American Individualism as Myth

The notion that this country is unique in that it was founded and remains a place where individual ambition is the key to personal satisfaction and financial success is largely myth. One only needs to look at our actual experience. 

I recall as an optimistic young man just out of college reading the most popular book of that time, The Organization Man. That book, published first in 1956 is still called today one of the most important books in the field of management. What I saw for myself at the time was leaving the rural Midwest, donning a suit and tie and carrying a briefcase home every night. I wanted a job in a big corporation doing international business. My future would be out working others and moving up. 

What a bummer it was to read The Organization Man. In that book the author described the most common career path in large corporations. It is starting at an entry level position, putting in your years, going through the motions of rum dumb jobs and waiting for someone above to retire, die or leave. The corporation bureaucracy was risk averse and cautious rather than ambitious and hard working. 

The accurate sociology in that book is revisited from time to time with studies and commentary. Recently an author reviewed academic studies and history to find The Organization Man was spot on, even though it did not mention that book. While of course there are exceptions, most of our economy is based on fitting in and conforming. Even as we speak the federal and local governments are trying to stop ambitious women from ascending careers by outlawing birth control and abortion. Women with training in serving as pastors/priest cannot work hard and move up to hold these positions in some branches of Christianity. There certainly was no room for individual ambition in slavery or the rights of Native Americans to their land. It was collective government action taken against any individual thinking. 

There was a lot of room for individual thinking in the theory of Protestantism. The Baptist faith was based on the individual's interpretation of the Bible and his personal experience with God. That was largely swept away in the Southern Baptist church and certainly the Catholic Church would have none of it.

Fortunately, individual ambitions and actions are allowed on occasion in our society and those keep us moving forward here and there.