From Collective Freedom to Individual Choice: The Sociology of Everyday Life

Abstract

This paper disentangles how freedom and unfreedom play out in people’s everyday lives. The author argues that the idea of an unencumbered individual is a product of a specific history and freedom is a goal everyone desires and pursues. While conceding that those in power set the rules to control the life of the common people and that the latter are free to express and resist as a part of the dialectics of power relations the author questions whether this “resistance” in everyday life is an integral part of the system. The author expresses doubt about the inevitability of resistance by the weak, and asks if academics should now rest happy that the subjugated still breathe free. The paper seeks answers to these questions at a time when authoritarianism looms large.