In Industrial Society and Its Future (1995), Theodore Kaczynski uses the concept of over-socialization to describe the mindset of a leftist tormented by a sense of guilt. The leftist feels guilty every time he deviates from the extraordinarily demanding moral code of modern society, which tends to generate self-hatred and self-deprecation. He tries, as best as he can, to rebel, to free himself from his psychological leash. But in reality, his positions are fundamentally not at odds with the established norms of technological society.
As a reminder, the neoluddite mathematician assumes that "leftism is not so much movement or an ideology as a psychological type, or rather a collection of related types." This is the largest original contribution from Kaczynski in this essay, although Kaczynski was influenced among other things by the work of Martin Seligman, a psychology researcher who notably theorized the concept of "learned helplessness."
Principle of over-socialization
In every human society, young children must undergo a process that psychologists call "socialization." The child learns through imitation or transmission a certain number of values, a moral code that allows them to integrate and participate in the collective effort in order to meet the needs of the community.
Over-socialization refers to the process by which individuals in modern society are excessively conditioned to conform to societal norms and values, to the point that they lose touch with their own natural instincts and desires.
It might seem absurd to label leftists as oversocialized people, because they are generally presented by the mainstream media and the _intelligentsia_ as rebels. But upon closer inspection, leftists are far more conformist than revolutionary.
Characteristics of over-socialization
In industrial society, the moral code has become so complex, so demanding, that it is utterly impossible to behave or act in a moral or ethical way in all circumstances. It is likely that this high level of demand is related to the complexity of industrial civilization, to the inhuman scale of this society, as well as to its organizational imperative. Forcing millions of very diverse people to live together and cooperate is not natural; it requires constraint—lots of constraint.
Everyone is bound to lie or hate another person from time to time. It is impossible to never commit a morally reprehensible act. It is difficult, if not impossible, to always be chartable; to always be truthful; to always be ecologically minded; to always love your neighbor and turn the other cheek when they harm you, etc. For a human dependent on the industrial way of life, it is impossible to avoid the countless sufferings caused to other humans and non-humans. This is because these sufferings are systemic, and an isolated individual has no power over the system.
Most people manage to repress the guilt that haunts them daily, but not oversocialized individuals. In order to escape it, "they continually have to deceive themselves about their own motives and find moral explanations for feelings and actions that in reality have a non-moral origin." This intellectual torture that oversocialized individuals inflict upon themselves can lead to "low self-esteem, a sense of powerlessness, defeatism, guilt, etc." . To resolve the contradiction that torments them, the oversocialized individual might for example, under the guise of morality and ethics, seek to authoritatively impose changes on others (inclusive writing, veganism, arbitrary banning of certain words or practices, deconstructivist religion, and other merrymaking).
Kaczynski distinguishes the attitude of the majority of people from that of the oversocialized in a brief passage :
" The majority of people engage in a significant amount of naughty behavior. They lie, they commit petty thefts, they break traffic laws, they goof off at work, they hate someone, they say spiteful things or they use some underhanded trick to get ahead of the other guy. The oversocialized person cannot do these things, or if he does do them he generates in himself a sense of shame and self-hatred. The oversocialized person cannot even experience, without guilt, thoughts or feelings that are contrary to the accepted morality; he cannot think “unclean” thoughts. And socialization is not just a matter of morality; we are socialized to conform to many norms of behavior that do not fall under the heading of morality. Thus the oversocialized person is kept on a psychological leash and spends his life running on rails that society has laid down for him. In many oversocialized people this results in a sense of constraint and powerlessness that can be a severe hardship. We suggest that oversocialization is among the more serious cruelties that human beings inflict on one another."
Over-socialization not only harms the individuals who endure it, but it is also a constant threat to any movement that seeks to destroy the established order.
Why it is a problem
Kaczynski assumes that oversocialized individuals make up a significant portion of the contemporary left and help steer it politically to increase its submission to the system. More importantly, the lefitist tricks themselves into thinking they are going against the system when they are not. These individuals are most often intellectuals and members of the middle or upper classes, particularly Western academics. Let’s name a few of them.
French anthropologist Philippe Descola repeatedly emphasizes in the mainstream media that "nature doesn't exist," or that "our modern cosmology alters our relationship with the living." Solving the ecological crisis would primarily involve deconstructing the nature/culture dualism; in other words, we would need to change our imagination. Adored by eco-reformists, sociologist Bruno Latour and philosopher Baptiste Morizot align with a similar perspective. The ecological carnage would have its origins in the world of ideas; bulldozers, giant excavators, data centers, factories, and infrastructures would have nothing to do with it. In the same vein, let's mention Sandrine Rousseau, the lecturer and researcher in economics as well as deputy, who presents herself as a "radical ecologist," a "witch" who swears by "deconstructed men," all while encouraging the establishment of a true technological dystopia in her Lille stronghold.
The feeling of constraint and helplessness experienced by the oversocialized leftist leads them to rebel. They then attempt to cut their psychological leash and claim their independence, their freedom, but they lack the strength and courage to oppose the fundamental values of society. This is what leads Kaczynski, in an insightful text, to write :
"Though they like to fancy themselves independent thinkers, the intellectuals are (allowing for individual exceptions) the most oversocialized, the most conformist, the tamest and most domesticated, the most pampered, dependent, and spineless group in America today. "
This segment of the population is nonetheless systematically portrayed as the most radical by the media-political sphere.
As Kaczynski notes, it is surprising to see that, in most cases, oversocialized leftists do not come into conflict with common morality. On the contrary, oversocialized individuals (mostly leftists) first appropriate a commonly accepted moral principle. This can be freedom of speech, social protection, nature protection, animal welfare, empathy for the weak, non-violence, pacifism, inclusivity, equality, and so on.
It is a problem according to Kaczynski because :
"All these have been deeply rooted values of our society (or at least of its middle and upper classes for a long time. These values are explicitly or implicitly expressed or presupposed in most of the material presented to us by the mainstream communications media and the educational system."
The apparent hostility of oversocialized individuals stems from the fact that both individuals and society do not respect these principles. In a sense, they are right, as these values are commendable. But the problem is, they are not revolutionary. The majority of people, as well as the elites in power, certainly approve of the (reformist) protection of nature, kindness toward animals, equality, pacifism, etc. These values do not threaten the established order; rather, they contribute to reinforcing it.
Oversocialization in practice
Kaczynski concludes his demonstration on oversocialization by giving the example of positive discrimination for African American minorities. The oversocialized leftist refuses to admit – or does not understand – that among African Americans, there are a number of people who, by choice, refuse to integrate into the techno-industrial system. They do not wish to pursue careers or hold positions valued by industrial culture, such as doctor, scientist, engineer, business leader, or university professor. To put it another way, not all African Americans dream of becoming clones of white people (the same is true for some Native Americans, by the way).
The oversocialized person will have the same arrogant attitude toward an indigenous people still deprived of electricity or schools. They will consider this situation morally unacceptable, feel guilty, and do everything to "include" in the techno-industrial system what they perceive as miserable people. This will simply have the effect of destroying the autonomy and culture of that people forever. On this point, the documentary _Schooling the World_ by Carol Black is edifying.
Let's give two more examples to show how oversocialized individuals contribute to adapting society to technological changes.
All women who have had children will certainly agree that pregnancy is not always a very pleasant experience to go through. It ends with childbirth, a painful ordeal that can sometimes be fatal for both the child and the mother. Suffering is considered something archaic, primitive, or barbaric by industrial modernity, so everything must be done to reduce it to zero. This is why some over-socialized individuals promote the development of artificial wombs in order to make the natural reproduction of humans obsolete. Other arguments are put forward to defend this biotechnology: it would offer better chances of survival for premature babies; it would promote equality by allowing all individuals who are not or are no longer able to reproduce to have children; it would promote gender equality by freeing women from the dangers of pregnancy and the time consumed by this process; etc. In the name of principles that are certainly admirable, the over-socialized leftist is actually advocating to make natural reproduction obsolete. They advocate to permanently annihilate the autonomy of human beings and make them forever dependent on technology. They are useful idiots working to ensure that biotech companies and states one day take over the reproduction of humans like cattle. Here, we see how the demands of over-socialized individuals contribute to manufacturing mass consent for technologies that exacerbate the machine-like enslavement of the human species.
Another example: the complete artificialization of food production and the end of farmers are technologist projects supported by some environmentalists and animal rights advocates. In the name of the struggle against climate change, an anti-capitalist like George Monbiot, columnist for the British newspaper The Guardian, celebrates lab-grown food. In the name of reducing or ending animal suffering, some anti-speciesist activists, such as Thomas Lepeltier, advocate for the development of biotechnologies such as GMOs and cultured meat. He also intends to use technology to intervene in the wild in order to stop predation and in general all animal suffering, which would amount to annihilating the freedom and autonomy of all wild animals on Earth. Here again, we observe that the fight against suffering is not a revolutionary value; on the contrary, it favors the technological colonization of the biosphere and the living beings that make it up.
The oversocialized person thus appears as a catalyst for destroying human autonomy and forcing the adaptation of society and living beings to the new material conditions imposed by the technological system.
