ABSTRACT
Individualism thrives under conditions of role-set complexity.… In a society in which institutions are so differentiated that people can even differentiate their behavior from their internal dispositions, they can develop to its utmost that unique human ability of reflecting about themselves, about their own behavior, and about their thoughts. The better they are able to articulate their consciousness, to weep about and especially to laugh at themselves, the more they will be distinct from the animal world, to which, paradoxically, they continue to belong.
