ABSTRACT
From the review of some aspects of the study of human growth and development, it is obvious that a sense of personal recognition and being valued is what an adult society needs to ensure for its members, and to be expressed through its institutions. The very closing of some opportunities as presented by employment may turn into opportunities for creating what has been lacking: a sense of personal purpose, through being recognised and feeling valued. Monopolies cause trouble partly because they are themselves under great strain. A good deal of the mockery of counselling and therapy offered in rational argument as well as by the stiff-upper-lip, no-nonsense brigade, stems from the common-sense view that limitless self-improvement has to be suspect. One of the more unrealistic lines of argument in self-improvement is that through making decisions, individuals retain or regain control of their own destinies and so all will be well.
