The Lonely Crowd

by David Riesman

  Is it conceivable that these economically privileged Americans will some day wake up to the fact that they overconform? Wake up to the discovery that a host of behavioral rituals are the result, not of an inescapable social imperative but of an image of society that, though false, provides certain secondary gains for the people who believe in it? Since character structure is, if anything, even more tenacious than social structure, such an awakening is exceedingly unlikely—and we know that many thinkers before us have seen the false dawns of freedom while their compatriots stubbornly continued to close their eyes to the alternatives that were, in principle, available. But to put the question may at least raise doubts in the minds of some.

  Occasionally city planners put such questions. They comprise perhaps the most important professional group to become reasonably weary of the cultural definitions that are systematically trotted out to rationalize the inadequacies of city life today, for the well-to-do as well as for the poor. With their imagination and bounteous approach they have become, to some extent, the guardians of our liberal and progressive political tradition, as this is increasingly displaced from state and national politics. In their best work, we see expressed in physical form a view of life which is not narrowly job-minded. It is a view of the city as a setting for leisure and amenity as well as for work. But at present the power of the local veto groups puts even the most imaginative of city planners under great pressure to show that they are practical, hardheaded fellows, barely to be distinguished from traffic engineers.

  However, just as there is in my opinion a greater variety of attitudes toward leisure in contemporary America than appears on the surface, so also the sources of Utopian political thinking may be hidden and constantly changing, constantly disguising themselves. While political curiosity and interest have been largely driven out of the accepted sphere of the political in recent years by the focus of the press and of the more responsible sectors of public life on crisis, people may, in what is left of their private lives, be nurturing newly critical and creative standards. If these people are not strait-jacketed before they get started—by the elaboration and forced feeding of a set of official doctrines— people may some day learn to buy not only packages of groceries or books but the larger package of a neighborhood, a society, and a way of life.

  If the other-directed people should discover how much needless work they do, discover that their own thoughts and their own lives are quite as interesting as other people’s, that, indeed, they no more assuage their loneliness in a crowd of peers than one can assuage one’s thirst by drinking sea water, then we might expect them to become more attentive to their own feelings and aspirations.

  This possibility may sound remote, and perhaps it is. But undeniably many currents of change in America escape the notice of the reporters of this best-reported nation on earth. We have inadequate indexes for the things we would like to find out, especially about such intangibles as character, political styles, and the uses of leisure. America is not only big and rich, it is mysterious; and its capacity for the humorous or ironical concealment of its interests matches that of the legendary inscrutable Chinese. By the same token, what my collaborators and I have to say may be very wide of the mark. Inevitably, our own character, our own geography, our own illusions, limit our view.

  But while I have said many things in this book of which I am unsure, of one thing I am sure: the enormous potentialities for diversity in nature’s bounty and men’s capacity to differentiate their experience can become valued by the individual himself, so that he will not be tempted and coerced into adjustment or, failing adjustment, into anomie. The idea that men are created free and equal is both true and misleading: men are created different; they lose their social freedom and their individual autonomy in seeking to become like each other.

  INDEX

  Adams, Brooks, 183n.

  Adjustment, 71, 240; defined, 242–43; of inner-directed, 250; and anomie 244; of other-directed, 259–60; through work, 264–65

  Advertising, 80, 97–99, 228–29, 273, 301–02

  Alger, Horatio, 92, 149

  Alorese culture, 241

  American Magazine, 151

  Anderson, Sherwood, 121

  Anomic type, 240, 243–46, 257, 274–75

  Antagonistic cooperation, 81–83, 101, 137, 139, 152, 213–141, 232, 234, 264

  Anxiety, of other-directed, 25, 27, 47–48, 51, 64, 136, 148, 150, 177, 258, 260, 273, 280, 285

  Apathy, 124–25, 244; and sex, 145; political, 27, 34, 165–71, 191, 193, 197–98, 265; of primitive societies, 240

  Asch, Solomon E., 155n.

  Athenian empire, 25–27

  Audience: in tradition-directed society, 86–87; in inner-directed society, 89–91; in other-directed society, 150, 188, 190, 193–95, 197, 298

  Augustine, St., 124

  Automatization, 269–74

  Autonomy, 239, 241–42, 257–58; and curve of population, 246–48; and choice of occupation, 248; in tradition-directed society, 240, 246–47; in inner-directed society, 248–55; in other-directed society, 108, 255–60; in work, 261–75; in play, 276–303

  Avery, Sewell, 216, 219

  Avocational counselors, 299–301

  Bagehot, Walter, 78n.

  Beauvoir, Simone de, 255, 261

  Becker, Howard C., 61n., 194n.

  Bellamy, Edward, 120, 249, 273–74

  Benedict, Ruth, 4, 225–26, 230, 231, 232, 234, 241

  Berelson, Bernard, 78n.

  Berle, A. A., Jr., 114

  Bernard, Claude, 252–53

  Bible, 90, 96, 180

  Blake, William, 80

  Blumer, Herbert, 150n.

  Bohemianism, 257–58

  Breckenridge, M. E., 105

  Burnham, James, 20, 225

  Businessman: and craft skill, 129–31; inner-directed and other-directed, 130–31, 134–35; and price leadership, 131–32; motives for entrepreneurship, 132–33; peer-group and fair trade, 131; and professional help, 133–34; and “fun” in business, 135; attitudes toward power, 207–13, 216–17, 230; power position of, 217–20; attitudes toward, 231–32

  Butler, Samuel, 49, 50

  California, 221–22

  Carnegie, Dale, 149–50

  Catholic Church, 14, 212, 217

  CCC camps, 263, 274

  Censorship, 80–91, 104

  Character: social function of, 5–6; and social change, 3, 28–29; and curve of population growth, 8, 31–33; ideal types, 9; tradition-directed, 11–13, 16; inner-directed, 13–17; other-directed, 17–24; the three types compared, 24–26; autonomous, 240–41, 243, 246, 249–60; agents of formation, 37–38; politics as, 180. See also Inner-directed; Other-directed; Tradition-directed; Children; Dwelling; Family; Mass media; Myth; Parents; Peer-group; Teachers

  Characterological struggle, 31–35, 260

  Chesterfield, Lord, 66, 91

  Chicago Sun-Times, 265

  Chicago Tribune, 193, 215, 265

  Child market, 96–99, 301–303

  Children: character formation, 5, 21, 37–38; in tradition-directed society, 38–40, 42, 51, 85–86; in inner-directed society, 40–45, 87–95; in other-directed society, 45, 47–57, 60–65, 70–72, 96–108, 288. See also Parents; Peer-group; Play; Teachers

  Churchill, Winston, 210, 211

  City planners, 185, 278, 306

  Civil War (U.S.), 173, 179, 207

  Clark, Colin, 9, 20

  Class: upper middle class and other-direction, 14–16, 51; “old” and “new” middle class, 16, 47–48; relation to character structure, 37, 55; in tradition-directed society, 38–40; and the peer-group, 47, 70; effects upon literature, 91–92; and consumption, 117–19, 141–42, 144–45, 157; and popular culture, 153; and politics, 163, 177, 184, 206–08, 213; and work, 262–63; as defense of inner-directed, 254; and envy, 268. See also Ruling class; Status

  Comics, 93, 98–105, 155. See also Mass media

  Communism, 182, 248

  Competition:
among inner-directed, 81, 113–15; among other-directed, 46, 81–82, 139–40; in veto groups, 213–14. See also Antagonistic cooperation; Goals; Individuality

  Conformity, and fear of nonconformity, 77, 139–40, 150, 181, 241–43, 257–58. See also Character-ological struggle

  Consumer trainee, 74–75, 96–98, 104, 149

  Consumption, conspicuous, 117–18, 226–27, 230

  Consumption, patterns of, 19, 73; inner-directed, 116–23; other-directed, 150, 189–91, 227, 290. See also Food; Leisure; Peer-group

  Cookbooks, 142, 144–45, 147

  Craftsmanship, 129–31, 138, 290, 292–95, 297, 299. See also Hobbies; Work

  Crampton, Gertrude, 105

  Cultural pluralism, 283, 284

  Cynicism, 174, 195–96

  Defoe, Daniel, 92–93, 102

  De Man, Henri, 270

  Depression, 138, 288

  Deviants, 11, 241–42, 244, 249–51. See also Anomic type

  Dewey, Thomas E., 191

  Distribution system, 137, 143, 272–74, 287. See also Consumption

  Divorce, 281

  Dobuan culture, 226–27, 230–31, 241, 278

  Dress, 157

  Drucker, Peter, 20, 218

  Durkheim, Emile, 125, 242

  Dwellings, 39, 43, 48, 53, 296

  Education: progressive, 60–65; Dalton plan, 63; in phase of transitional growth, 87; vogue of general, 136. See also Teachers

  Eisenhower, Dwight D., 191, 195

  Enforced privatization, 264, 266–67, 271, 276–85, 304

  Entertainers, 76–78, 97–98, 286, 289, 291–92

  Erikson, Erik H., 5, 33, 178

  Ethnic groups, privatization of, 283–84

  Etiquette, 11, 73–76, 91–92

  Factory worker, 267–68, 270–71

  Fair trade, 131–32, 135

  Fairy tales, 100, 101, 107. See also Myth

  False personalization, 261–64, 269–75, 277, 304

  Family, 38–40, 45, 66, 86, 96, 254, 281. See also Parents

  Featherbedding, 268, 269, 271, 279

  Federalist Papers, 173

  Fielding, Henry, 3

  Fiske, Marjorie, 83n.

  Folk dancer, 295

  Food, 142–45, 284

  Forster, E. M., 121

  Fortune, 47, 134, 218

  Fountainhead, The, 156

  Franklin, Benjamin, 92

  Freidson, Eliot, 100n.

  Freud, Sigmund, 13, 30n., 44, 46, 50n., 253n., 269n.

  Fromm, Erich, 4, 5, 19n., 22n., 114n., 251, 255, 263n.

  Funt, Allen, 121

  Galileo, 250

  Gans, Herbert J., 190n.

  Gesell, Arnold, 61

  Glamor, 191–92, 202, 208–10, 266–69, 301

  Goals: choice of, 5–6, 40–44, 48; tradition-directed, 12, 18; inner-directed, 15–16, 18, 40, 73, 76, 79, 91, 93, 101, 115, 124–25, 175, 250; changes in, 89–90, 91–93, 150; in literature, 93–95, 149–50; other-directed, 79, 128, 137–38, 155, 234, 288, 294; of other-directed businessmen, 132–33; and modern uncertainty, 137–39, 305–06

  Goldsen, Joseph M., 218

  Goodman, Percival and Paul, 270

  Grandmothers, 56–57, 70

  Granger Movement, 172, 207

  Green, Arnold, 19

  Greenson, Ralph, 244

  Griswold, A. Whitney, 149

  Guilt, 24, 25, 274, 279–80, 288

  Hauser, Philip, 150n.

  Havighurst, Robert J., 148 and n.

  Hearst, W. R., 192–93, 197

  Heroes, 73, 99–104, 120, 250

  Hobbies, 68–69, 142, 292–96

  Holmes, Justice Oliver Wendell, Jr., 227n.

  Hoslett, S. D., 218n.

  Hot rodders, 293–94, 299

  Howe, Helen, 154

  Hughes, Everett, 130n, 139

  Huizinga, A., 16

  Huxley, Aldous, 29

  Immigrants, 32–34, 127, 166, 283–84

  Indians, American, 5, 33, 95, 225–28. See also Kwakiutl; Pueblo

  Indispensables, 269–70

  Individuality: in tradition-directed societies, 11–12, 15–16, 17, 40; in inner-directed, 16, 17, 79, 81–82; and progressive education, 60; and consumption, 79–82; and the press, 88, 96; and other-directed character, 107–08, 137, 241. See also Autonomy

  Industrial Relations, 65, 111, 127–28, 133–34

  Industrialization: and war, 14, 18, 35–36; and child labor, 17; in phase of incipient decline, 17–20, 45, 74–75, 85; and other-directed, 18; and frontier economy, 26; and literacy, 87–88; and literature, 92–93; and inner-directed, 112–14, 117–18; and government planning, 113; and the new revolution, 128; and changing character structure, 247–48

  Inner-directed character, 8; defined, 14–15; and tradition, 15–16; and role of parent, 40–44, 45, 48; goals of, 45, 115–16, 138–39; and other-directed, 45, 159–60; and role of teacher, 58–60; and peer-group, 66–70; and competition, 81–82; and literacy, 87–94; and work, 111–16; relation to product, 112; and property, 114; in Russia and India, 114–15; and self-approval, 123–24; and tradition-directed, 124–25; and apathy, 124–25; in professions today, 130–31; interest in food, 142–43; and sex, 145–46; leisure of, 156–58; in politics, 172–180; and autonomy, 249–55, 260; in Renaissance, 247; hobbies of, 292–93, 294. See also Play; Politics; Population; Work

  Ives, Charles, 274

  Jahoda, Marie, 296

  James, Henry, 121, 228, 276

  James, William, 114n.

  Janowitz, Morris, 55n.

  Jazz, 78, 108, 285, 294, 299

  Jews, 156, 212, 214, 222, 283–85

  Joyce, James, 223

  Key, V. O., 221

  Keynes, John Maynard, 119

  Kingsley, Charles, 249

  Knupfer, Genevieve, 166n.

  Kriesberg, Louis, 194n.

  Kwakiutl Indians, 226–28, 231–35, 240, 258

  Labor unions, 112, 173–74, 214, 216, 218–19

  Ladies’ Home Journal, 76, 151, 153

  Lassalle, Ferdinand, 253n.

  Lasswell, Harold D., 164n.

  Lazarsfeld, Paul, 78n., 135, 198n.

  Leisure, 18, 20, 46n., 54, 89, 110–11, 116, 119–23, 136, 149–50, 155, 158, 160, 276, 279, 280, 282, 284–85, 286–97, 299–301, 306–07. See also Play

  Leites, Nathan, 144, 164n., 244n.

  Lewin, Kurt, 30

  Life, 55n., 62, 81, 199, 298

  Literacy, 87–91, 95–96, 166, 168, 171

  Literature: and the rise of capitalism, 92–93; and inner-directed character formation, 91, 149; heroism in, 99–101; Tootle the Engine, 104–07; and other-directed character formation, 106–07, 149–51, 155–56; “Rebellion of Willy Kepper,” 151–52; “Let’s Go Out Tonight,” 152–53; We Happy Few, 154–55; The Fountainhead, 156

  Livermore, Charles, 298n.

  Loeb, Martin B., 19n., 148

  Loneliness, 69–70, 155, 158, 287, 307

  Low, Lillian, 218

  Lowenthal, Leo, 209n.

  Lundberg, George, 292

  Lynd, Helen Merrill, 70

  Lynd, Robert S., 70, 230

  Lynes, Russell, 145

  MacMurray, Fred, 144

  Malthus, Thomas, 10, 36

  Manipulation, 51–52, 53, 63, 129–31, 140–50, 240. See also False personalization; Other-directed character

  Mann, Thomas, 113

  Marginal differentiation, 46–47, 69, 78, 81, 102, 139, 142–43, 239

  Market research, 97–99, 133–34, 198, 302

  Marx, Karl, 112, 249, 255, 286, 305

  Mass media: in period of incipient decline, 20–22; and children, 50–51, 55; and the peer-group, 21–22, 80, 82; and modern communications, 84; in period of transitional growth, 87–96; and other-directed, 96–104, 107–08, 158; freedom of peer-group from, 107–08; and consumer training (food), 142–43; and sex, 147; and popular culture, 150, 178; and politics, 174, 176, 181, 184, 187, 189, 190–91, 197–200, 204–05; and tolerance, 189, 192–93; pr
essures on, 192–93; critics of, 197, 291; other-directed attitudes toward, 198–99; hierarchy of, 199; power to change, 205; as tutors in consumership, 290; contributions to autonomy, 291

  Materialism, 228, 229, 297

  Mayo, Elton, 270

  McCarthy, Mary, 228n.

  McKinley, William, 207–08, 210

  McWilliams, Carey, 221

  Mead, G. H., 246

  Mead, Margaret, 4, 41n., 49n., 280–81

  Means, Gardner C., 114

  Merton, Robert K., 78n., 185n., 194n., 198n., 242n., 296

  Meyerson, Martin and Margy, 169

  Middle Ages, 6, 7, 12–13, 16, 92–93, 165

  Mill, John Stuart, 43, 211–12, 239, 255–56, 258

  Mills, C. Wright, 19, 78n., 225

  Monopolistic competition, 46, 97, 132–33, 213–14

  “Mood engineering,” 266, 275

  Morale, 65, 128, 136, 267–68

  Movies, 97, 200; and conspicuous consumption, 117; realism of, 102–03; and consumer orientation, 150; heroes of, 100, 102–03, 155–56; and moralizing, 198–99; and politics, 212–13; and play, 290–92; and taste, 297–99; House of Strangers, 41; Curse of the Cat People, 52; Torment, 58; Three Musketeers, 100; Citizen Kane, 117; Ghost Goes West, 117; Going My Way, 123; Body and Soul, 156; Home of the Brave, 197, 199; A Letter to Three Wives, 229, 290; Everybody Does It, 290; Mr. Belvedere series, 290–92. See also Mass media; Popular culture