Theories of David Riesman

Abstract

There is no doubt that The LonelyCrowd is David Riesman’s most significant book. The book turned Riesman into an important social scientist and introduced him to a wide range of scholars all around the world. The LonelyCrowd is about the American social character and its changes in different eras, places, and social classes. Riesman’s goal was to see how different types of social character are shaped and how they affect people’s thoughts and actions in different areas of their lives. But where does social character come from and how is it shaped? Riesman argues that different societies with different social, economic, cultural, and political structures in history shaped various types of social characters in order to make sure people will support and secure their interest. Social character prepares a person for living in society in the way that the social system expects him to live. Thanks to social character a person learns his role in society, the goals he must follow, the values he must respect, and the kind of relationship that he must have with others. Thus, what social character does is to ensure that people will conform to the prevailing cultural system and its expectations. This is why Riesman defines different types of social character as “the way in which society ensures some degree of conformity from the individuals who make it up” (Riesman 2001, 5). Therefore, in order to understand a social system and its goals and values, we have to understand the prevalent type of social character that it creates.