1. Inner-Directedness and other-Directedness in New Perspective.
- Author
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Williams, Walter
- Subjects
- *
ESSAYS , *CRITICISM , *SET theory , *SOCIOLOGY , *HUMAN behavior - Abstract
In Culture and Social Character, several authors have written essays primarily devoted to a criticism of The Lonely Crowd. An unfortunate aspect of the former book is that it is most difficult to ascertain whether the total impact of the criticism is to destroy the concepts of inner- and other-directedness or whether the analysis has enhanced their meaningfulness by correcting flaws in methodology and emphasis. Also, if the latter is true, there is the further problem of a consistent use of the Riesman topology. In the first part of this paper I will bring together various statements from Culture and Social Character that put the question of the validity of the concepts in better perspective, define the terms inner- and other-directedness more rigorously, and show the usefulness of the concepts in their sociological context as action (behavior) patterns coming about in response to differing structural settings. The first section of the paper will in a sense establish benchmark of meaning for the concepts by solidifying the argument for their use in describing particular types of action patterns. In later sections I will speculate as to the psychological and historical bases of the Riesman topology relying on work that has been published after The Lonely Crowd. Since my discussion will range over several areas, it seems appropriate to offer first a rather lengthy sketch of my entire argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 1964
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