APS301 Quiz #3 Study Questions

You are strongly encouraged to plan your answers to questions on your quizzes and finalexam. This may be accomplished by answering the following questions:

What are the principal points you need to make in order to build a complete answer tothe question? Is each point relevant to the question or am I adding unnecessary details? Are the essential points arranged in a logical order so that each point builds on theprevious ones and prepares for the points that follow? (If necessary you can rearrangethem using arrows or by renumbering the points.) Do the points jointly provide a coherent and complete answer to the question? Once you have planned your answer, write it out and check it over.

Week 7: The Transformation of Technological Knowledge (Liv. Lab. Ch. 4, OurWar first two subsection Ch. 4)

Week 8 and 9: The Transformation of the First Generation of Industrial Societies asa Consequence of Knowledge Separating from Experience (Liv. Lab. Ch.6)

1. Explain how the process of industrialization created a growing awareness of thelimitations of technological knowing and doing embedded in experience and culture.Explain how these limitations were overcome by the separation of this knowing anddoing from experience and culture.

The traditional technical knowing and doing was embedded in experience and culture by means of symbolization. Industrialization brought four limitations to this approach to knowing and doing.

A range of phenomena associated with industrial technologies either were not available to the senses or became so over time, limiting access by means of experience and culture. Example of chemistry and electricity Redirection of the process of symbolization towards different ends. Human beings evolved the symbolization of experience and the building of cultures to make sense of and live good lives in the world. In the technological and economical orders, people had to think in terms of balancing flows of matter, energy and making profitable transformations of inputs into outputs. What mattered now with the technical division of labor was not putting the workers job into context of a culture based connectedness but rather the technical 'value' and 'meaning' of flows and transformations within the local technology-based-connectedness of a technically divided activity. Culture based reasoning became inefficient. Before industrialization, new experiences were symbolized by comparing them to similar analogous previous experiences. Industrialization created many situations that were unlike anything that had gone before and which could not be dealt with by further internal differentiation of a cultural order. This created too many new situations that were without precedents Competition resulted in diminishing returns: At first, firms stayed competitive by making obvious improvements to their machines. They also reorganized their factories to increase efficiency. Ex: Arranging the machines in a more efficient manner. Eventually, it became harder to find areas of improvement. Led to diminishing returns, as more people were spending more time making smaller and smaller improvements

To overcome this limitations, the technical doing went from being embedded in experience and culture to being separated from experience and culture, relying now on knowledge separated in domains, separating knowers from doers and controllers, and separating experiences from context. This way, phenomena not seen by the senses could be understood by analyzing the physical and chemical theory that lied behind, workers could now focus on their job even if it was separated from any context, as they were now trained to do so, and new experiences were no longer learned by symbolization but rather were taught in schools.

2. Why did the separation of technological knowing and doing from experience andculture undermine and eventually destroy all technological traditions?

Technological traditions before industrialization relied on a skill acquisition model based on experience. (NACPE)

1. Novice Apprentice is taught basic rules to follow Apprentice deals with all situations by applying these basic rules

2. Advanced beginner The apprentice differentiates his experiences, and notices that there are many situations in which the basic rules dont seem adequate The apprentice is taught more complex rules

3. Competent As the apprentice continues to differentiate his experiences and builds his metaconscious knowledge, he develops two distinct reactions to situations He applies the rules to simple situations For more complex situations, he has to stop and analyze the situation, and apply his problem solving skills to determine the correct course of action for dealing with a situation This is marked by a greater emotional involvement, as the apprentice is proud when he takes the correct course of action, and disappointed when he made the wrong decision

4. Proficient The apprentice has now built up his metaconscious knowledge so that he has now developed models of different situations that he can compare new situations to, however, he still must think about how to solve these problems

5. Expert The apprentice has now built up his metaconscious knowledge based on his experiences that he can now intuitively (metaconsciously) take the correct course of action to solve any situation

The system undermined this model because Culture based reasoning became inefficient. Before industrialization, new experiences were symbolized by comparing them to similar analogous previous experiences. Industrialization created many situations that were unlike anything that had gone before and which could not be dealt with by further internal differentiation of a cultural order. This created too many new situations that were without precedents

3. Explain how the entrepreneurial firms of the 19th century experienced the limitations of technological knowing and doing embedded in experience and culture, and how they overcame these limitations.

This can be explained by understanding the learning curve.

Phase 1: Have a few textile factories to compete with put out systems, to stay in business they had to mechanize

Phase 2: textile factories vs textile factories, compete by improving machines. improvements were easily made, almost everyone could think of how to improve.

Phase 3: improvements get really hard to make, machines are really complicated (you need to make inductions about what's happening) to deal with it, economies of scale had to be used: this means that scale operation is important (small improvements are expensive, the fixed cost per machine to improve competitive advantage drops as the size of the factory increases) larger companies get a competitive advantage

4. Scientific disciplines, much like technological specialties, depend on a knowing anddoing separated from experience and culture. However, this form of knowing and doing does not replace the knowing and doing embedded in experience. Explain why this is the case, using the example of learning physics in high school. Explain why physicists continue to rely on parallel modes of knowing and doing (one embedded in, and the other separated from, experience and culture).

The one separated from experience and culture is not real, it just exits in a domain where all other category of phenomena are ignored, and will never be a complete picture of real world. Knowing embedded in experience and culture is developed through metaconscious knowledge and thus is related to the real world and correlates several category of phenomena, thus allowing us to understand experiences in relation to others.

EXAMPLE: High school physics are not intuitive, we can't develop Newtonian physics based on our experience or use them to learn how to ride a bike. Physicists still rely on parallel models because, in order to use the separated model, they need boundary conditions and this can only be determined by the embedded model.

5. Compare the strengths and weaknesses of evolving a technology on the basis oftechnological tradition with doing so on the basis of modern technical specialties.

Basis of technological traditions: Strengths: since its embedded in experience, when you get to the proficiency level, you do not need problem solving skills, you can just make a conclusion based on an observation Weaknesses: can't use knowledge of one field into other (shipbuilder doesn't know about mines)

Basis of modern technical specialties: Strengths: you can use knowledge in different fields (material properties can be applied into different fields), etc Weaknesses: it can only deal with situations where there is only one category of phenomena, recall the triple abstraction of the worker. It is not intuitive, learn it in school, not by experience. Can't look at a beam and say if its safe or not, cant determine boundary conditions.

6. How did the separation of technological knowledge from experience and culturetransform the technological cycle?

-cycle went from being linear to being cyclical-linear: model T example. invention, innovation, application, diffusion, displacement-completely planned and cyclical: mustang example: extrapolate trends in society, design to optimize several components by means of teams based on a techno structure. Also, this process takes time and thus market has to be monitored constantly, and whatever is observed affects the design.

7. The transformation of the technological cycle as a result of technological knowing and doing separating themselves from experience and culture was accompanied by major changes in the entrepreneurial firms of the 19th century, transforming them into the modern corporation. Briefly explain the principal changes.

Incorporation of techno structure: Many people with highly specialized knowledge contribute knowledge. Dependence on knowing and doing separated from experience and culture Organization was function based before. People are now evaluated based on skills and specialization instead of experience. There are a lot of people now with complementary skills. There are committees.

Change in operating capital: There were a few families owning small entrepreneurial firms but when corporations came around, more capital was needed so there were more shareholders.

Change in structure of ownership: There are battles over who has how much control. There are more than one shareholders. This is done to bring in more operating capital.

Change in control: change in ownership due to multiple shareholders. Decisions are no longer made by one owner. There is a committee (board of directors) that has representatives of the owners. They present progress reports etc to the owners before decisions are made but if owners are still dissatisfied, they can choose to vote themselves.

New goals: changing the structure of the organization changes the goals. The goal is no longer profit maximization but to 1. protect the autonomy of the techno structure from banks, and shareholders2. encourage growth (there is internal pressure and external pressure. internal has to do with employees wanting more salaries and external has to do with the public wanting the company to grow)3. technical virtuosity: wanting the latest and greatest technology to push boundaries4. other aspects of the firm (i.e. management wants to stay in control)

Planned obsolescence: taking things out of the market so you can introduce new products (structural feature of technological cycle: decommissioning). Planned obsolescence no longer corresponds to human needs. Planning: planning become essential for corporations to exist Diversification: product diversification allows you to minimize risk

8. Is the separation of knowing and doing from experience and culture limited totechnology and the economy? Explain, using several examples.

No, it also affects the society and the politics. Society was affected: Social mobility is enabled. In traditional knowing and doing, you would likely do what your parents did. Now, there was a need for specialized people and thus more people accessed education (through public education) and were hired for high positions. The personality of people shifted from tradition directed (use past experiences as a map) to inner directed (use them as gyroscope) to other directed (use it as radar and do what others do). this leads to mass societies which have lots of implications role of culture is weakened weakened cultural unity replaced by integration propaganda statistical morality became a key component rise in public opinion

Politics were affected: Political revised sequence: Government bureaucracies adopted techno structure bureaucracies determined most policy decisions as they, instead of the elected officials, possessed the required knowledge people no longer take decisions through their elected officials Emergence of a mass society required role of the state to expand, thus everything became politicized

9. The present intellectual and professional division of labour and the knowledge bases built up with it suspend specialists in a triple abstraction that represents their domain of specialization. Explain the ways in which such domains correspond to a portion of the technology-based connectedness of a society and in which ways they do not. (Hint: For the purpose of this question, you may think of technology as using flows of matter and energy to accomplish a goal).

The domains represent a portion of the TBC because they are steps in the process of technology (i.e. each domain analyzes one part of the flow of matter and energy through the technology based connectedness)

These domains are not a portion of the TBC because they do not necessarily pursue the same goal that other domains are looking, so they are not always just steps in the flow: one domain may want to pull in one direction, other in other direction, thus not fitting as a portion of the TBC 10. Explain what is meant by an analytical exemplar and a design exemplar. Explain the different roles design exemplars and analytical exemplars play in the design of anymodern product.

Design exemplar is a concept for the design of a product based on the real world experience and knowledge. It is a way of designing a product from the outside in. Used to form the bases of a design upon which designers can adjust and modify the purpose and use cases of the product.

Analytical exemplars are focused on particular details of a design, where knowledge is separated from experience as a basis for design. Looks at a product from the inside out, using inputs and outputs as variables. We can move from a design exemplar to an analytical, but not the other way around. 11. Using one or two examples, explain why knowing and doing embedded in experience and culture cannot grow into knowing and doing separated from experience and culture.

High school physics: We have an intuitive knowledge of physics since we are kids, but in high school they teach us to learn physics in perfect domains.

Knowing and doing separated from experience and culture begins in an abstract world mapped in a different frame of reference by a disembodied observer who can only be present in his technological imagination. Therefore, if you already have knowledge based on experience and culture, you will already know how things really work in the real world, so when a real world problem comes up, you will obviously use your real world knowledge and not knowledge based upon an imaginary abstraction.

Examples: Physics At school, Newtonian physics is taught which consists of a variety of assumptions that cannot be applied to real life, such as weightless strings, frictionless pulleys, no air resistance, continuum, etc. It is difficult to develop metaconscious knowledge of Newtonian physics because it does not correlate with our real life experiences (intuitive physics)

Beam A construction worker with years of real world experience may be able to eyeball a beam and tell that its not strong enough, while the engineer may not know this because he designed the beam based on the mathematical equations that he was taught in school, which may not be able to fit the real world situation

12. Using concepts developed in the course, explain why you agree or disagree with the following statement:Human intelligence is essentially a question of problem-solving.

This process of skill acquisition was characterized by 5 stages:

1. Novice Apprentice is taught basic rules to follow Apprentice deals with all situations by applying these basic rules

2. Advanced beginner The apprentice differentiates his experiences, and notices that there are many situations in which the basic rules dont seem adequate The apprentice is taught more complex rules

3. Competent As the apprentice continues to differentiate his experiences and builds his metaconscious knowledge, he develops two distinct reactions to situations He applies the rules to simple situations For more complex situations, he has to stop and analyze the situation, and apply his problem solving skills to determine the correct course of action for dealing with a situation This is marked by a greater emotional involvement, as the apprentice is proud when he takes the correct course of action, and disappointed when he made the wrong decision

4. Proficient The apprentice has now built up his metaconscious knowledge so that he has now developed models of different situations that he can compare new situations to, however, he still must think about how to solve these problems

5. Expert The apprentice has now built up his metaconscious knowledge based on his experiences that he can now intuitively (metaconsciously) take the correct course of action to solve any situation At the expert level, the apprentice no longer needs to solve problems This demonstrates that human intelligence is ultimately based on making sense of and living in reality by giving everything a place in our life in relation to everything else, and not based on conscious problem solving analysis

13. Explain how the techno structure makes use of the latest specialized knowledge todesign, produce and market a new product.

Divide corporation into comities of highly specialized people Look at market Extrapolate people's needs and design based on that Improve all components of the design based on performance Design the entire technological cycle from the beginning Update the design with current market conditions (because all this is a long process)

14. Explain why the modern corporation, making use of specialized knowledge separated from experience and culture, cannot rely on the Market to supply it with the necessary inputs.

The Market can no longer meet material input demands. There may not be a market for a very specific technical part The Market cannot be depended upon to deliver the right number of parts on the right dates Large corporations utilize 3 strategies for dealing with these problems by getting around the Market (see next page):

Vertical integration: The corporation acquires suppliers, so that the suppliers are now part of the corporation, and will therefore meet the corporations demands.

Partnership agreements: The corporation makes partnership agreements with suppliers, so that the suppliers have to meet the corporations demands

The corporation essentially controls the Market because of its size; a supplier has to get the corporations contract or it will go out of business

The Market can no longer meet labour demands The Market cannot provide the requisite number of workers who have technical knowledge separated from experience The problem is solved by the state and industry developing education planning, whereby the universities will offer programs that teach knowledge separated from experience which are in demand in industry

15. Explain why the modern corporation, making use of specialized knowledge separated from experience and culture, must plan the entire technological cycle of its products and how this is incompatible with relying on the Market.

Same as question 13

16. The relationships between the modern corporation and the Market are governed by what John Kenneth Galbraith called the accepted sequence and the revised sequence. Explain what he meant by these, and how this development has undermined economic democracy.

The Market can no longer be used in the selling of goods Accepted sequence: The consumer is king as consumers use economic democracy to choose which products they want, and the invisible hand of the Market causes the companies to make more of what the consumers want However, the accepted sequence can no longer be used by corporations The corporation has put huge sums of money into the product, and the corporation has to ensure that consumers buy the product There was a lot of uncertainty in the Market when a new product was released This leads to the revised sequence Revised sequence: As consumers influence corporations (invisible hand of the Market accepted sequence), corporations also influence consumers (revised sequence) The corporation influences the consumer to ensure the consumer purchases the product The corporation influences the consumer primarily through advertising Advertising influences the consumer by associating non-material metaconscious symbols with material goods Example: A hot young blonde is posing next to a car; male car-buyers in turn start to view the car as sexy In summary, the corporation relies less on the Market and more on technical planning by utilizing such techniques as vertical integration, partnership agreements, and advertising

17. In essence, John Kenneth Galbraith showed that when industry began to make use of highly-specialized knowledge (separated from experience and culture), it began toconstitute a planning system within the economies of the industrially advanced nations of that time. Explain why this was the case, and how this development violates the popular conceptions regarding the role of the Market in the economies of the industrially advanced nations.

1. The large corporation2. ns can no longer rely on the Market to acquire the necessary inputs and sell the goods and services they produce; instead they use technical planning to complement the Market

The Market can no longer meet material input demands There may not be a market for a very specific technical part The Market cannot be depended upon to deliver the right number of parts on the right dates Large corporations utilize 3 strategies for dealing with these problems by getting around the Market

1. Vertical integration: The corporation acquires suppliers, so that the suppliers are now part of the corporation, and will therefore meet the corporations demands

2. Partnership agreements: The corporation makes partnership agreements with suppliers, so that the suppliers have to meet the corporations demands

3. The corporation essentially controls the Market because of its size; a supplier has to get the corporations contract or it will go out of business

The Market can no longer meet labour demands The Market cannot provide the requisite number of workers who have technical knowledge separated from experience The problem is solved by the state and industry developing education planning, whereby the universities will offer programs that teach knowledge separated from experience which are in demand in industry The Market can no longer be used in the selling of goods

Accepted sequence: The consumer is king as consumers use economic democracy to choose which products they want, and the invisible hand of the Market causes the companies to make more of what the consumers want However, the accepted sequence can no longer be used by corporations The corporation has put huge sums of money into the product, and the corporation has to ensure that consumers buy the product There was a lot of uncertainty in the Market when a new product was released This leads to the revised sequence

Revised sequence: As consumers influence corporations (invisible hand of the Market accepted sequence), corporations also influence consumers (revised sequence) The corporation influences the consumer to ensure the consumer purchases the product The corporation influences the consumer primarily through advertising Advertising influences the consumer by associating non-material metaconscious symbols with material goods Ex. A hot young blonde is posing next to a car; male car-buyers in turn start to view the car as sexy

In summary, the corporation relies less on the Market and more on technical planning by utilizing such techniques as vertical integration, partnership agreements, and advertising. The image of the market as the biggest controlling force is thus changed.

18. Explain the role advertising plays in the revised sequence. Although moderneconomics would have us believe that advertising informs the consumer, the information content is actually very low. Hence, alternative explanations of the effectiveness of advertising have been suggested. Explain how the advertisements of the decades following World War II were structured, and why this was very effective in creating the revised sequence and a planning system.

Integration propaganda was the information flow that was transmitted to individuals by way of the media, corporations, and the state, which would help the lonely crowd individuals make sense of and live a good life in the world Integration propaganda would let individuals know how they could fit in in a mass society Integration propaganda would let individuals know what all of the trends are in their society, so that the individual could follow these trends and fit in Advertising was a key integration propaganda technique that was used to play on individuals insecurities in order to sell products Ex. If you want to fit in and make a good first impression, buy this shirt Ex. If you want to meet a hot girl, buy this beer Ex. If you want to impress people, buy this car Statistical morality was a key component of a mass society If everybody else is doing something, it must be right Mass societies also included the rise of public opinion Other-directed personalities would have an opinion on everything, not because they knew anything about these events, but because they would hear what everybody else was saying about something It affects the planning system because now, planning is done according to market studies and advertisement is done to persuade not all possible consumers but enough consumers to close the gap between what it was planned to be sold and what was actually sold

19. When government departments or ministries began to make use of the latestspecialized knowledge (separated from experience and culture), their relationships with elected officials and citizens were fundamentally changed. Explain why this is the case for a minister responsible for a department, and for a political party which has been elected to form a government.

Government bureaucracies developed into techno structures that had lots of highly specialized knowledge in knowing and doing separated from experience and culture The result was that these bureaucracies (techno structures) decided most policy decisions, as they, and not elected officials, possessed the requisite highly specialized technical knowledge on an issue Ex. An energy minister may campaign on no more nuclear power, but the government bureaucracy may investigate the issue and determine using its specialized knowledge that more nuclear power is the only technically sound course of action The result is that instead of the people, through their elected officials, determining the policies of the government, the government is instead determining the policies itself and imposing them on the people through political advertising and public relations campaigns

20. Explain the political revised sequence.

Culture can no longer help us make sense of our place in this world We rely on integration propaganda to do so Government can now advertise people of the problems that must be confronted and the solutions that they wanted all along, because they affirm the direction and order of the world This undermines economy Related to techno structure: a government official proposes a new plan with no nuclear energy. He gets there and his cabinet says its not possible. He now convinces his voters that nuclear energy is good, in other words, act in the complete opposite way in which he promised and people elected him to act. no longer serve the purpose of representing electors interest

21. Why did social mobility become necessary when knowing and doing separated from experience and culture? How did this affect people who struggled for social equality and womens rights?

However, with knowing and doing becoming separated from experience and culture, social mobility was now needed There were so many highly-skilled positions on techno structures that needed to be filled, and not enough people to fill those positions in a traditional society This problem was solved with the development of the universal, state-run public education system By giving everybody a chance to get an education, society was able to pick out those students who had superior skills in knowing and doing separated from experience These students were encouraged to continue on to higher education, so that they could eventually fill elite positions (techno structures) The students who did not excel in knowing and doing separated from experience and culture were directed towards positions such as trades that relied primarily on knowing and doing embedded in experience and culture Therefore, society had essentially become divided in two between those with skills in knowing and doing separated from experience and culture and those without those skills This also resulted in a progression in womens rights and human rights Society was now desperately looking for people skilled in knowing and doing separated from experience and culture, with the result that old prejudices were forgotten, as society was primarily concerned about a persons skills in knowing and doing separated from experience and culture, and not their race or gender These changes were primarily made out of necessity, and not real human goodness Unfortunately, in times when there was a surplus of workers skilled in knowing and doing separated from experience and culture, the old prejudices usually returned and it tended to be women and minorities who were not given the techno structure positions

22. Why did the separation of knowing and doing from experience and culture require a mass education system? How does such an educational system affect the social hierarchy of a society?

Same as 21

23. Using concepts developed in the course, comment on the following statement:Thanks to the news, the citizens of modern nations are much more informed aboutour world; hence, they can make more informed choices during elections.

The mass media newscasts do not provide enough information in order for an individual to become informed about an event or issue Most stories on newscasts are just 2 or 3 minutes long, and then the story will not be mentioned again on the newscast for months An individual cannot possibly become informed about an issue based on such a short story If an individual truly wants to become informed about an issue, he must read books and documents on an issue to gain an understanding of the issue Therefore, the news does not make the citizens of modern nations informed about their world In fact, the news just provides quick snapshots of issues without describing any context or background information Worse, these short news clips give rise to public opinion, as members of the public see the news clip and then decide that they know everything about that issue and develop an opinion on the issue based solely on that newscast They ignore the biases and the simplification of the newscast Therefore, the news and public opinion undermine democracy as the news presents an biased oversimplification of an issue that ignores background information and context, and then individuals develop public opinions from these newscasts, and base their votes during elections on their uninformed public opinions

24. Explain how the rise of public opinion undermined democracy.

Government can no longer rule against public opinion Therefore, the news and public opinion undermine democracy as the news presents a biased oversimplification of an issue that ignores background information and context, and then individuals develop public opinions from these newscasts, and base their votes during elections on their uninformed public opinions

25. What is the role of integration propaganda in a mass society, and how does it make up for the weakened role of culture?

Mass societies did not collapse, however, because the weakened cultural unity had been replaced by a phenomenon known as integration propaganda Integration propaganda was the information flow that was transmitted to individuals by way of the media, corporations, and the state, which would help the lonely crowd individuals make sense of and live a good life in the world Integration propaganda would let individuals know how they could fit in in a mass society Integration propaganda would let individuals know what all of the trends are in their society, so that the individual could follow these trends and fit in Advertising was a key integration propaganda technique that was used to play on individuals insecurities in order to sell products Ex. If you want to fit in and make a good first impression, buy this shirt Ex. If you want to meet a hot girl, buy this beer Ex. If you want to impress people, buy this car

26. Explain the relationship between a newscast on radio or television and integrationpropaganda.

Newscast and television are the infrastructure of mass media In a mass society, the mass media supports the flow of information from around the world to the individuals in a society The mass media is an important tool for integration propaganda to flow through It is the mass media that simplifies the world for the individual in the lonely crowd and provides him with information from which he can make sense of the world Integration propaganda through the mass media fills the role that was once occupied by culture, which has been gravely weakened in a mass society

27. There is little doubt that the mass media provide us with much more informationabout what is happening around the world than ever before. Is there a correlation between our receiving more information about what is happening in our world and being better informed? Carefully explain the relationship between knowing more and knowing better.

Same as 23

28. Today, many people believe that our societies have all but lost their traditional values and cultures and thus can be regarded as traditional societies in an advanced stage of deterioration. They call for the restoration of traditional values, morality and religion as the only way of halting this disintegration. Using what you have learned in this course, discuss the validity of this interpretation.

Not valid We can't make those values fit with the current technological systems we live in Trying to do that will not work because technology changed the way we live and we cannot just go back to the way we were before Rather, we need to change we interact with technology in the future

29. Today many people regard our mass societies as the outcome of liberating theirmembers from the constraints imposed by traditions. Their members are now free todecide for themselves regarding every aspect of their lives. Based on what you havelearned in the course, what is the validity of this interpretation?

Invalid because: The myth of progress has constrained the members of industrializing societies to think that progress can only be achieved through hard work and material progress. Therefore, our societies have become materialistic and they cannot look beyond materialistic things. Todays mass societies have created problems like poverty, child labor, stress, alienation and class conflicts that did not exist before and which have not been resolved. We are not really free to decide for ourselves because our decisions like where to live, what career to choose, items to purchase etc. are based on socio-economic factors that affect us (i.e. these decisions are based on money). This has distorted our view of happiness. Despite technological and economic progress, we are able to spend much less time with people we know, and our lives are more controlled by our careers People feel alienated because their surroundings have more influence in them than what they influence their surroundings Our freedom is impacted by values imposed by mass society

30. How can the obvious weakening of traditional constraints on the members ofcontemporary societies be reconciled with a loss of individual freedom as people areswept up in the currents of public opinion and statistical morality? Statistical morality was a key component of a mass society If everybody else is doing something, it must be right Mass societies also included the rise of public opinion Other-directed personalities would have an opinion on everything, not because they knew anything about these events, but because they would hear what everybody else was saying about somethingThese two factors ultimately undermine personal freedom because people go with the flow of the mass society.

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