Opinion Articles

*What price individualism?
By Roslyn Kozlowski
Roslyn Kozlowski is a member of the Catholic Parish of Newcastle . She has a law degree and is currently enrolled in the Christian Formation and Ministry Course through the Tenison Woods Education Centre.

Cicero, the Roman politician and orator, (106-43 BCE), had a saying: Non nobis solum nati sumus - “We are not born for ourselves alone.” In an age where we are more familiar with catch-cries such as “What's in it for me?” or “You've got to look after No. 1”, Cicero 's words may come as a surprise.

Sadly, we have become a self-preoccupied society. In turn, a culture of individualism has arisen. Individualism sees humans as isolated independent beings who are free to act and live as they choose. An individualistic vision of society inevitably diminishes our sense of community. It also erodes the fundamental notion of the common good.

Community operates on the recognition of our intrinsic inter-relatedness as human beings. Community calls us to a life of compassion, mutual love, care and concern for others. The notion of the common good underpins a fair and just society. It recognises our shared responsibility to look out for the best interest of others, not just our own. It envisages a society based on co-operation, collaboration and communality.

The concept of individualism is particularly damaging when it influences social and economic policy. Under the current government we have witnessed a massive erosion of the fundamental principles of community and the common good. The common good has been replaced with a notion of the common good as a “sum of individual goods”. The proposed Industrial Relations reforms, for example, are based on this ideology. The reasoning is that it is “good” to give individual workers the ability to bargain or negotiate with their employers concerning their own individual work arrangements and conditions.

One of the results of “Workchoices”, as our Prime Minister now likes to call it, is the competition it will engender between people in the workforce. Any sense of communal responsibility will be lost. Those less able or capable to forge their own way in the work place will be disadvantaged. Some employees will also find themselves at a disadvantage because of the inequality of bargaining power often found between employers and employees.

Our culture's ethos of individualism has facilitated a political ideology that ultimately benefits those “at the top”: those with a good education, marketable skills, physical stamina and good health. It allows a system in which the gap between the very poor and the rich increasingly widens. It also legitimises success and blames the unsuccessful for their own predicament. If you're successful, we're told, it's because you've worked hard for it. If you aren't successful, it must be your own fault. After all, aren't the opportunities the same? This is one of the central lies of a political ideology based on individualism: that life is a level playing field. It isn't.