ABSTRACT
My inquiry thus far has articulated two domains: the colonization of the lifeworld that accompanies capitalist modernization and the formation of the psyche in early socialization processes. In relation to the first domain, I have argued that Habermas’s conceptualization of modernization provides both essential sociological concepts and fruitful hypotheses regarding the sources of modern social pathologies. Specifically, Habermas shows how capitalist modernization thrives on cognitiveinstrumental forms of rationality that disrupt the meaning-sustaining processes of the lifeworld. In connection with the second domain, I laid out a model of personality development grounded in psychoanalytic object relations theory. This model suggests that the experience of meaningfulness and capacities for relatedness depend on a complex process of psychic structuration in early childhood. Now, the challenge is to work out a useful way of combining these theoretical frameworks in order to clarify the impact of capitalist modernization on the formation of the psyche.
