“This breakdown of social order — rules of dress, sexual controls, speech patterns, family structures — has been seen as a great victory for the individual. On the other hand, it may simply be a reflection of the individual's frustration at being locked up inside a specialization. These acts of personal freedom are irrelevant to the exercise of power. So in lieu of taking a real part in the evolution of society, the individual struggles to appear as if no one has power over his personal evolution. Thus victories won for these individual liberties may actually be an acceptance of defeat by the individual.”
Voltaire's Bastards (1992)
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John Ralston Saul 85
Canadian author and essayist 1947Related quotes

Elton Mayo, “Irrationalty and Revery”, Journal of Personnel Research, March 1933, p.482; Cited in: Ionescu, G.G., & A.L. Negrusa. "Elton Mayo, an Enthusiastical Managerial Philosopher." Revista de Management Comparat International 14.5 (2013): 671.

Source: The Phoenix: Fascism in Our Time, (1999), p. 95

Source: Multiple Personality: an Experimental Investigation into Human Individuality (1904), p. 26
Source: "Influence, Power, Religion, and the Mechanisms of Social Control," 1999, p. 161

Liner notes for the album Freak Out! (27 June 1966).

“Struggle of power is natural in human because with power their individuality prevails over others.”
"Humanity", Ch.IV, "Rule: Power and Order" Part I