Individualization and Social Morality

SELF Project Line 6

Research conducted as part of Project Line 6 will investigate the relationship between self, social morality, and solidarity in advanced welfare societies. Does increasing relevance of independence and individual autonomy coincide with growing acceptance of social inequality? Would at the same time increasing economization and individualization contribute to the emergence of (especially right-wing) social movements which propagate a strong we-group with pronounced interdependent ties? Thus, these projects would not only investigate the role of independence-interdependence in individual thinking, feeling, and action, but rather in the emergence of large scale societal changes (i.e., for both institutions/organizations as well as the societal structure and culture as a whole).

Download the long description of project line 6, including potential research questions on individualization and social morality.