The Paradox of Choice

[the Left™]

In today's society, we are given options, thousands of them. What to wear, drink, think, believe, do etc etc. This overwhelming appearance of being able to pick and chose whatever path or road you like is actually anxiety inducing(with good reason and psychologically proven!). You know, a what do I want mentality...What do I really truly want for myself(in a presupposed infinite universe of options). Choice then, creates as a logical conclusion, indecisiveness as it becomes more and more prevalent. Loss, or the idea that what you dont chose is just as important as what you do, weighs heavy on people. Because of this we adopt the idea that all of our ailings are our own, our own indecisiveness, our own lack of control over our potential in life, and these ailings are exclusive to us. Hyper-individualizing society and perpetuating the status quo.

What do you think, do you agree?

[CommunityBeliever]

In general most of people's choices aren't their own. Even the decision to blame yourself is generally a result of the opinions of other people. Other people might blame you for your indecisiveness, lack of control, etc.

[the Left™]

hmm yes but do you think people perceive it to be their own unique burden

[CommunityBeliever]

hmm yes but do you think people perceive it to be their own unique burden


The very notion of a "burden" probably comes from not meeting up to societies standards. Society deems people indecisive for not meeting these standards, and then it blames them for it afterwards.

[the Left™]

The very notion of a "burden" probably comes from not meeting up to societies standards. People are deemed indecisive based upon the standards of capitalist society, and then it is also society that blames them for it afterwards.


exactly i think we are actually in agreement lmao

[Apoi_Viitor]

There was a ted talks about this. It presented a study between french and american couples who were faced with the decision to pull the plug on their new born child, who was born brain dead. In the case of the french couples however, that decision was made for them by the doctors. The study then followed up with the couples a year later and found that the american couples were still harmfully shaken up by having to have made that choice, where as the french couples had moved on.

[cb9's_unity]

I'm not so sure that this hyper-individualization is actually occurring. I'm also not sure if that hyper-individualization would actually support the status quo. Individuals asserting their own individuality will find it difficult in a capitalist economy, where one must always pass through the market to advance themselves. People understand that their cloths (which hold special importance in modern individuality) and other commodities are massed produced. The price and quality of these things give them social status, which the individual is forced to identify with, that identification being expressed most concretely by the common desire to overcome it. People are more explicitly forced to understand the subservience of their individuality to the market when it comes to the jobs market. People understand that "doing what you love" is more of a lofty ideal than a practical decision. Most people end up only hoping for a job that pays the bills, their higher personal ambitions be damned.

Alienation and anxiety are central elements to the individuals struggle in capitalistic society. Capitalist ideology buries those concerns as merely obstacles towards either producing or earning. As socialists we have to explain that 1) the specific feelings of anxiety and alienation experienced by the working classes are actually interconnected to the economic structure of capitalism, and 2) true individuality will be much easier to pursue in a socialist society where the stereotypes and expectations of class, gender, sexual orientation, and race will be able to totally disintegrate.

I think these choices are existential ones, given their content and character by this relatively recent rise in consumer culture. Understanding these tendencies better may actually do a lot to shake up the status quo.