American Individualism in the Anthropocene: The Cycle of Disruption and the Collapse of the Happy Consciousness

Abstract

Geological science widely accepts that in the middle of the 20th century the Earth entered a new epoch: the Anthropocene. There is a key difference between the Anthropocene and previous geological epochs: Humans are the driving force of planetary evolution. During this geological transition the fabric of American society was massively disrupted by rapid industrialization and technological development. John Dewey recounts this destabilization in Individualism Old and New, and Herbert Marcuse describes the results of the destabilization in One-Dimensional Man. This essay will explore the characteristics of the Anthropocene and the implications it has for the American individual including the establishment of two predominant individualistic mindsets. Then, it will explain a four-step process called the Cycle of Disruption that I believe occurred after the industrial revolution and continues to this day. It will examine how the forces of the Anthropocene have influenced the two prevailing individualistic mindsets and where contemporary American society falls within the Cycle of Disruption; focusing on the disruption caused by the Internet and its accessory technologies. These concepts will be explored through the film Assassination Nation, and the television show Euphoria, both by Sam Levinson. The goal of this essay is to suggest a potential reframing of the chaotic and nihilistic Anthropocenic forces in order to develop a more mature kind of individualism, and thus a more mature kind of Anthropocene.