Analysis Of The Disjunction Of Realms By Daniel Bell

Daniel Bell’s “The Disjunction of Realms,” writes about the dichotomy that exists currently between culture and social structure. Bell argues that in out post-industrial society, post-1940/50s, there is no unity between the realms. Previously, culture and social structure were ruled and united through Christianity, which was the belief system of most the population. However, in our modern society, we see a division between behaviors, values, and beliefs in culture and in the social structure.
In the first chapter, Bell defines the terms he consistently uses throughout his work. The man three terms defined by Bell are Economy, Polity, and Cultural. According to Bell, the Economy’s function is rationality and functionality. Polity is the establishment and value of equality, that all individuals hold equal opportunity and rights. Lastly, Culture is ruled by the fulfillment of the self. It is the realm in which individualism dominates. In modern society, our cultural realm holds individuality as its greatest value. According to Bell, “it is the discordances between these realms which are responsible for the various contradictions within society” (Bell 10). Bell addresses the prominent and current discordances between culture and social structure in the rest of his writing.

Bell focuses his attention on the ever-widening disjunction between social structure, which is synonymous with the economy and technology, and culture.

The disjunction is related back to antinomianism. Antinomianism can be defined as being against the law, order, and structure. The belief of going against the law and order is justification for developing the self. The individual or person must discover themselves openly and without reservation. Bell writes how “in the modern consciousness, there is not a common being, but a self and the concern of this self is with what its individual authenticity” (Bell 19). The individual authenticity is a unique character that is free of

conventions.
There has always been a degree of tension between culture and society. However, with the change in technologies, specifically movies, cars, and credit, in the 1950s there is no longer any unity. Businesses and large corporations want individuals to work hard, pursue a career, and be dutiful. Yet, its products and advertisements promote pleasure, joy, leisure, and individuality. This opposition is what Bell speculates as tension and a lack of unity between post-industrial “Bourgeois Society” and the culture of “Modernism.” The social structure, otherwise known as the workplace, values and imposes restraint, hard work, and self-discipline. This realm is about rational, technology, and structure. Ultimately, there is a sense of duty to follow socially defined obligations and to value status and class. On the other hand, there is the realm of modern culture. As previously mentioned, this realm values and celebrates antinomianism in Popular Culture, its evident in the works of artists, writers, poets, etc. Another value celebrated in theater, art, and even social media, is self-pursuit. The culture is dominated by the self and the search/pursuit for the real and authentic self. Like Goffman, Bell writes about how increasingly the private self is valued in the culture. That individuals get to display themselves to others through images and self-impressions.
Today, there is more disjuncture than before. Modern individuals must move in-between the two realms consistently. Ultimately, the question that individuals must ask themselves is “who am I?” To discover whether they identify with the identity of the social structure or of culture? Or possibly both, and they must simply adjust themselves depending on the realm.