Ego To Self Actualisation

And in this final instalment, the dilemma of today’s society is that it must continue for the interim to use possessive individualism whilst at the same time re position itself for the future where the current structure no longer provides the necessary conditions for survival and the growth of brands and organisations. An individual’s humanity and individualism more than ever, depends on her interconnectivity, relationships and connections with others delivered by social media, social connections, social networking and the web!

Living today and in the immediate future demands that individuals become capable of designing and directing their own experiences. Thinking of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, (1971) capitalism saw us enter the ‘ego’ state with a flurry of activity after WWII. The 21^st Century will see the western world forge straight into a period of long overdue self-actualisation.

Individuals are becoming more forceful in a world of diverse global forces. John B Thompson comments “Why do members of the life world not perceive that what they are threatened by is the uncontrolled growth of system complexities, rooted ultimately in the dynamics of capital accumulation and valorisation? Why do they not resist this growth directly and demand, in an open and widespread way, the transformation of the economic system that underlies it?”

It’s difficult to give up the only thing we were ever taught to aim for. However, just now, under the line and discreetly, a small wave of change has begun. individualism is departing to personalisation. Once it builds momentum, it will make sweeping changes to the world and the society we live in. Social media, technology and the future collapse of corporate structure have contributed and will continue to be the key axes in the cutting down of what we traditionally know as capitalism.

There have always been bohemians; people living on the edge, transient, creative, anti establishment, non traditional and slightly marginalised. May I suggest this paper should have been entitled “A Mass of Bohemians.” Now there is a thought!