Chapter 102: From Collective to Individual

Modernity shifts the primary source of identity from externally assigned roles to self-authored life projects. This transition expands freedom while increasing the burden of self-interpretation: individuals must decide what to value, which commitments to make, and how to integrate multiple social roles. This chapter models individuation as a structural process within the categorical social ontology — not as separation from society but as the emergence of a distinct section that must be authored rather than inherited. The costs (isolation, anxiety, coherence work) and rewards (authenticity, creativity, moral agency) are analysed as structural consequences of this shift.