Introduction or preface

In this essay, after briefly delineating the main features of contemporary individualism, I describe two forms of pseudo-individualization that characterize todays' developed societies: the «heterodirected self-invention of personal identity» and the phenomenon of the «entrepreneurs of themselves». Both processes, behind the appearance of promoting the individual's chances of self-determination and self-realization, conceal forms of homologation and heterodirection. Through the analysis of their causes, I draw the conclusion that contemporary individualism will be able to keep its normative promises only if paired with the development of relationships of mutual recognition.