Is Expressive Individualism Dead?

January's Edition of "Field Notes from the Shadowlands" by Lanie Anderson

“Is expressive individualism dead?” I had already been asking this question myself in the aftermath of Charlie Kirk’s assassination, which seemed to further expose just how strong the pull toward group dynamics is in our fractured society. At the end of last year, O. Alan Noble wrote a Substack post titled “The Shift from Individualism to Mob Identity” in response to this tweet from Luke Burgis:

Luke Burgis@lukeburgis

The 20th century was the Century of the Self. The 21th century so far is the Century of the Crowd.

5:42 PM · Sep 13, 2025 · 6.5K Views

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7 Replies · 1 Repost · 23 Likes

Upon reading Noble’s piece (which I commend to you), I thought this was a question worth exploring. What I hope to do today is to add to what Burgis, Noble, and others have observed.

I have been reading a great, introductory book on identity called Rethink Your Self: The Power of Looking Up before Looking In by Trevin Wax. He identifies three sources people and cultures generally look to in their search for identity. They 1) look up, 2) look around, and 3) look in.¹ Each of these ways of approaching identity have their strengths and weaknesses. For example, there is a time to look within to learn more about yourself. There’s also a time to consider what others think of you. The way we order these sources, however, will have a huge impact on our self-understanding.