Riesman, how does the rise of bureaucratic Essay

Riesman, how does the rise of bureaucratic - Essay Example The â€Å"inner directed† domain of individuality loses primacy when personal values are compromised for the sake of gratifying other people. In a bureaucratic type of environment, social acceptance is deemed to be very significant. Moreover, in a mass society dominated by the attitude of following trends and fashion, the â€Å"other directed† features rule out the â€Å"inner directed†. The transition occurs whenever an individual becomes aware of the relevance of coping up with the changing times. The moment an individual learns to filter out messages from the social environment and to process these messages to something that would be beneficial for the self, then the shift from the â€Å"inner directed† to the â€Å"other directed† takes place. In simpler terms, â€Å"inner directed† character denotes individuality or independent thinking whereas â€Å"outer directed† means cooperation and the likelihood to compromise, which is the fundamental attitude requirement of advance capitalism (Kivisto 1998: p. 112). Riesman further asserts that the shift in the social character was brought about by the transition of the society. He had delineated three stages of this societal transformation: the traditional, the inner directed and the outer directed. For him, the traditional stage is the best form of social character because it has the potentiality to develop in a high degree (p. 112). In these levels of social development, Riesman integrated the concept of the old and the new middle class. The old middle class that thrived in the traditional stage were the feudal lords and other individuals from an aristocratic blood. The new middle class that arose in the contemporary period are the entrepreneurs who are driven not by competition but cooperation. These two middle classes that existed from different times were in conflict when it comes to social character. The old middle class is more inclined on