You are right David, it has that kind of an outcome. Passivity and evasion of responsibility amongst biologically grown up people is that hallmark of an infantilised disposition.
There's a sense, here, isn't there, of relieving people of the "burden" of responsibility in order to take gain greater control over them? Might this be a further feature leading to infantilization .... which might tie back to, and be yet another facet of, your 'therapeutic culture' argument?
I think this an excellent, and required, summary of the topic. Thank you. I'm a fan, too, of Christopher Lasch's 'Communitarianism or Populism' essay in The Revolt of the Elites (1994): "Populism is the authentic voice of democracy. It assumes that individuals are entitled to respect until they prove themselves unworthy of it, but it insists that they take responsibility for themselves."
You are right David, it has that kind of an outcome. Passivity and evasion of responsibility amongst biologically grown up people is that hallmark of an infantilised disposition.
Yes - responsibility is key - a missing ingredient in contemporary political culture!
There's a sense, here, isn't there, of relieving people of the "burden" of responsibility in order to take gain greater control over them? Might this be a further feature leading to infantilization .... which might tie back to, and be yet another facet of, your 'therapeutic culture' argument?
I think this an excellent, and required, summary of the topic. Thank you. I'm a fan, too, of Christopher Lasch's 'Communitarianism or Populism' essay in The Revolt of the Elites (1994): "Populism is the authentic voice of democracy. It assumes that individuals are entitled to respect until they prove themselves unworthy of it, but it insists that they take responsibility for themselves."