A Study of Personal Disorganization

Abstract

I T IS A TRUISM that the source of all cultural forms is the individual and that the person is a reflection of the culture of the group. Innovations in culture are made largely by trial and error on the part of the individual and accepted by the group unwittingly. These innovations as they accumulate disturb the social equilibrium, but in the process they also lead to the disorganization of some persons. This personal disorganization finds expression in the individual either overtly or covertly. In so far as personal disorganization is primarily a covert process, it is accompanied with little or no serious breakdown in the social organization. When, however, personal disorganization is primarily overt in character, particularly if this overt divergence in response does not meet with strong social disapproval, it creates a disturbance of the social equilibrium out of which social disorganization develops. As the social structure breaks down, the first consequence is the further increase in personal disorganization until new social forms begin to replace the old and this social reorganization is reflected in the increased stability of the personal organization of the group out of which the social disorganization developed. That group of individuals whose life organizations reflected the old social order, however, become increasingly disorganized until they are eliminated, largely by death, though a few may experience a rapid conversion from the old to the new. As social reorganization achieves a new equilibrium through the liquidation of those groups whose life organizations reflected the old social organization in favor of those groups out of whose life organizations the new social order has developed, ossification begins and initiates a new cycle of personal disorganization. Thus, while the cycles of personal and social disorganization are not synchronized, the cycle of personal disorganization being always somewhat in the lead of social disorganization, there is always some degree of both social and personal disorganization present. Both cycles represent relative rather than absolute increases and decreases, and are based upon the tendency to seek social approval, and hence to rebel covertly rather than overtly. Upon first analysis, it would seem that the forms of personal disorganization fall into two groups: (I) those forms which develop slowly out of failure on the part of the individual to reproduce in his life organization those attitudes and values which are in harmony with the social organization, and (2) those forms which develop relatively rapidly, due to sudden