Save us from the community crusade

In his latest book, “The Great Disruption: Human Nature and the Reconstruction of Social Order,” scholar Francis Fukuyama argues that America’s transition into the information economy has produced greater individualism, a more fragmented society, less social trust, more crime, more divorce, and a whole set of other unpleasant social problems.

To be sure, part of his thesis sounds plausible enough. During the Agricultural Revolution, society was probably extremely collectivist: close ties to the extended family were apparent; the community was supreme; communitarianism undoubtedly prevailed. And during the Industrial Revolution, the extended family probably diminished, the nuclear family emerged, and society undoubtedly became more individualistic.

Fukuyama is right: American society, in many respects, has become much more disjointed–more fragmented, more diverse and, yes, even more individualistic. He is also right in contending that accelerating technological development has been one of the central catalysts behind this relentless trend.

But he errs in claiming that more individualism is bad for society and bad for the country, because with each succeeding major historical shift, from the Agricultural Revolution to the Industrial Revolution, to the dawn of the Information Age, as society becomes more secular and individualistic, it has also become more prosperous and free.

Observe the collectivist countries of Asia, Japan included, as they struggle through a major regional recession, through the lingering Asian financial crisis. Can there be any doubt that Korea, Japan and most of Asia are homogenized, collectivist and community minded? and that they lack the diversity and the rugged individualism that naturally gives rise to unrivaled American innovation and ingenuity?

America has a lower unemployment rate than Japan and Germany. America has a low inflation rate. America has a booming stock market. America is the world’s leader in technological development. America is unbeatable in cultural and entertainment exports.

And yet a great many people want to return to the primitive–to the good old collectivist, community-minded days of the industrial and agricultural revolutions. They want to return to the dark ages, to a time before secular individualism became supreme.

The community crusade comes from both the Left and the Right. As GOP presidential candidate George W. Bush recently stated:

“The invisible hand works many miracles. But it cannot touch the human heart…..We must renew these values to restore our country…. We are a nation of rugged individuals. But we are also the country of the second chance — tied together by bonds of friendship and community and solidarity….”

Apparently, only the Libertarians want to be free, to be left alone, to pursue personal–and individual–life, liberty, property and happiness, rather than “community and solidarity” (whatever that means: high taxes, socialism, Internet censorship?).