroundwith alternative olutions to obtain theorganizationally rescribed oals.There s no reason,however, to expectautomationwill be intro-ducedn the entire ndustrial ield.Many ndustrialobsaretoomar-ginalto warrant henecessarycapitaloutlayfor automation.Auto-mationwill alsolimit theworkers' ndividualdiscretionn handlingtheirparticular roblems.Frequently new layerof officeworkersorplantengineerswill appear; hey areexpected o calculateor layout in detailthe mosteconomicperformanceorthe worker'spartic-ularjob.In manyjobseducational equirementswill increasedras-tically, not simply (as has often happenedpreviouslyin times ofgrowingunemployment ndjobinsecurity)by upgradingobqual-ificationswithout correspondinghangesin neededskills, but byraising the numberof jobs combininga varietyof skill elements.Skillgroupdifferentialsmaybecome ncreasinglymportantactorsin determining ow one conceivesrelations o the outsideworld. Arecent nquiry n a New Jerseycarassemblyplant has shown, forexample, hata threefolddistinctionbetweenskilled,repair,andlineworkerswith corresponding ifferencesn initiative,security,andstatusare,withoutfurthermediatingagencies, mmediately rans-lated nto differentattitudes owarda widerangeof socialphenom-ena.Confidencen thefuture,acceptancewith somereservation) fsocial, institutional,and state organizationsmarkedthe highergroup;so-calledradicalism,mistrustof the surroundingworld,andexpectationof violenceas a regulatorof world affairsmarked helowestskilledgroup.9These differences ppearas barrierso the formationof commonhorizonsandbondsof experience etweenworkers,bothwithinthesameenterpriseand betweenvarious units. Buta type of commonexperience lso exists.When Lanespeaksof the self-reliant ndus-trial man as a prerequisiteor the functioning of democracy,hemakes a politicalvirtue out of commonsocialnecessity.Job riskisstill individualizedn the sense thatsocietydoesno more than fur-nish a favorableor an inhospitableclimate for job hunting. Thesocializationprocesswhich the workerundergoeswhen he enters

'Lewis Lipsitz,"WorkLife andPoliticalAttitudes: A Study of ManualWork-ers," American Political Science Review, LVIII (1964), 951-63.



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PRIVATE MAN AND SOCIETY I 9

the workgroup includesacquiringa sense of balancebetweenco-operationand the distancenecessitatedby theuniversal act of in-terpersonalcompetition.The balance between cooperationandcompetitions quitedifferentrom thespecificrolewhich goeswitheach ndividual ob.Two processesmustbe differentiatedromeachother:the specificrole change,supposedto takeplace only at thetime when a personsteps up the ladderfrom, say, workerto fore-man,connotesa maskwhichcan be slippedon andoff at will,10but,in addition, here s moreuniversalandconstantbehavior, he gyro-scopeactivityof scanning hehorizon or yet undeterminedickupsto improveone'sposition.The model of fully competitive nterpersonal elationsmay besubject o variousgradations.At one endwe findCrozier'smodel offullybureaucratizedndustrial tateorganizations."Herethere s adifferentiatedystemof conditions or entrance nto the organiza-tion, and within the organization hereis watertightcompartmen-talizationallowing a minimumchance of moving upwardon thehierarchyof functional levels. Correspondingly,he cadreshaveonlyaminimalrightto interferewith theworkandpositionof eithertheindividualorhis functionalgroup.Undersuch conditions hereis a far-reachingconvergenceof the horizonsof individual andgroupexpectation.The incidenceof submission o hierarchical is-cipline, requentlyhe mostresentedpartof the worker's xistence,'2may not altogetherdisappear,but it loses much of its substance.Changesn the individual ituationno longerderivefrom a mixtureof individualaccommodation nd the discretionof a determinatesuperior,butappear o be the workof a deusex machina,ordersofan anonymousministrywithout the participation f a proximatesuperior.Here the elementof insecuritys transferredromdepend-enceon the interestand evaluationof one'simmediate uperiors othe interference f unknownforces,the operationof whichcannot

'OHaroldL. Wilensky and Hugh Edwards,"The Skidder:IdeologicalAdjust-ment of DownwardMobile Workers.,"American Sociological Review, XXIV(1959), 215-31." Michel Crozier,The Bureaucratic henomenon Chicago,1964).'1The point is scarcelycontroversial.See the instructivetabulation n Andr6eAndrieuxand Jean Lignon,L'ouvrierd'aujourd'huiur les changementsdans laconditionet la conscienceouvrieres(Paris,1960), 8i. Of ninety answers to thequestion,"Whatdispleasesyou most at your enterprise?"orty-twvoamed"sub-ordinationand dependence."



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be calculated n advanceandconsequently annotbe influencedbymodifications f one'sown behavior.Of the twolevelsof insecurity, nsecurityby virtue of a life situ-ation'sdependence n proximate uperiorsor by virtueof imper-sonaldecisionsderiving rommajororganizationalhanges,bureau-craticstructure liminatesmost of the former.Theirdistancefromthe fountainhead f authorityprevents helower strata romcatch-ing more thanan occasionalglimpse of decision-making;he miss-ing linkbetweenhigh-leveldecisionand individual ateshowsup,13however, o thesame degree n bureaucratic ndcompetitiveorgan-izations.To what extentupper-leveldecisionsmay be changed by low-level pressuredependsas muchon the cohesionof the lowerranksas on theformof organizationn which the work takesplace.Thus,protection,both against job risk and the weight of organizationalstructure,maybe obtained hrough heintroduction f bureaucraticrigidity,but suchrigidityprovidesno guaranteeagainst majoror-ganizationalchange.Hierarchical ependences also mitigatedinproportion o: (I) thecomplexityof the taskperformed,2) the ac-quisitionof a high degree of technicalsensitivity in servicingma-chines,and (3) the extent thatperformances intricatelygearedtoand dependenton the individualeffort of other group members.Hierarchicalependences alsomitigatedwhen automation ubsti-tutes the job of recurrent bservationand possiblemodificationofan uninterrupted roductionsystem for exactly-timedrepetitiousphysical abor.A greaterdegreeof work initiative,exceptundertheconditionsof Crozier's ully bureaucratizedmodel,does not, how-ever,excludea certainamountof competitiono improveone'sposi-tioninrelation o wages, jobtype, andworkschedule.14It is throughthe agencyof personal mprovement hat hierarchical ependencyagain entersworkingrelations n automatedndustries,although tplaysa somewhat mallerrolein the workperformancetself.Could the consumergoods societyever have prosperedwithoutt-henotion of the supremacyof one's privateexistencewithin thebosom of the nuclear family over all other competingvalues?

See the typical workers'responsesin Otto Neuloh, Der neue Betriebsstil(Tuibingen,960), ioi, andHeinrichPopitz et al., Das Gesellschaftsbilddes Ar-beiters(Tiibingen,1957), 227.'4 RobertBlauner,Alienation andFreedom Chicago,1964), i6i.



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PRIVATEMAN AND SOCIETYI 11

Whetherwe aredealingwith Crozier's heltered mploye n theac-countingofficeor the tobaccomonopoly,or with Zweig'sand Hog-gart'sBritishworkers,1"opitz'sGerman oundryworkers,or Lane'sself-reliant ndustrialmen, the experiences everywhere he same,theincreasing solationof the working-classndividual.Herewe aredealingnot only with the side effectsof boundary ines betweengroups, he factthat eachprofessionalgrouptries to surround tselfwith an artificialbarrieras a protective hield againsterosionof itsoccupational asisby advancingproduction echniques.Nor arewemerely dealingwith the impactof isolation of workplaces in non-automated ndustries. t is to thepoint that workers requentlypre-fer to work in isolation rather hanas membersof a group.16Thisattitude s in linewith the tendency o reducerisksand avoid con-flict situationspotentiallydamaging o one's own prospects.Thus,projects or collectiveworkers'actionagainstmanagement anruncounter o thepresumed nterestof the membersas individualpartsof ahierarchicallyrdered actoryorganization.17Self-isolationand withdrawal romparticipationn collectiveac-tion, even at thecost of loweringthe climateof thework place to atemperature hichexcludes he possibilityof collectiveaction,maybe perceived,at whateverpsychologicalcost, as the best meanstoavoid immediatedamage to a personal nterest situation.But theproblemmay go deeperthan the ambiguity nherent n a person'schoicebetweenupholdingcollectiveaction on the basis of sharedexperience ndthe safety of prescribedorrectnesswithin the workorganization.The climateof isolation s also part of a pseudo-bour-geois patternof existence.Professional rcommerciallementsmaycontinuouslycoalesceto exploresituationsaffecting hem, rally indefenseof an acquired ositionor battle thoseof others.Aftereachshort-livedcombination,heremay remaina nucleusof strongper-sonalrelationshipso be recombined ndreactivated t the spurofthe moment.Incontrast, or the executant, ongenialityof environ-ment andpeople"8may seem desirable,but possibilitiesof control-

2 FerdinandZweig, The Worker n an AffluentSociety (London,1961); Rich-ardHoggart, The Uses of Literacy London,1957).'See Neuloh, 236-37.lSee Daniel Mothe, Journald'unouvrier, 1956-1958 (Paris, 1959), a running

accountof such a situation.'8HerbertH. Hyman,"The ValueSystems of DifferentClasses: A SocialPsy-



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ling andmanipulatinghejobenvironment rerestricted; arrowlyconceivedeconomicnecessityremainsthe primaryconsideration.Once"theirsocialrightsto a living wage"19 avebeensecuredbythe evolution n productionechniques,with someassistancefromthestateandfromunionrepresentatives,he executant's nterest nhis position as anindustrial itizenrecedes.His reactions o the en-deavorsof officialspokesmen o interesthimin any kindof sociali-zationor co-determinationchemesaremildly enthusiastic, ome-what like a child'sfeelings towarda complicatedgift which willbringmorejoy andexcitement o the donorexperimentingwith itthantotherecipient.Theexecutant'snterest eansmore n the direc-tion of intra-organizationalewards, nhancinghis status, nitiative,andsalary.20Would theexperience f Crozier'sully bureaucratizedrganiza-tionscontributemajormodificationso thispictureof the worker'spassivityand solation?Thecompetitiveituationwhichcreatesam-biguous relationsbetweenpersonalinterestand collectiveactionmay be absent n the fully bureaucratizedrganization.Sincehe isprotected n his relationswith his hierarchical uperiorsby theworkingof impersonal ules,thepossibilityof formalandinformalpressures n theworkers ataminimum.2'Couldonenot argue hatwiththeexistenceof thisuniverseof protectivegroupsandindivid-ual positions,the blossomingof personal riendships ree from allimpediments f interestand loyalty claimsshouldbe the order oftheday?Buttheabsenceof competition s amajoragent of instabil-ity in intragroup elationsdoesnot seemto have had the expectedconsequences.Crozier'sexplanations,which emphasizethe con-chological Contribution o the Analysis of Stratification,"n ReinhardBendixand SeymourMartinLipset(eds.), Class,Status and Power,A Reader n SocialStratification (New York, 1953), 426, 433, Table 5.'1T. H. Marshall,Class, Citizenship,and Social Development(GardenCity,N. Y., 1964),1o6.' SeeBlauner, 06, Table45. It shouldbe especiallynoted that only thirty percent of the workersgave cynicalanswersin regard to the factorsdeterminingadvancement hancesand that advancement hancesaremorefavorable n auto-mated ndustries.Thisis in contrast o previouslyprevailingopinionsthatwork-ersexpectmorebenefits romcollectivelygrantedawards,anopinionstill upheldby Lipset in "TradeUnions and Social Structure:I," IndustrialRelations, I(1961),75-89. Thesametypeof factorymanagementorganizationorientation sreportedn Neuloh,205.' Crozier,Bureaucratic henomenon, 86.



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PRIVATE MAN AND SOCIETY | 13

tinued isolationof individuals n theirbureaucraticmilieu,rest onreasons peculiarto the Frenchpsychologicaland social structure.We shouldprefer o lookat this isolationand at the shallownessofinterpersonalelations,which engulfhumanbeingsworking n sub-ordinatepositionsunderdifferentypes of socialarrangements,s amoregeneralized henomenonn oursociety.Lackof initiative,compartmentalization,eelings of dependence(resultingeitherfromdirectsupervision,or fromthe decisionof ananonymousministryreachingdown to the lowest-levelexecutant)go hand n handwithan appreciableasingof boththe physicalbur-denof work and anincreasen materialbenefits.It is on thebasis ofboth the confiningconditionand the increase n materialrewardsthat workerresponsemust be considered.n a previousgeneration,whenwork was morearduousandmaterialrewards ess abundant,those workerswho translatedheirpersonalexperiencento a largersocial framework ftenespousedconceptsof socialequality.Vagueideas of amorejust societywere accompaniedy moreconcretem-ages of whatequalitywould meanin the contextof work organiza-tion. Theseimages includedfraternalrelationsof mutualrespectwhich wouldprevailbetween all ranks;hierarchicalelationswithstrict subordination f the lowest rankwere expected o fall by thewayside.

Duringthe courseof the last decades,workershave learned hatincreasingmaterialbenefits and a much greateramount of socialsecuritywere not accompaniedby greater equalityon the job.`2Whatevermayhavebeenchanged n theorganization f thegroupin commandof the enterprise,he workers'visions which had theleast chanceof realizationwere thosecoloredby any type of egali-tarian deology.Expectationsf moreegalitarianworkingconditionsfalteredwhenfacedwith the realitiesof the industrial ituation.Inthisrespectt seemssignificanthat, consideringhegreatdifferencebetweenvarious obsituationsdescribedn thispaper,a majorityofAmericanworkerswouldnotchooseagainthetypeof work nwhichtheyareengagednow.23

a Until recentlythe exceptionwould have been printerswho were consideredcraftsmenratherthan industrialworkers.' This is true, even thoughin the majorityof cases the sameworkershad noobjectionsto the specificenterprise n which they were working. See Blauner,202, Table37.



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It is in this contextthatthe questionof equalityandstatuscon-.sciousnessakeson newcontours. f workhierarchys unavoidable,if "thehorizon s closedandthechain s quitesolid,"24maintenanceof socialstatusbecomes implya matterof protectingone's ownin-terest.This is all the morethe case when the conditions eading toa betterjob in the workhierarchyare of purelyaccidentalnature(seniority,businessrequirementst a certaindate, etc.),andthere-fore requiremorerationalization nd fortification,or, as the casemay be, morecynicism.Yet, the workers'statusconsciousness,asdistinct romthat of theirartisanpredecessors, oes not give rise toany specialpride.25Theirreactionmay dependon the exactplacetheyholdin theworkinghierarchy.Thosewho areable to maintaintheirstatusmay at timeschaseawaymoodsof self-flagellationbyupgrading heirownrelative uccessandenhancingheirself-esteemthrough hinkingof their ess fortunatebrethren.Yet,suchtenden-ciesarequicklycountercheckedy industrialman's nterest n someof the materialaspectsof socialequality,helpinghim towardcon-struingastateobligation oprovide or the essentialsof life runningparallelandbeingsupplementedy his own efforts.Theworkerhashad enoughexperiencewith the quirksof the economicsystem towantthestateto putup both apermanent ollateral o be drawnonin caseofnecessityandpossiblysomeextras o bedistributed ncon-ditionallyrightnow.While theexistenceof aninsurancepolicymayenhancefeelings of security, t does not changeenvironmentandstyleof living.Manyattemptshave beenmadeto developtypologiesof how torelateexecutant lassexperience o thesurroundingworld.Thepre-dominanceof familyinvolvementwill, especially n the case of fe-maleworkers,displace heeffectof workexperience.Thesameworkexperiencemay lead to avarietyof reactionsaccordingo thedegreeof intensitywith whichtheparticularobexperiences internalizedby the respectivendividuals.But therearerelativelyfew ways totranslatethis reactioninto specificattitudestoward the outsideworld:an executantmaylook at the relationsbetweenhimselfandmanagement s an individualor as a collectiveconflictsituation nwhichmanagementholds most of the trumpcards,and he or his

24Workerquoted n AndrieuxandLignon,210.25Moth6,15. Forthe oppositetendencies owardself-devaluation, ee AndrieuxandLignon,192.



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PRIVATE MAN AND SOCIETY 115

group relativelyfew andweak ones.26Theremay be, on the otherhand, a completeabsenceof any societal mageand a completere-fusal to considerwhat is going on in the stratosphere bovehim.Both ways of experiencinghis job will frequentlyemergeas twooften-overlappingscaperoutes,and give rise to a type of existencein which thoseconditionswhich he missesmost take a pre-eminentplace: greaterdegreeof personal nitiative,and independenceromhierarchical rders.On the upper fringes,especially,of the whitecollarworkers,the executantmay feel confidentto take his ownrisks.There s ampleevidence hroughout ndustrial ociety thatmanyhave consideredattemptingescape with varyingdegreesof inten-sity. The mostfrequentgoal, the hope of buildinga smallbusiness,frequently erves as a psychological scapemechanism ather hanan actualalternative.27f theconditionsof personal xistencecannotbe changed,the individualcan strictlycompartmentalizeis com-mandperformance t the work shop andhis private ife. It shouldnot be said,however, that this renunciation nd withdrawalcomeeasily. Thereare a largenumberof workerswho want to connecttheiractivitymeaningfullywith the goalsof the organization.28othe extentthatthesehopesof participation refulfilled, he workercaninternalize heenterprise s a systemof participant rderratherthanas agrudgingly ecognized, utpsychologically esisted,neces-sity.There s also the moreambiguous ituationof partof the whitecollargroup.To whateversmall extentthey participaten the com-mandfunctionwhiletheyarestill at thebottomof a ladder, heyarenevertheless nit, and takeattitudes hatarehelpful n climbingt.29In themajorityof cases,however,suchconditionsare absent.Thisis duein partto theintrinsicdifficultiesof overcomingbasicantag-onisms n worker-managementelations.In part t is also due to apolicybarrier; he rightto meaningful nformationand discussion

Popitz, 233.a Thepointhas beendiscussed requently.See, for example,Ely Chinoy,Auto-mobile Workersand the AmericanDream (GardenCity, N.Y., 1955), 86, andAndrieux and Lignon, 104.' The point comes out most succinctly n Neuloh,86 ff., who, however,due tohis constant"harmonizing"endency,makes no attemptto assess the reasonsmilitatingagainst the fulfillmentof the urgeto participate.' See MichelCrozier,Le mondedes employe's e bureau Paris, 1965), 39, andhis discussionof Kroner'sTheoryof Delegation.



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16 I POLITICAL CIENCEQUARTERLY

can shade imperceptiblynto the right to disagreeand challenge,whichso farneitherpublicnorprivateenterprisewantsto recognize.Thus the maintendency s separationist. ob ife and private ifehaveno commondenominator. here s a scarcityof privatecontactsbetweenco-workers.Eighty-fivepercent of Crozier's ampleneversocializewith their colleagues.80uch separationistendenciesmaybereinforced y isolationat theworkplaceorby a competitiveworksituation.Twentyper cent of theworking orce consistsof so-called"skidders," eoplewho have beenunableto hold on to theirposi-tions.Inanticipation f the lossof a job,restriction f one'scontactsmay minimize he psychological amagecausedby sucha threat.Atthe same time, a policy of shunningdeeperpersonal nvolvementmight not stand n the way of upwardmobility,but favor it by thelack of affective ies. Whatever he impoverishment f the individ-ual'sexistence, solation releases he individual or a vigorouspar-ticipationn consumerociety,thusincreasinghe chance ora moretolerantacceptance f his job,which maynow be reinterpreteds akindof preconditionorhis consumer xistence."To be sociallyin-tegratedn Americas to acceptpropaganda,dvertisingandspeedyobsolescencen consumption."'"

LIMITEDINTERMEDIARIESWithprivatization f existencesynchronizedwith consumergoodsorientation,where does this leave the executant'sability to makecontactwith thewiderpurposesof society?If we say that his con-tribution estricts tself to his consumer ole of makingplannedob-solescencea success,we are asserting hat actingout his privatede-siresremainshis only publiccontribution.The executant's roblem-atictieswith the affairsof the widerpolity havebeen the objectofnumerousdiscussionswithinthe framework f pluralismand masssocietyschemes.This discussionhas emphasizedmainly the desta-bilizing politicalconsequences f isolation, especiallyfor membersof the lower classes,and resultanteasy accessibility o extremistpolitics. Executantelements,who in emergenciesmay be mobi-lizedby extremistdynamism,aremorelikely to stick to minimal

8 Ibid., 114; Zweig, 75-88.S'HaroldL.Wilensky,"MassSocietyand MassCulture,"AmericanSociologi-cal Review, XXIX (1964),176.



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PRIVATE MAN AND SOCIETY 117

politicalengagementn moresettledtimes.Theymay respondonlyin case they feel theirimmediatenterestsituation s threatened.How do thesevarioustheoriessee the executant'spositionin thepolity?Intheoriesbasedon pluralisticmodels,emphasisies in max-imal voluntaryparticipationn intermediate ocial organizationswhich arestrongenoughto operateautonomously,havingaccesstothe politicalelite,yet existing ndependently f it. At thesametime,it is expectedhatthe participationf membersn a systemof linkedpluralismwhich rests on simultaneousmembershipn variousor-ganizationsenhanceshechanceof maintaining roupbalanceeffec-tively.How does such pluralism it the life experienceof the executantclass?Themostimportantorganizationsor the rankandfile of theexecutant lass aretradeunionsandreligiousgroups.Thequalifica-tionsof thousandsof otherorganizations,rom stampcollectors ndglee dubs to antivivisectionistsand beekeepers,are doubtful.Par-ticipationmay possibly be intensive,but I fail to see how thesegroupsqualifyas intermediary owersbetween heofficialstateor-ganizationand the individualexcepton a very narrow front.TheGermanyof the WeimarRepublichadanuntold multitudeof asso-ciations of this hobby type which quicklytook to the prescribedbrown coloring n 1933. Intensiveparticipationn hobbies-oftenanother form of escapismfrom political reality-left the peoplestrandedn theirpolitical gnorance,ust as it left the countrywith-out a governmentenjoying sufficient politicalbacking by majorintermediaryocialorganizations.Few membersof the executantgroupwill becomeinvolved inspecialad hoc protestor promotiongroupson a nationallevel. Asharplydelineatedocalsituation-the changeof oran exception oa zoning regulation,a hospitalor school building program,a slotmachineor a liquor icenseproblem-may be a different tory.Peo-ple in the executantcategorywho are both familiarwith the issueandpossiblyhave an activepersonal nterest n it may bringtheirotherwisedispersedand isolatedpoliticalresources o bear on thedecision.32To the extentthat a particular onstitutional ettlement(theU.S. andSwitzerland,or example,as againstFranceandGer-

' Forthe by now classicdescription, ignificantboth for the descriptionof thepossibilities and limits of mobilizing individualresourcesfor local action, seeRobertA. Dahl, Who Governs? (New Haven, 1961), Chap.z6.



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18 I POLITICAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY

many) favorsparticipation f the local citizenry n the settlingoflocalfinancialssues,adhoc groupsmay ariseandcompetewith thepoliticalinfluentials or actualdecision-making,without enteringthe politicalarena n a more steadyfashion.33What,then, s the meaningof membershipn themajororganiza-tions of the executant lasses,the tradeunionsandreligiousbodies?Union memberships often a requiredpassportfor certainjobs.Undersuch circumstances,membershipmayimplyonly a remoteorperfunctory articipationn theunion'sactivities.Correspondingly,thedegreeof acceptance f theunion'sdecisions,closelyanalogousto that of governmental ecisions,mayrelatemainlyto factorshav-ing to dowith powerrather hanwith loyalty,andthereforeit onlymoderatelywellinto thepluralist cheme.Butthe natureof decision-makingmay shift andwith it the natureof membership ies to theorganization.In some categoriesof automatedenterprises,closerrelationswithin the workgroupmay develop,includinga greateramount of cooperationbetween operatorsand engineers.Thesecloserrelationsmayallow somesuccessful ocalized ollectiveactionagainsta managementmoreconcernedwith uninterruptedroduc-tion and more willingto compromise n the wage daims of an in-creasingly mallernumberof executants, t leastamongtheirwork-ing classstaff.The centraluniontypeof organizationwould be rele-gated to purely legitimizingbodies. Instead,decisionswould betakenon the spot by decentralizedypes of workerorganizationswith firmerroots in the workers'consciousness,and consequentlywith a greaterchanceof membership articipation.34f course,op-positetendenciesareas likely,if not more so. The stakeof workersin theenterprisemaybe so high as to leadto clearcutdentificationwith theenterprise.This identificationmay engulfthe existentele-ments of workers'representation.The workersmight accepttheenterprise ully as theirintermediaryor dealingwith the outsideworld.Werethis to occur,suchconditionswouldcreate, nstead of

3 Themanifoldsocial, economic,and politicalvariations of new groupentryinto andexit from the localpoliticalprocessarenow unraveled n RobertE. Ag-ger,DanielGoldrich,andBertE. Swanson,The Rulersandthe Ruled(NewYork,1964). The authorsrectify the somewhat over-optimisticconclusionsin regardto non-elite participationn the local politicalprocesswhichreadersmight drawif theywere to generalize rom Dahl'sNew Havenpicture.3 This hypothesis is discussed in Serge Mallet, La nouvelle classe ouvriere(Paris, 1963), 27-69.



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bureaucratic apergiants,dispersedcentersof more firmlyrootedauthority or theparticipants.35 nions wouldbecomea more vig-orousandpromising andidate or the roleof the major ntermediaryorganization.Thepossiblerole of religiousorganizationss still less easy to cir-cumscribewithoutconsidering heparticularities f case and coun-try. In spite of a thoroughsecularization f industrialsociety,anda correspondingncrease n purely nominalmembership, eligiousbodiesstill reachpotentiallymoremembersof the executantgroupsthan any otherorganization.Yet, to qualifyas an effective inter-mediaryorganization, uch bodies need not only have an existenceseparate rom the state, butalso need to appearo theirmembersasseparateentities. This requirement ertainlyraisesquestionsfor acountrysuch as Italy3" nd,to a somewhatminor degree,for WestGermany. n bothcasesthemajordenominationsodayareofficialbodies.TheUnitedStatessystem,on theotherhand,operateson thebasisof separationbetween state and a multiplicityof religious bodies,noneof which has a predominant osition.In the mind of an opti-mistic sociologist,37his arrangement as been one of the sourcesof success of the United States establishment.Accordingto thisinterpretation, isestablishment as been an incentive for turningchurches nto secular,utilitarian,and democraticestablishments,with a high degreeof "religiousmobility."Thevery use of the ex-pressiondenotesa latestageof developmentn commercial iviliza-

'An extremecase of management-workerollusion against the state has oc-curredrecently n Germany.Management nd works council often agreedon theintroductionof a private kind of court system for employes guilty of asocialconduct extending from infractions of factory rules to larceny and sexualmis-demeanors.Fines meted out by a combinedworkerand managementrepresenta-tion would settle problems,expeditiouslypreventing he wasting of scarce aborpower of defendantsand witnesses and the disturbanceby outside interferenceof enterpriseharmony. For some details, see Herbert Lederer,"Betriebsjustizetwas ausserhalb der Legalitat," GewerkschaftlicheMonatshefte,XVI (1965),215-19.' ForItaly,seeJosephLaPalombara,nterestGroups n Italian Politics(Prince-ton, 1964), Chap.IX. The authorhas coined a new concept,"parentela,"or theinterrelationbetween church,ancillarychurchbodies, political parties,and stateadministration.This state of affairs,however, is subject to changes-vide Aus-tria-where the dominant Catholic Churchhas, in the last decades,and despiteits character s a public nstitution, become ndependent rom the politicalsetup.SeymourMartinLipset, TheFirst New Nation (New York,1963).



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tion where religionmay be primarilyviewedas a social promotionscheme.Within this system, sects retaining elementsof an apocalyptictheology continueto preach to their flock the promiseof futureglory. Thesesects render he social systemanother ignificant erv-ice by reconciling heirflock to the notionthat the social system'sinequalitiesand iniquitiesare of strictly secondarymportance. nexchange, he politicalsystem, in spite of the sects' refusal to jointhe bandwagonof consumergoods orientation,grants them thesame type of protectionand recognitiongiven to the major churchorganizationswhich are more intent on transforming hemselvesinto institutions providing social service and status satisfaction."8The difficulty of this position, if looked at rather as an operativedevice within a pluralist society than as a description of previousdevelopment in the field of religious institutions, concerns the im-pact of those denominations which continue to play a role in con-firming status while their social service function is atrophying.39By raising specificsocial and moral problems on the basis of revealedtruth accepted as a binding norm by the community, the churchescreate an incomparablyfirmerposition for formulating and pressingdemands on government authority than were they to opine on abroad front of contemporary issues merely on the basis of theZeitgeist.In contrast, various sects which serve as institutionalized devicesfor the incapsulation of their members against the surroundingworld exercise a much stronger hold on their members. Because theyradically divert their members' interest from the hopeless affairs ofthis world,40 they arrive-except for occasional clashes with the

88 RodneyStark,"Class,Radicalism,and ReligiousInvolvement n GreatBrit-ain," AmericanSociological Review, XXIX(1964), 698-706. The author showsthat-with associational affiliation kept constant-differences between upper-class religious affiliation, seventy-threeper cent, middle-class, ifty-six per cent,and working class, thirty-nine per cent, are quite appreciable p. 703).8 The facts are scarcely controversial.See, for example, ArthurJ. Vidich andJoseph Bensman, Small Town in Mass Society: Power and Religion in a RuralCommunity (Princeton, 1958), 313. For the corresponding ading of religiousconsciousness ee Lane's nstructivecase studies, 129, 137. For the British mate-rial compareZweig, 146-53, and Hoggart,93-99.

4'See, for example, Wilbur Cash, The Mind of the South (New York,1941),291 ff.



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state authoritiesover compulsoryparticipation f the sects' mem-bers in state-orderedunctions-at easy coexistence hroughnon-participation.Thismay be a welcome featurefor a state authorityhard-pressed y manydemands,but it provides omewhatproblem-atic support or themodelof a society restingon the participationfindependentntermrediaries.A more favorablecandidate or the roleof such an intermediaryis offeredby the experience f a predominant,et independent ypeof church,as is presently ound in France.The absenceof any com-petition encouragesexperimentation, et prevents fragmentationaccording o socialstatuscategories.Thesecategories re a consider-ablebarrier o moraleffectiveness nd to theclaimto representative-ness for any religiousorganizationwhich has left the sect stagebehind t. The Frenchypeof independent hurch riesto solve theproblemof relating ts core activitiesto varioussocial subdivisionsby encouraging multitudeof ancillaryorganizationswith a certainamountof initiative n theirrespective ieldsof action. In thisway,the church nhancests legitimacy n its dialoguewith the state, ad-dressing he state either n theinterestof specialdisadvantaged ndunder-representedroupsor as a spokesman or broader ocialob-jectives.Knowing hatits effectivenesswouldnot reach urther hanthe active supportof its membersallows,the church ries the diffi-cult experiment f combining ormsfixedby traditionand dogmawith a widerrangeof socialandpoliticalchoices.Thechurchhas animpacton bothmembers ndpolity, which s themorepervasiveandubiquitousoronlyrarelymountinga directchallenge o the officialstateauthority.Factors avoringthe church'spositionareits inde-pendenceand distance romtheofficialstateapparatus,omecohe-sion in its religiouscore, absenceof a rigidpoliticalandsocialdoc-trine,and solutions of vexing decentralizationroblems hroughamultiplicityof semi-independent ncillaryorganizations.

MALLEABILITYAND DISTANCEThe associationalbalancesheetof the executants a checkered ne.Theincreasing houghtand effortthe officialworld gives to the im-provementof his conditionserves,to use T. H. Marshall'swords,not only "to raisethe floor-level n the basementof the social edi-fice,"but "to remodel he whole building."41The offeringsof the

' Marshall,io6.



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22 | POLITiCALSCIENCEQUARTERLY

mass media,in short, the possibilityof partaking n civilization'swareswithoutthenecessityof any activeengagement, oupledwitha heavy dose of skepticism owardthe motivationsof those doingthe offering("we are not buyingit") saps the executant's ommit-ment to any of the variouspolicy centersof society. He is theirclient, and thanks to theuniversalization f some political compe-tition and industry's nterest n any outlets, the executant'sneedsand reactionshave becomea matterof steady preoccupation orthosecenterswhichx-rayand analyze he needsand reactions f theexecutantas a preconditionor carryingout their combined erviceand domesticationob.Butthe occasionswhen the executant nters nto communicationwith these centersremain imited.Evenduringthe work process,whichprovideshis mostvital, frequent,anddirectcontactwith theworld outside the shoppingcenterhorizon, the executant'ssocialcommunications restricted o his peers andthenext higherexecu-tant echelon.42Otherwise,verticalrelationsare conducted itherona purelyceremonialevel or througha class of professionalsocialmiddlemen:he clergyman, he laborpolitican, the personneloffi-cer,who serveas linksor,toput t differently, heckup on, or orient,theworldof the executant.Onemighttherefore urnaround,as has recentlybeendone,andcontestthevalidityof the pluralistassumptionaltogether.43 hereareenough examplesof how the channelingof intensiveloyalty tocohesiveand strongintermediary rganizationsof the movementor secttype may deprive hestateor officialparticipantsn thepolit-ical processof communicationwith the adherentsof such move-mentsorsects,whileallowingsuchbodiesto checkmate ndatrophythe officialmachinery.To avoidsuch a misfortune,one might feelconstrained ither to put more relianceon the individualagain,orresort o the beneficialequalizing endenciesof mass culturewhichwill in time even out the differencesbetweenthe variouspopularstratain the industrialuniculture.Meanwhile, he most resource-ful individualsof theexecutant lassesmayhavedeveloped noughupwardsocial mobility and found their way into the executive

4 See the figuresgiven by Neuloh,88-89.4Joseph R. Gusfield,"Mass Societyand ExtremistPolitics," AmericanSocio-logical Review, XXVII (1962), 19-30. See also Charles Perrow, "The SociologicalPerspectiveand PoliticalPluralism,"Social Research,XXXI (1964), 411.



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PRIVATEMAN AND SOCIETY| 23

classes. Theirself-reliancemay be sufficient o allow them to findtheirway through hejungleof the industrialandscape;heircon-tributionto the politicalprocessis likely to be moremodest.Theexecutant s unlikelyto disturbthe politicalprocess,but, if calledupon,he makeshis legitimizinggesture.Wilensky nsiststhatmassculturewill evenout the apparatus f perceptionn useby differentgroups,and create,in the long run, consistentbehaviorbetweenvariousgroups,classes,andfieldsof activities.44 o the extentthatthis contentionmakesthepoint thatpluralisticman andmassmanare not essentiallydifferententities,it is well taken.Pluralisticor-ganizations uchas themedia, heestablished hurches,hemeneursdes masses (as RaymondAron calls the politicalas well as the in-dustrial eadership)which channelize,ndoctrinate, nd amusethemasses,will continueto speakin different ongues.Theirmessageremainsthe same:You neverhad it so good, be friendlyto eachother,and,aboveall, do not upsetthe applecart.Butwhatwill be the reactionamongthe executants?Or is evensucha question llicit?Has not indoctrinationn the ways of masssocietyproduced commonway of experiencingeality?Wouldonenot want to concludethat whateverdifferencesdo exist are dueeitherto differentpeopleexercisingdifferent unctions n line withtheircapacities,or to very personaldeviations, hat is, reactions othe commonfare of civilizationwhich can be explainedby differ-encesin personality?Butis it trueto assertthat all classesperceivereality n thesamewaybecause heyareall subject o thesame evel-ing mass culture nfluencesn after-working-hours?oes this wayof lookingatthingsnotneglectthedifferent oleof media n thelifeof variousclasses? s theperception f a different apacity o manip-ulaterealitynot a more constantandmorepowerfulelement n hu-man behaviorthan the unifying mass culturetheory?Is the phe-nomenonof isolationand withdrawal,conditionedas it is by theexperience f the executant ndhis position n industrial ociety,notidenticalwith thepermanent elplessnesswhichhe feelsbecauseofthe narrow imits within whichhe is able to manipulate eality?Yettheonly thingwhichmass culturecannotdo is to change heselimi-tationsin dealingwith reality.To that extentthe growingidentityof consumer eactionn the fieldof politicaland economic onsump-

" Wilensky,"MassSocietyandMassCulture,"8o.



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24 1POLITCAL SCIENCE QUARTERLY

tion will notclose thegap.It maywell be thatelectoralresponse oIke'spersonality anbe dosely correlatedwith responses o undis-cussedgasolineads.45Does this meanthat the executant's istasareinfinitelymalleableby all organizationsworking n the contextofmasssociety?I thinkthat the combined ystemof consumergoodsorientationandwithdrawal o one'sprivacy allows a different n-terpretation.Mostof whatcanbesingledout as relevantbehaviorarereactionswithinthecontextof mass-consumernstitutions.Whichcandidateof two competingcatch-allmasspartiesthe executantvotes for, towhichbrandof gasolinehe giveshis temporary llegiance,whatTVprogramhe switcheson, may have important onsequencesor thepurveyorof therespectivegoods. Butfor the individual hese deci-sionsdraw theirimportance nly fromthe fact that they create heillusionof a marginof initiative.Fora fleetingmomenthe may en-

joy this initiativeand thenbecomea victim of subliminalguidanceby thepurveyorsof thesearticles.Whilehe might carefor the illu-sion of initiative,he caresfor nothingelse in this decision,becauseit doesnot constitutea meaningfulcontributiono his problemofhow to enlargehis controloverreality.Thus,theprivacyof masscivilization s at thesame timeprivacyandprotectionagainst mass civilization.The mass man as a pro-ducerandas aconsumermay overlap,buttheyarenot identical.Thefactthat massman escapes rom thefirst role to the seconddoesnotgivethe secondrolecomplete ontroloverhim.Thus,fromthe view-pointof masscivilization, he executant'swithdrawaland isolationremainsambiguous. tmakeshim thecustomer f masscivilization,but as in thecase of the associationswhichthe massmanjoins,hedoesnot becometheirprisoner.Massman'swithdrawals not re-lated to self-confidenceor coolness toward those agencies whichguidehis consumer ndleisure ime satisfactions.Thereason s thattheseagenciesareinsufficiently elated o themajorproblemof hisexistence:his purpose n life. Even if tomorrow's onsumer ocietycouldfillhis lastdesires, herefore,anddo a stillmoreperfect obincreatinguninterruptedly ew ones, mass man would still have achanceto escape.The consciousnessof his inabilityto controlhisjob is at the same time the measureof mass man'sdistance frombeingirrevocably ngulfedby masssociety.

' Ibid.

the private man and society, otto kirchheimer

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