Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

oth its international and domestic manifestations, according to May: "Containment was the key to
security." (22) This ideal clearly expresses a shift in American society from the idealized version of the
rugged individual to an idealized group mentality.
Reisman (1961) identifies and analyzes three main cultural types: tradition-directed, innerdirected,
and other-directed. He traces American society from being tradition-directed originally to shifting
into inner-directed in the era before the Cold War, then shifting into being other-directed. Reisman
explains that the shift toward other-directedness occurred because large corporations preferred it that way.
Other-directed people are geared toward pleasing others and so fit best into the political ideal of social
containment during the era. Reisman writes “The other directed man wants to be loved rather than
esteemed.” (12) The middle class no longer had to cling to old individualistic standards; rather they were
encouraged to form cohesive group societies. Since other directed people can only define themselves by
reference to others in their community and to things they consume, own, earn, and believe, they were
inherently hindered in knowing themselves as individuals. Reisman does not look kindly on the new “other
directed” men. His book argues that while “other directed” individuals are crucial to the smooth running of
a modern society, they compromise autonomy. A society dominated by “other directedness” faces profound
deficiencies in leadership and human potential. It is in this context that Reisman expresses a clear shift from
society glorifying to demonizing the individual. Maintaining the status quo, and thinking with the majority
had become the ideal of modern society.
This paper looks at political sociology and social critique through Ford’s Western films. While The
Searchers and Liberty Valance have been covered extensively not many place the two in conjunction with
Stagecoach in an effort to see how national identity of the individual has shifted. Going back to the pre-
World War II era ensures a firm placement of the ideal of the individual that Ford is talking losing about in
his later films. Rather than just pointing at the shift, this paper will examine the era of the individual that
Searchers and Liberty Valance are deviating from.
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