Alienation and America With the decline of intermediate institutions and the rise of alienation, the modern individual searched for community in the state, for it is the state that held the greatest promise and “evocative power” for an “image of community.” (QC, 33) The individual’s identification with the state is part of his national community contributed to the legitimatization of further state expansion into society. When intermediate institutions like the family or churches have disappeared, we are at the point that Tocqueville had predicted of the administrative despotic state where a majority tyranny dictated and instructed people in all incidents of their lives.
Alienation and America
The Big question now is how you get out of this satanic mess. Hence the importance of the recent YouTube colloquium, "Are we individuals?"