But the things they are the expression of are to be found not so much in the society's organization or in an individual's psychic wounds, but in society's texts and language. I have said all that needs to be said about rational individualism. In any case, Carey's article covers it nicely. In the world of journalism that Carey analyzes, human actors are possessed of conscious motives and purposes and human acts can be understood in light of them. Individual accounts of behavior are taken at face value.
Human beings do what they intend for the reasons that they give.