Man's Chief Danger: Observations By Mills

Identifies and critically examines several important conceptual issues

Discriminatory methods of production in modern society

According to Mills, man’s chief danger lies in the unruly nature of the modern society (Mills, 71). The modern society has discriminatory methods of production that favours certain classes of people while being unfavourable to others. In addition, the modern society is having developed certain political techniques that contribute towards the unruly nature. The contemporary society is also characterized by international anarchy. In a nutshell, Mill viewed man’s chief danger as the transformation that has occurred to the nature of man and his aims in life.  Mill made several observations after the world war 1 and concluded that the transformation explained above must be man’s chief danger. The following discussion will attempt to explain what mill meant by this. First, Mill observes that the modern society has discriminatory methods of production. By this, he means the production methods that has been brought by capitalism. A capitalism society is characterized by white collar jobs. These jobs are characterized by salaries and wages as compensation for labour. In workers are encouraged to maximize production while minimising the expenses. When the cost of production is kept at minimum and the output maximized, the profits proliferate. The danger brought by capitalism is that it will make a few individuals extremely rich while living the majority of the population poor. This presents a danger to humanity since it will lead to a situation where most people are poor. Therefore, discriminatory production poses danger to the life of man. This has been greatly observed in the modern society. There exists a class of few rich individuals who exploit the poor.

Mills also observed that the political techniques of the modern society pose great danger to man. Political ideologies are very important in influencing the state of a nation. The political class is the one that makes major decisions concerning the country. This class inevitably affects the life of the common person in any nation. If the political ideologies are good, then they lead to good living conditions of citizens (Hughes, John and Wes, 17). In the contemporary society, the political class mainly exploit the citizens. They do this through misusing public funds and putting their personal interests before those of the nation. There are many countries of the world that are suffering due to political factors. For instance, politics has led to civil wars, political instability and harsh political ideologies. Therefore, it can be concluded that political domination is one of the factors that pose danger to man.

Political domination as a factor contributing to man's chief danger

Mills argues that in the contemporary society, people understand neither their biography nor their history. This has led to conflicts within individuals so that they no longer understand their nature or aims in life. The only way to overcome this is through employing sociological imagination. The sociological imagination would help an individual to view their experiences, history and the current events in a synergistic way. Ordinary people lack the ability to view things this way which explains why they are caught up in danger (Cornell, 28). If men and women could be able to understand the sociological and cultural changes that has occurred, they would be in a better position to handle the future. This is the main message that Mills delivers in ‘The Promise’.

Bureaucracy refers to a complex administrative process where every activity is assigned to an individual or an office (Weber, 31). In a bureaucratic system, there is no administrative gap that is left unfilled. This system was developed by Max Weber and applies mainly to government and business organizations. In the modern society, the bureaucratic system is heavily employed in both governments and businesses. There are several features of a bureaucratic system. The following discussion will be concerned with these features and how they relate to man’s chief danger. One of the features of a bureaucracy is an administrative class that manages those below them. The administrative class make decisions that must be followed by those who are below them. In such a system, it is possible for the persons in powerful positions to manipulate individuals who are below them. This manipulation is usually negative in nature and contributes to man’s chief danger. As Mills observed, the political techniques in a society will influence the unruly nature of a society. Let us take an example with the senior political class. Individuals in these positions may use their power to perpetrate heinous acts. For instance, there have been cases of political assassinations aimed at protecting the interests of certain individuals who are in powerful positions. In light of this, it can be concluded that the power distribution and dynamics of the modern society has contributed to the unruly nature of the modern society.

Bureaucracy is also characterized by impersonal relationships. When working in bureaucratic manner, there exists no personal relationship among workers or between the workers and their seniors. This form of relationship is highly discouraged. The aim is to ensure that every person focuses on their work and that there is no bias based on personal relationship. Although this has helped increase productivity, it has completely changed the social nature of man. By nature, man is a social being. Due to work and chase for money, the social aspect has been greatly neglected leading to a situation where man has almost lost the social touch. In explaining man’s chief danger, Mills argue that the modern productive methods have turned man in to a ‘cheerful robot’. Although people are compensated for their work, they spend too much time working to the extent that they have lost their identity as social beings (Descartes, 14). This is dangerous as it has led to a point where work is more glorified that being social and establishing good personal relationships. Therefore, bureaucracy contributes to man’s chief danger.

The importance of sociological imagination in understanding the complexities of modern society

Herbert Marcuse was neo-liberal Marxist. In 1964, he wrote about a one-dimensional man. The one-dimensional man refers to a person in a capitalist society. Traditionally, Marxism relied on conflict from within to bring about change. If a person or a group of people felt that things were not right, then they could decide to make the appropriate changes that will make things better. According to Marcuse, this is no longer possible (Heins, 71). The main reason for this is the rise and growth of capitalism. In a capitalism society, an individual is one dimensional in nature since they cannot do anything to change their society.

In capitalism, individuals accept whatever happens whether good or bad. Here is the reason why. In capitalism societies, the factors of production are owned and controlled by a few individuals. These individuals are very rich and influence both policy and what happens in the society. Therefore, the common person is left with no option but to provide labour to the rich class so that they can be able to afford both basic and other needs. The situation has become so bad that it is now hard to get an opportunity to provide this labour. This has left a numerous number of people jobless and consequently poor. This is exactly what Mills regarded as man’s chief danger. Capitalism has led to a revolution that makes certain individuals extremely rich at the expense of others. This is due to what Mills referred to as discriminatory methods of production. True to his observations, these methods that are facilitated by capitalism has posed great danger to human life. Capitalism has led to a large number of poor people who can barely afford food, clothes and decent shelter.

To make the matters worse for the one-dimensional man, he cannot change the state of things. As observed above, the owners of the factors of production are the ones who control what happens. Therefore, the common person is left with no choice but to adapt to the environment and conditions presented to them by the upper class. As Mills observed, the only way to eliminate this danger, is for man to consider employing sociological imagination. If people could take sometime to view their history, biographies and the current events as being synergistic in nature, then they would probably avert the chief danger. At the moment, however, man is yet to carry out the process of sociological imagination. If he does not so soon, things may get out of hand and it may be impossible to recover from the consequences.

Features of bureaucracy that contribute to man's chief danger

Marx’s theory of alienation revolves around technology and modernity. Although technology has enabled the human race to develop immensely it has come with numerous negative repercussions (Erickson, 470). It is normal to assume that what is happening today happens so independently. However, Marx observes that that nothing happens independently. What is happening in the current day is as a result of the decisions that human beings made in previous days. Let us take some examples that would help explain the concept of alienation. Although the cities are becoming more populated, human beings are increasingly becoming detached from each other (Kurtz, 14). Although technology has made it possible to produce enough food to feed everyone, there are many poor people who do not have access to food (Bhaskar, 7). Although, technology can help us achieve almost anything that we want, it has led to such negative repercussions as global warming, nuclear weapons productions and unending wars. Therefore, the Marx views technological advancements as the path that man uses to destroy himself. This compares greatly to the observations of Mills. Mills argued that political factors and technological factors will prevent man from engaging in sociological imagination. Following are the key relationships between the theory of alienation and man’s chief danger as presented by Mills.

Due to technological advancements, there conflict has developed within human beings such that they no longer understand their aims in life. Technology has brought with itself great transformations that man finds himself confused on what his role is (Healy, Mike, and Iwona, 14). Although there are many advantages that have been accrued as a result of technology, it has made life more complicated than ever before. Therefore, the societal transformations have contributed to majority of the ills of the modern society. Mills was therefore right to conclude that the greatest danger facing man is the transformation taking place in the society and his inability to realise his aims in life. according to Mills, the only way to realise this aim is to carry out a sociological imagination. It seems that this is yet to be done.

Bureaucracy, repressive desublimation and Alienation seem to work together to contribute to the chief danger. The following discussion represents the interrelationship between the three and how this contributes to man’s chief danger. The bureaucracy administrative system has been greatly employed by businesses and governments. In modern organizations, the administration is hierarchical in nature and discourages personal relationships at work. This has turned people into cheerful robots as Mill had projected. In the modern days there have been a shift from working in offices to working at home. This represents the technological advancement that Marx describes in his alienation theory. Due to technology, it is possible to work remotely from home. There is a shift towards online working where individuals can work from home instead of reporting to physical offices. Although this is viewed as convenience by most workers, it has several disadvantages. The main one is that a person working from home may spend most of their time behind the screen of their computer and have little or no time to interact with others. Psychologists have argued that this is a recipe for disaster (Kim, 7). Failure to interact with other people have turned individuals in to antisocial beings who are likely to engage in antisocial behaviours. Therefore, bureaucracy and alienation work together to contribute to the chief danger.

Neo-liberal Marxism: The one-dimensional man in capitalism

Repressive desublimation refers to the idea of one-dimensional man. This is man who has to abide by what is happening due to his inability to bring about change. Such is the person who is working under a bureaucratic system of administration. In this system, decisions are made by individuals who are in senior offices. Therefore, workers are left with no option but to abide by those decisions. If a person does not obey these decisions, they are considered to have defied authority and could face punitive measures. These punitive measures include being sacked. There is a sense in which Marx’s theory of alienation also applies here. While working under a bureaucracy, an individual cannot make any choice yet they are alienated from social life (Schacht, 7). The average person spends at least 8 hours a day working. When they are through with work, they are usually too tired to engage in activities that could make them interact with other people. In a nutshell, bureaucracy, repressive desublimation and alienation work together to depreciate the quality of life.

According to Mill, most men and women are so cannot understand the immense impacts that have been brought by sociological and cultural changes (Mehan, 153). Sociological imagination would be a great way to help avoid man’s chief danger. The social scientist would be at the centre of helping people appreciate the importance of sociological imagination. Sociological imagination refers to the process of reflecting the influence of the society and history in an individual’s life (Hege, 21). There are several ways in which sociological imagination is important in helping man avoid the danger. One, man would understand his history and how it has contributed to the current situation. Most of the activities that happen today are as a result of historical occurrences. If individuals could take time to understand their history, they would be better equipped to make decisions for a better tomorrow. Let us take an example. Suppose a community disposes sewage to a local river. Let us also assume that this river is the main source of their drinking and irrigation water. It follows that the water will be contaminated by the sewage. If people use such water for drinking, it may cause illnesses. It would be unwise for the individuals in the community not to ask themselves what might be polluting the river. On reflection, they will realize that it is due to the sewage fed in to the river. If they do not reflect, they may end up consistently using polluted water which will continue to affect their health negatively.

Another main way through which sociological imagination helps avoid the danger is through understanding the influence that societies have on individuals. Every society have some social norms. These are unwritten rules that guide the operations of the society. The society affects its members both directly and indirectly. For instance, a capitalist society favours a few individuals while making others live miserably. It is only when people appreciate the impact that society has on their lives that they can seek for solutions to problems facing them. For instance, people may decide to adopt a socialist system to eliminate the inequalities that are brought about by capitalism. If they decide to do so unanimously, no one can stop them since they are ones to decide what should happen to them. Let us take an example with Russia. After seeing the negative effects of capitalism, people of the then Soviet Union decided to do away with capitalism and embrace socialism. In socialism, most of the resources in a country are owned by the state and are distributed to people according to need.

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