The Society of Dividuals: Virtualization of Existence - Couverture souple

Bordoni, Carlo

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1509572791 ISBN 13 : 9781509572793

Editeur : Polity Press, 2026

Synopsis

Human history is a history of individuals - of kings and queens, of leaders and thinkers and of the many individuals who struggle, work hard and find their paths in life. It is also the history of individuation, understood as a continuous search for autonomy, self-affirmation and the achievement of personal goals. But today, this process of individuation is coming to an end and morphing into its opposite - disindividuation. The individual is giving way to the progressive loss of individuality and social life is turning into the society of "dividuals" - that is, beings who are becoming unaware of their uniqueness and who are losing their sense of self. The main driver of this process is technology. The more that individuals rely on technological devices to fill the social void and mitigate loneliness, the more they are recognized not so much for themselves but as the bearers of the devices that contain all the information necessary for their identity: images, texts and the digital traces of earlier exchanges. Individuals increasingly renounce their privacy, sharing it with a device that becomes an integral part of themselves. Deprived of uniqueness, the dividual is a lonely being who no longer has the ability to relate effectively to others and to external reality. We move towards a future without hope, immersed in the ever-innovative flow of information on screens, content to survive the present, as if nothing mattered. Human history is a history of individuals - of kings and queens, of leaders and thinkers and of the many individuals who struggle, work hard and find their paths in life. It is also the history of individuation, understood as a continuous search for autonomy, self-affirmation and the achievement of personal goals. But today, this process of individuation is coming to an end and morphing into its opposite - disindividuation. The individual is giving way to the progressive loss of individuality and social life is turning into the society of "dividuals" - that is, beings who are becoming unaware of their uniqueness and who are losing their sense of self. The main driver of this process is technology. The more that individuals rely on technological devices to fill the social void and mitigate loneliness, the more they are recognized not so much for themselves but as the bearers of the devices that contain all the information necessary for their identity: images, texts and the digital traces of earlier exchanges. Individuals increasingly renounce their privacy, sharing it with a device that becomes an integral part of themselves. Deprived of uniqueness, the dividual is a lonely being who no longer has the ability to relate effectively to others and to external reality. We move towards a future without hope, immersed in the ever-innovative flow of information on screens, content to survive the present, as if nothing mattered.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Carlo Bordoni is a sociologist and the author of Ethical Violence, Post-Society and, with Zygmunt Bauman, State of Crisis.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Polity Press
• Date d'édition: 2026
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1509572791
• ISBN 13: 9781509572793
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 224
• Coordonnées du fabricant: Easy Access System Europe Oü, 16879218; gpsr.requests@easproject.com; ; Mustamäe tee 50, 10621, Tallinn, Estonia; Tallinn; 10621; Estonie