David Riesman: The Lonely Crowd

David Riesman writes of three very different character types in his book “The Lonely Crowd.” The first type, tradition directed, is driven by cultural demands to act in an approved way, and is enforced through fear of being shamed or losing honor. The second type, inner-directed, is driven by an “inner gyroscope” that is set primarily by his parents. The inner-directed person behaves according to this “internal piloting” and often senses feelings of guilt, rather than shame, if his behavior shifts from these parent-instilled values. The third and final type, other-directed, is the group that Riesman has nicknamed “the lonely crowd.” The behavior of other-directed individuals is governed primarily by their set of peers at any given moment. According to Riesman, other-directed individuals have an internal “radar” for sensing and responding to their peers and makes them “capable of a rapid if sometimes superficial intimacy with and response to everyone.” The “lonely crowd” of inner-directed individuals is where most Americans today would belong according to Riesman’s categorizations.