Abstract
In this article we seek to accomplish three main objectives. Firstly, to review and reiterate the theory of a new individualism sweeping the globe, especially evident in the new economy of high finance, media and technology industries, and to ask how this standpoint differs in sociological approach from other influential standpoints (for our purposes, both the theory of ‘technologies of the self’ as elaborated by Foucault and his followers and the notion of ‘reflexive individualization’ outlined by Anthony Giddens and others). As for the theory of the new individualism, it comprises four core dimensions: a relentless emphasis on self-reinvention; an endless hunger for instant change; a fascination with social acceleration, speed and dynamism; and, a preoccupation with short-termism and episodicity. Secondly, we will relate this outline of the theory of the new individualism to developments in Japanese society and sociology (or social sciences) more generally, paying particular attention to recent debates over privatization, atomization and the Japanese distinction between the public and the private. Finally, we tum to consider various contradictions in the spread of the new individualism by considering current socio-economic transformations occurring in contemporary Japan. The aim is to demonstrate how current global transformations affecting Japanese society and economy can be interrogated with profit using the theory of new individualism.
