The holistic person; Or, the ideology of egalitarianism

Over the past decade and more,Western practices bearing on social life have been marked by a turn against Cartesian dualism. In particular, sociologic al analysts, political activists, and many ordinary Westerners have come in creasingly to advocate an appreciation of the person in terms of the mind-b ody construed as inextricably one. To account for this, comparative materia l from Inuit hunter-gatherers and the Western New Age movement is brought t o bear. Using this material, the holistic person is interpreted as a discou rse about individual moral frailty, ideologically pertinent in societies wh ere egalitarianism of outcome is the dominant cultural ethos. This analysis is related to Giddens's account of 'late modernity', specifically as this is informed by 'life politics'.