Original article
Wolfgang Sassin,
Dr-Ing, Independent researcher, formerly Senior Scientist of International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis and Lecturer of Technical University Vienna, Austria
Address: Jochberg 5, 6335 Thiersee, Austria
E-mail: w.sassin@aon.at
Article ID: 010210201
Published online: 16 February 2018
HANDLE: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12656/thebeacon.1.010210201
DOI: https://doi.org/10.55269/thebeacon.1.010210201
Quoting (Chicago style): Sassin, Wolfgang. 2018. “Die Transformation des sozialen Bewusstseins.” Beacon J Stud Ideol Ment Dimens 1, 010210201. https://doi.org/10.55269/thebeacon.1.010210201
Language: German
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Since 1969 in science and politics, the humanity ceased to understand profound transformations in its self-awareness because of the abrupt revolutionary alterations in the frame of reference in which the communities were defined. The maxim “Man, subdue thy Earth” was tacitly changed to “Mankind, subdue thy individuals.” We recognise that mental depravation of societal consciousness is the critical precondition transforming the human EGO, no matter, I or WE. Key words: political system, economic system, “Spaceship Earth”, self-awareness, political rights, constitutions, Club of Rome, consumption, social psychology, societal consciousness, multipolar world, Neil Armstrong, modern culture
The shifts of societal consciousness since 1969 thus far, are studied in the article. This date is chosen as a pivotal point not fortuitously. In 1969 Neil Armstrong on reaching the Earth’s satellite made the first look back to Earth from outside in the history of humanity. Since that time, the Earth transformed to “our common home” in the societal consciousness. And exactly since that moment, the concept of Spaceship Earth began to transform to the threatening idea of Jailhouse Earth. Why so? The elites on both sides of the Iron Curtain escaped then a completely different perspective and equally well recognisable perception about the change of the concept of Earth. They were not the only ones to be wrong about this. Hardly anyone in the industrialised and developing countries, would admit today that rapid population growth and expanding material demands would quickly turn an Spaceship Earth into a kind of Jailhouse Earth. Year 1969 made it clear that as soon as people would recognise the negative consequences of their successful expansion, their mental state would no longer remain unaffected.
The transformation of societal consciousness in mass societies includes the rejection of the idea of an individual in Ptolemy’s sense. Instead, a human being commences to be perceived in an instrumental way as an insect in a hive. This insect may perform its particular duties and functions in the mass society in question. However, this individual specimen, without a proper orientation from the hive (mass society), not only cannot find its directions, but is even unable to survive.
Mass societies are characterised by the presence of invisible “Others” in our lives. At the times of intensive global economic exchange, the majority of people became dependent on the discipline and willingness of “others” to participate in a productively work. These “others” are practically invisible. They are microscopic parts of a huge and non-transparent system. Little, if any, is known about their socialisation across global distances. At such times it is quite necessary to think about the future forms of social organisations that are obscure and badly defined today. The constant disputes on a possible loss of national sovereignty, we are facing during the last twenty years, may be one of the symptoms of this. The weakening of the existing principles of common identity, probably their disintegration, has an effect similar to an explosive that threatens the internal cohesion of societies and their unions. Only shared identity can always compensate for repulsive cultural and social differences. The existence of social “meta-organisms” is therefore at stake. The fate of the colonial “commons” and the failure of several entire states now-a-days show which institutional changes are triggered by changes in the image of people or in people’s ideas about the basis of life of their society, that is, what they share in common.
The development of social ideas always has its tipping and turning points. A human individual has a life time that is far too short and he can only look over a small part of the living space of ever-growing societies to which he belongs and on which his existence depends. A change in general perspectives and the associated paradigms is therefore inevitable when societies penetrate new areas of civilisation. Human history can be understood as a sequence of different images that we design of ourselves and of a world which we believe to live in.
© 2018 Wolfgang Sassin. Licensee The Beacon: Journal for Studying Ideologies and Mental Dimensions.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) that permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
