ABSTRACT
“Rationalization” and “individualization” have become well-worn conceptual terms within sociology to describe dominant trends within the culture of “late modern” societies that affect the potential for personal agency. According to conventional sociological wisdom, agency is problematized through rationalization and enhanced through individualization. This has implications for more philosophical/ethical questions such as the value of individual autonomy and the meanings of dignity and rights. In this chapter, I explore the extent to which the end-of-life care relations between medical practitioners and patients exemplify how problems of rationalization and individualization are dialectically intertwined. I first examine the meaning of these terms through some of the theoretical literature, before turning to the role of the principle of informed consent in end-of-life care as a case study of this entwinement. I then examine the problems of judgment that these developments imply, with particular reference to Hannah Arendt’s conception of reflective judgment.
