From Traditional Society to Industrial Society (An Anthropological Analysis of the Manifesto Ted Kaczynski)

Abstract

This paper is an anthropological analysis of industrial society and its future, Kaczynski's controversial manifesto, which radically criticizes the transformation of traditional society into industrial society. From an anthropological perspective, this change reflects not only technological and economic shifts, but also a restructuring of social structures, patterns of interaction, and cultural values that shape human identity. Kaczynski argues that traditional society provides a framework for life that is more in tune with human psychological and biological needs, particularly through power processes, small community relations, and connection with nature. In contrast, industrial society is accused of stripping individuals of their autonomy, accelerating social dislocation, and forcing humans to adapt to an autonomously evolving technological system. This study employs ethnographic and theoretical approaches to understand Kaczynski's critique as an extreme response to alienation and dehumanization in industrial modernity. While the author's violent methods cannot be justified, his ideas open up space for discussion about the crisis of meaning, the loss of cultural identity, and the tension between technological progress and the sustainability of human values in modern social order.