Timidity, Conformity, and the Search for Personal Identity

Don Martindale

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 1968, vol. 378, issue 1, 83-89

Abstract: Throughout America's historical development to the 1930's, Americans were repeatedly characterized as outgoing, optimistic, and self-confident. The Great Depression brought a dependence on the collective which modified these qualities. Despite the affluence of the postwar period, there has been no return to the old type of individualism. Timidity, conformity, and uncertainty as to personal identity have characterized increasing numbers of Americans in the post-depression era. The crisis in the self-concept of Americans is traced to various structural changes dramatized by the crisis of the 1930's and associated with the rise of the mass society: the destruction of local autonomy; the rise of mass industry; the changed position of youth; and the role of the individual in large-scale organizations.

Date: 1968
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:378:y:1968:i:1:p:83-89

DOI: 10.1177/000271626837800110

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