Being subordinate to a thing reduces a person psychologically to a thing

Evidence

It thus appears that the moral maxim never to use a man as a mere means is actually the formula of every sociation. Where the significance of the one party sinks so low that its effect no longer enters the relationship with the other, there is as little ground for speaking of sociation as there is in the case of the carpenter and his bench. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 322 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

At any rate, here is one of the cases where the individual, within his own consciousness, repeats the relationships which exist between him, as a total personality, and the group. It is an old observation that the conceptions of the single individual, with all their relations of association and dissociation, differentiation, and unification, behave in the same way in which individuals behave in regard to one another. It is merely a peculiar case of this correspondence that those intrapsychological relations are repeated, not only between individuals in general, but also between the individual and his group. All that society asks of its members—adaptation and loyalty, altruism and work, self-discipline and truthfulness—the individual also asks of himself. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 354 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Voluntary military service, however, is one of its purest examples in our time. The intellectually and socially highest person may subordinate himself to a non-commissioned officer and actually tolerate a treatment which, if it really concerned his ego and feeling of honor, would move him to the most desperate reactions. But he is aware that he must bow before an objective technique, not as an individual personality, but only as an impersonal link requiring such discipline. This awareness, at least in many cases, prevents a feeling of degradation and oppression from arising. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 764 (#contradicts, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Treating another as a mere means abolishes sociation itself — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 322; Power shifts attribution of actions from the subject to the power-holder; Subordination stops being degrading once framed as impersonal technique — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 764 (+6 more)

Related

• Subordination stops being degrading once framed as impersonal technique (similarity 0.83)
• Treating another as a mere means abolishes sociation itself (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Treating another as a mere means abolishes sociation itself #corroborates (0.85) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 322
• The individual’s inner mental relations mirror social relations among persons #corroborates (0.83) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 354
• Subordination stops being degrading once framed as impersonal technique #contradicts (0.80) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 764
• Functional differentiation frees individuals from role-dictated behavior #contradicts (0.78) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 708
• Unequal distance to a common head rigidly differentiates subordinates #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 332
• Power shifts attribution of actions from the subject to the power-holder #expands (0.72)