Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The concept of blasé/neurasthenic personalities was coined by the German sociologist Georg Simmel to refer to distinctive psychological responses to modern, metropolitan life. In his masterpiece, The Philosophy of Money (1907), Simmel analyzed modern, metropolitan existence in relation to a variety of ubiquitous social effects. Among the most prominent are the fragmentation of relations; the increasing preponderance of technology in everyday life; the leveling effect of monetary exchange transactions; the separation of subjectivity from culture; and the recession of tradition. In these circumstances, Simmel argued, there are strong tendencies for men and women to adopt blasé or neurasthenic characteristics in their personality and interpersonal behavior. The blasé personality is punch-drunk by the ephemerality and instability of modern conditions. They become indifferent to suffering and injustice. They retreat into a cocoon of purely subjective considerations and initiatives. The neurasthenic personality is wired by the impermanence and prolific possibilities offered by modernity. Their behavior is characterized by ceaseless anxiety and nervousness, which prevents them from fully committing to transcendent goals. Simmel's analysis of the psychology of modernity influenced David Riesman and Christopher Lasch in the 1950s and 1970s, but it only became prominent in sociology and ... log in or subscribe to read full text