Some years ago, when I was studying at a Catholic Seminary, I was strongly influenced by the Liberation theologians, whose critique of Western society and individualistic theology was in turn very much influenced by Marxist critiques of Western capitalism. As time goes by, and history works itself out, I have begun to think that this view of modern Western society, or modern Western history, may be 180 wrong. The question comes down to deciding whether some key trends in post-enlightenment history are part of the creative, or the disintegrative, processes which we know are occurring. These relationships have been radically disrupted, and we are in search of a new basis on which the integrated society can be re-established.
Individualism is a disintegrative philosophy on which nothing can be built.
According to this view, the integrated but technologically inferior societies of the world are being swamped and destroyed by the virus of individualism which accompanies the spread of Western society. The relativizing effect of multi-cultural environments frees and requires individuals to create their own identities. This disintegrative process represents the negative phase of a cyclic evolution whose overall thrust is towards ever larger circles of integration, from the family group to the clan, from clan to city-state to nation and ultimately to world integration. Perhaps I have set up something of a straw man. Either Western Society is not based on individualism, or individualism is not so much at odds with the foundations of social existence as we had thought.