ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the individualization thesis found in contemporary social theory. It explores the key role of increased social mobility in changing the relationships among the three major components of society, that is, the individual, social groups, and state institutions. The chapter focuses on the impact of identity politics on social institutions, revealing the interacting and interactive relationship between the rise of the individual and the individualization of society. It examines the emergence of new kinds of sociality that also pose new challenges to the more individualized society. The individualization thesis as a theoretical construction captures the particular changes in the nature of social relations in Western European societies which, in a number of ways, differ from those of a developing country such as China. The promotion of social trust and universal values has become an urgent moral and social issue in China as it is becoming a more open, modern and highly mobile society.
