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PARTISAN REVIEW
Inner-direction and other-direction: these categories made popu–
lar by Riesman's writing correspond very neatly to the character struc–
tures described by Erich Fromm. Other-direction is held to be typical
of our present age; this phenomenon is very much the same as Fromm's
"marketing orientation."
In
Riesman's work the inner-directed society
"develops in its typical members a social character whose conformity is
insured by their tendency to acquire early in life an internalized set of
goals." The person usual in such a society has "certain general aims
and drives-the drive to work hard, save money, or to strive for recti–
tude or for fame ... as against the other-directed person who grows up
in a much more amorphous social system, where alternate destinations
cannot be clearly chosen at an early age."
The other-directed person shows "a tendency to be sensitized to
the expectations and preferences of others." A detail of his psychic
existence: "The feeling of powerlessness of the other-directed character
is, then, the result in part of the lack of genuine commitment to work.
. . . From this it follows that the other-directed person is not able to judge
the work of others...." Neither the other-directed nor the inner–
directed designation is meant to be a value judgment in the strictest
sense; however, Riesman does introduce a desirable direction, the
"autonomous" person (Fromm's "productive" person). This person has
the courage and strength to act out his destiny and character with re–
sponsibility and confidence. No one will be found to dispute the ex–
cellence of such citizens.
In
describing his various character structures Riesman is extra–
ordinarily imaginative and even amusing. His "other-directed" products
of progressive education, restless, homeless, precariously in the know,
are like those bug-eyed dreams pouring out of a space ship. These
"others" come equipped with "radar" which tells them what the gang
is thinking; the "inners" have
aJ
"gyroscope" to keep them on the path
of duty. The others
worn
about in an abundance economy with a
declining population; the inners battled with scarcity. Others have a
diffused anxiety; inners suffer from guilt and shame when they fall
below their own standards. The inners expect to have to master their
environment; the others are concerned with mastering and presenting
themselves as a commodity, competing with other personalities. And so
it goes, rather like those old tests in psychology class in which the spirit
was unmasked in the squeezing of a tube of tooth paste.
Just what contribution this sort of inquiry makes one cannot be
sure. There is reason to suspect readers enjoy this display of "types"
as they would a new pastime. One can combine new classifications with
