ISAIF Commentary - Disruption of the power process in modern society (part 1)

"59. (fr) We divide human drives into three groups: (1) those drives that can be satisfied with minimal effort; (2) those that can be satisfied but only at the cost of serious effort; (3) those that cannot be adequately satisfied no matter how much effort one makes. The power process is the process of satisfying the drives of the second group. The more drives there are in the third group, the more there is frustration, anger, eventually defeatism, depression, etc.
 
60. (fr) In modern industrial society natural human drives tend to be pushed into the first and third groups, and the second group tends to consist increasingly of artificially created drives.

61. (fr) In primitive societies, physical necessities generally fall into group 2: They can be obtained, but only at the cost of serious effort. But modern society tends to guaranty the physical necessities to everyone in exchange for only minimal effort, hence physical needs are pushed into group 1. (There may be disagreement about whether the effort needed to hold a job is “minimal”; but usually, in lower- to middle-level jobs, whatever effort is required is merely that of OBEDIENCE. You sit or stand where you are told to sit or stand and do what you are told to do in the way you are told to do it. Seldom do you have to exert yourself seriously, and in any case you have hardly any autonomy in work, so that the need for the power process is not well served.)"

The effort needed to hold a job is actually quite serious in my opinion. Yet it's completely ineffective in statisfying the need for the power process: for example, just like the author said people are almost always required to give up their autonomy while on the other hand are almost never required to push their physical body to its limits. The lack of use of our physical body, whose functions are reduced down to walking to our car or in the worst case scenario to our working location and back to our place is also directly linked to the health/alimentation disorders of our society (obesity and such), another very negative factor affecting the life of modern individuals. For this very reason I find surrogate activities that involve some use of the body (sports for example) to be particulary effective as a stopgap solution (although I feel compelled to specify they will never be as effective as a primitive lifestyle).

"62. (fr) Social needs, such as sex, love and status, often remain in group 2 in modern society, depending on the situation of the individual. [10] But, except for people who have a particularly strong drive for status, the effort required to fulfill the social drives is insufficient to satisfy adequately the need for the power process."

Moreover, I feel that the most recent cultural changes are starting to push social needs into categories 1 and 3 as well: for example the pursuit of sex has become way easier since the sexual revolution (so that it can almost be considered a group 1 need), but on the other hand finding a stable partner to marry seems to be a harder task for my generation compared to earlier ones, hence tends to be more and more a source for frustration (and I'm pretty sure marriages today also have a shorter lifespan than before). The process of creating friendships has been strongly enhanched by the progresses in the communication technology (mobile phones, social networks, etc.) however those friendship often end up lacking the depth and mutual communication of friendships born over longer timespans. Basically, making a lot of friends is becoming easier (group 1), but making good ones harder (group 3). And so on.

"63. (fr) So certain artificial needs have been created that fall into group 2, hence serve the need for the power process. Advertising and marketing techniques have been developed that make many people feel they need things that their grandparents never desired or even dreamed of. It requires serious effort to earn enough money to satisfy these artificial needs, hence they fall into group 2. (But see paragraphs 80-82.) Modern man must satisfy his need for the power process largely through pursuit of the artificial needs created by the advertising and marketing industry, and through surrogate activities."

Just one random quote I happen to remember from the movie Fight Club. I've always wondered if Chuck Palahniuk has ever heard of this manifesto.

"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off." -Tyler Durden-

"64. (fr) It seems that for many people, maybe the majority, these artificial forms of the power process are insufficient. A theme that appears repeatediy in the writings of the social critics of the second half of the 20th century is the sense of purposelessness that afflicts many people in modern society. (This purposelessness is often called by other names such as “anomic” or “middle-class vacuity.”) We suggest that the so-called “identity crisis” is actually a search for a sense of purpose, often for commitment to a suitable surrogate activity. It may be that existentialism is in large part a response to the purposelessness of modern life. Very widespread in modern society is the search for “fulfillment.” But we think that for the majority of people an activity whose main goal is fulfillment (that is, a surrogate activity) does not bring completely satisfactory fulfillment. In other words, it does not fully satisfy the need for the power process. (See paragraph 41.) That need can be fully satisfied only through activities that have some external goal, such as physical necessities, sex, love, status, revenge, etc."