1. The Rise and Fall of Inner-Directed Character: From Dictate to Gyroscope to Radar
David J. Ayers

2. I. Three Scripture Texts from Three Apostles on the Connection Between Saving Faith and Good Strong Character
PAUL in Romans 5:1-5 “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

3. PETER in 2 Peter 1:5-8 “For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self- control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

4. JAMES in James 1:1-8, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God….But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind. For that person must not suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways….Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,’ for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”
Notice that all these passages assume that living in the world as a believer will be hard. That being fruitful AND faithful in the face of opposition will require deeply-ingrained virtue, the ability to keep on course despite social pressure and temptation, self-control including being ruthless in putting to death sinful desires, not blaming others for our shortcomings and sin but rather taking full responsibility before God for our sin, being MORALLY GROUNDED and STABLE in our commitment to living those out. Notice too that the pay-off is not immediate but down-the-line. Success and character mean being able to say “no” to short-run temptations and pleasures in order to achieve a long-term good. In the meantime, simple endurance means a lot. Without endurance, no one finishes the race, at least not well.

5. II. Directly and indirectly, Protestantism was associated with the development of a new type of “social character.”
“Social character” has to do with aspirations, goals about what elders wish their children to be. These are psychological orientations to the world and others shared across society, which are….

6. enable members of society to adapt to, function effectively within,
…inculcated into members of society through normal processes and agents of socialization (parents, teachers, role models, heroes, etc.), and which are…
…reflected in secondary social institutions (churches, schools, businesses, etc), and which…
enable members of society to
adapt to,
function effectively within,
and harness their energies positively for, that society;
submitting comfortably and voluntarily to its shared expectations.
Please note that this way of putting together the main idea of “social character” was drawn from many sources in political science, sociology, psychology, and anthropology. This is something I have been interested in and read about for decades.

7. “‘In order that any society may function well, its members must acquire the kind of character which makes them want to act in the way they have to act as members of a society or of a special class within it. They have to desire what objectively is necessary for them to do. Outer compulsion is replaced by inner compulsion, and by the particular kind of human energy which is channeled into character traits.’” (Erich Fromm 1944, as quoted by David Riesman et al)

8. The approach to social character that emerged with Protestantism
The approach to social character that emerged with Protestantism? Inner-directed character. This is basically, intentionally rearing children who…
are grounded and directed by moral principles whether or not others encourage or embrace these moral commitments, and…
are able to set and achieve long-term goals, even when doing so violates established traditions and beliefs, and is met by rejection or even hostility from others.
More on this later.
Note that the second is limited by the first. Maintain the moral principles and stay faithful to them, but not being loyal to expectations, traditions, beliefs outside of that.

9. How did Protestantism do this? Indirectly and directly:
First and foremost, a strong, private nuclear family.
Strongly bonded parents viewing their focused role of stewarding their children for God.
“Spouse” and “parent” as callings.
Screen out undesirable outside influences.
Strong emphasis on individual conscience, salvation. Need to raise children who will choose well, because choose they will!
Inner-worldly asceticism: engage the world and callings within that world, but do so fruitfully without being polluted or brought down by its temptations.
On the first point, note that we discussed this last week. The Protestant approach to marriage, building a strong, intimate bond between husband and wife and emphasizing within that a high role for men and women as co-heirs, every one a saint, every man a priest in his own home, etc., made the nuclear family strong enough to really focus on inculcating good habits and virtues in children, focusing on child-rearing very intentionally.
On the second point, recall that we dealt with that topic on November 12. Protestants taught and also modeled that we must obey God rather than man.

10. Education was to include moral inculcation.
Strong emphasis on literacy in general, and rigorous education in particular.
Note that one of the first things Puritans in New England did was create Harvard.
Neil Postman Amusing Ourselves to Death on amazing thirst for learning of New England Puritans.
Education was to include moral inculcation.
Neil Postman on Puritans in New England. FACTS:
The Mayflower had books on it, not just the Bible either. In the earliest days of colonization, each minister given 10 pounds to start a religion library. Between 1640 and 1700, when in the West most men were illiterate, 89-95% of men in Connecticut and Massachusetts were literate. For women, it was over 60% -- which is unheard of. In one three-year period in the 1680’s, on Boston book deal imported 3,421 books, most of which were not religious books. This is just one three year period and city, when the entire northern colonies only had 75,000 people in them, many of them children. All towns were required to have schools and all children to be educated. Bottom line is broadly educated people with strong characters able to think for themselves, question, etc..
Education without values, as useful as it is, seems rather to make man a more clever devil. C. S. Lewis

11. III. The basic thesis: David Riesman

12. Note that Riesman himself drew upon a huge number of classic influences. These included Max Weber, and Alexis de Tocqueville’s masterpiece, Democracy in America.
September 27, 1954

13. Started with Tradition-Directed Orientation
Population and social practices are stable. Life quite similar to parents’ and grandparents’ and expectation is things will remain the same.
Orientation to the past and to preserving the past.
People are expected to “fit into” the world they have been given, to conform to the world of their ancestors.
Rigid norms, established status and “place.”
Little development of individuality.
On third point, note that in Africa, attempts to deal with female circumcision run headlong into this. As one woman said in a film I show in Cultural Anthropology, “our ancestors said so.” That fact that it is a health nightmare and that Islam really does not teach it – “yes, but our ancestors did it.”
On last point, “deviants” accepted so long as they “fit in” to assigned roles. So for example, you have the village idiot, the village drunk, the begging cripple, the harlot, and so forth.

14. TRADITION-
DIRECTED

15. “…how do we keep our balance? That I can
tell you in one word... Tradition….
Because of our traditions, everyone knows who he is and what God expects him to do."
Note – no orientation ever completely disappears. For example, even in modern America we have people who are very tradition-directed. I have the Amish here, I could add Hassidic Jews and others.

16. Then shift to Inner-Directed Orientation
Population is growing and social practices are changing. Preparing children for world that is going to be very different from one they are being raised in and that parents were raised in.
Social expansion, colonization, new religious ideas, exploration, conquest, technological change.
Put within each child a psychological gyroscope.
Remember Berger’s concept of “plausibility structures” we dealt with the first day of this class. Ideas render certain things plausible, interacting with shifts in social realities that reinforce the idea that these things are plausible. “Dreaming the impossible dream” no longer seems impossible.

17. “This instrument, once it is set by parents and authorities, keeps the inner-directed person…‘on course’ even when tradition…no longer dictates his moves.” Thus the person “can remain stable even when the reinforcement of social approval is not available” (p. 24).
People with inner-directed orientations are suited to master nature despite enormous obstacles; to promote new ideas and inventions despite resistance, inertia, and even ridicule.
People like Lewis & Clark, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, and Alexander Graham Bell are the paradigmatic heroes of an inner-directed world. The paradigmatic accomplishments of an inner-directed society are marvels like the building of the transcontinental railroad, Robert Peary’s North Pole exploration, and the completion of the Panama Canal; heroic conquests of nature that required enormous perseverance, drive, and self-confidence in the face of doubt, failure, and ridicule.
Paradoxically, the ability to challenge convention, social pressure and tradition—to not only handle but create major change in the external world—requires people with fixed internal moral strength and goals that are firm as iron. For such people to be created, said Riesman et al (p. 15), meant that: “….the source of direction…is implanted early in life by the elders and directed toward general but inescapably destined goals.” (Riesman, 1961 edition) In other words, producing such character is no accident, but rather the product of careful, intentional training by elders (especially parents, also educational, civic, and church leaders, moral stories, the kinds of heroes set before children as worthy of emulation, and so on).

18. Self-control. To master the world, one must first master himself!
“….the source of direction…is implanted early in life by the elders and directed toward general but inescapably destined goals.” (p. 15)
Paradoxically, to be a change agent the person must have a firm grounding in moral absolute. Not dictated by rules, but by principles.
Conform in matters of being ladies and gentlemen, but not in altering morals, aspirations and ideals to suit the crowd.
Self-control. To master the world, one must first master himself!
Goal-oriented and able to delay gratification.
On point 4, remember Douglas Wilson’s illustration – can shape a sapling must easier than a tree.
On #6 – think of Eric Liddell of Chariots of Fire fame as an ideal – polite, respectful. Willing to break rules (minister running in the Olympics and using it as a form of gospel-witness) but not budging from his moral beliefs (I do not run on Sunday).

19. INNER-
DIRECTED

21. “In memory of Thomas Darling, Esq. who died Nov. 30, 1789 ________
A Gentleman of strong mental powers,
well improved with science and literature,
___________ to the study of philosophy,
habituated to contemplation and reading
________ in moral reasoning,
of deep penetration and sound judgement,
respected for modesty and candor,
benignity and self command.
In his intercourse with mankind
honest and benevolent,
amiable in all the relations of social life
and filled a variety of public offices
with fidelity and dignity
eminent abilities as statesman and judge
an early professor of Christianity
its steady friend, ornament, and defender
with a rational and firm faith in his God
and Savior: he knew no other master.

22. IF (Rudyard Kipling)
If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise;
If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with worn-out tools;

23. If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on";
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run - Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son!

24. Inner-directedness was the ideal of the American colonists and Founding Fathers, a legacy that continued to drive the ideals people placed in front of their children, and applauded in public life, well into the early 20th Century. D’Arcy in Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is definitely inner-directed.

25. OTHER-
DIRECTED

26. By 1950’s, move to Other-Directed Orientation
Population stabilizing with low birth rates.
Growth and expansion no longer primarily about conquering natural world, but in manipulating and getting along with other people. Riesman: ““other people are the problem, not the material environment” (p. 18)
Instead of a gyroscope, people now equipped with radars. Said Riesman, this enabling them to keep “in touch with others,” and thus make the constant adjustments needed to maintain “close behavioral conformity” (p. 21) guided by their “exceptional sensitivity to the actions and wishes of others” (p. 22).
On first point, note that Riesman was noting general shift. At time, in U.S. Baby Boom was full tilt. But of course he was right. We have been below replacement level fertility for decades now. Baby Boom was a blip, not a long term trend. The long term trend is low birth rates.

27. Instead of a gyroscope, people now equipped with radars
Instead of a gyroscope, people now equipped with radars. Said Riesman, this enabling them to keep “in touch with others,” and thus make the constant adjustments needed to maintain “close behavioral conformity” (p. 21) guided by their “exceptional sensitivity to the actions and wishes of others” (p. 22).

28. These are people hungry for peer-approval, hungry for popularity, willing to shift goals, opinions, inner-selves to conform.
“What is common to all other-directed people is that their contemporaries are the source of direction for the individual—either those known to him or those with whom he is directly acquainted, through friends and through the mass media… The goals toward which the other-directed person strives shift with that guidance: it is only the process of striving itself and the process of paying close attention to the signals from others that remains unaltered throughout life.”

29. Parents become less important than peers or the teen idols of mass media as models or as sources of direction. With this, distinct individuality in the true sense disappears.
“…students everywhere now begin to resemble each other in basic outlook as well as superficial fads, so that, despite many cleavages, these students are more like each other than any one of them is like his father or mother”. (Preface to 1961 edition, page xxvii.)

30. Inner-directedness increasingly seen as confining, rigid, judgmental, disruptive.
I often like to use the analogy of tofu for other- directedness. We can say we went from “beef” to “tofu”! Why would this “fit”?
Riesman – no going back, embrace leisure, embrace choosing identities, focus on fun, personal consumption, etc.
On #6, note that now John Wayne is viewed as bad, his strong masculinity making boys and men feel they are “not good enough,” need more sensitive and achievable male role models.

31. 18

32. “…students everywhere now begin to resemble each other in basic outlook as well as superficial fads, so that, despite many cleavages, these students are more like each other than any one of them is like his father or mother.”

34. Others of us – no, we are going to do our best to raise inner-directed children rooted in Christian moral precepts, “calling,” and the rest.
Boys of Grit books by Archer Wallace, mid-1800’s. As I was preparing a CVV talk on inner-directed versus modern world, I went into my son Joshua’s room to pray with him at night and saw that one on his nightstand. Boys of Grit Who Became Men of Honor. Wow. So who are reading these books now, who brought them back? Conservative evangelicals.

35. Parents started wanting their kids to be “popular.” The Brady Bunch.
Why the shift?
Moral relativism rooted in evolutionary ideas. No absolutes, everything changing, humans just a type of animal and is evolving, etc.
Permissive child-rearing. The “Greatest Generation” wanted better for their kids, there were now psychological experts like Benjamin Spock. Strict discipline was “out.”
Parents started wanting their kids to be “popular.” The Brady Bunch.
On #3, tell story of mother who tried to hire hitman to kill member of high school cheerleading squad so her daughter could get a spot.

36. As Riesman et al noted (p
As Riesman et al noted (p. xxvii, 1961 edition), other-directedness emerged “under pressure of the discovery…that cultures and religions hold no absolute truth, authority, self-evidentness. Fixed social characters could be maintained by fixed beliefs. Inner-direction wedded fixed social character to flexible behavior, but not to relativistic values.” (Emphasis added.)

37. Feelings more important than facts or logic.
Now way beyond other-directed. Numerous social scientists have continued to track this since 1960’s.
Ronald Inglehart: post-material character. The Silent Revolution (1977)
Feelings more important than facts or logic.
Egalitarian and authoritarian (No superiors, “I must be heard,” etc.)
Hyper-relativism.
Personal fulfillment is everything.
Conformity disguised as rebellion.
On #1.b. story about GCC student who is taking Kengor and my course this Spring, she says, so she can “argue with the professors.” Wow.

38. Feelings more important than facts or logic.
Now way beyond other-directed. Numerous social scientists have continued to track this since 1960’s.
Ronald Inglehart: post-material character. The Silent Revolution (1977)
Feelings more important than facts or logic.
Egalitarian and authoritarian (No superiors, “I must be heard,” etc.)
Hyper-relativism.
Personal fulfillment is everything.
Conformity disguised as rebellion.
On #1.b. story about GCC student who is taking Kengor and my course this Spring, she says, so she can “argue with the professors.” Wow.

41. James Davisson Hunter The Death of Character (2000)
Psychology and the therapeutic trumps everything else.
Feelings are now the arbiters of truth.
Hyper-relativism gone hyper-hyper.
Increasingly demand the fruits of the old Christian consensus without any absolutes, judgments, discipline.
This of 2.a. in terms of the absolute tyranny of the transgender activism. I can be anything I think I am, all of society must affirm it, and anyone who refuses to go along right down to micro-managing their speech is a bad person, intolerant, bigot, and must be censored and punished. Christian math teacher in England now under suspension for accidentally referring to a group of female students as girls – one of them believed she was male and sued. Successfully, so far.

42. “We want character but without unyielding conviction; we want strong morality but without the emotional burden of guilt or shame; we want virtue but without particular moral justifications that invariably offend; we want good without having to name evil; we want decency without the authority to insist upon it; we want more community without any limitations to personal freedom. In short, we want what we cannot possibly have on the terms that we want it.” (From James Davisson Hunter, The Death of Character)
“And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible….In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.” C. S. Lewis, 1947, The Abolition of Man
Consider the current situation. Every day new sexual charges, and yet we claim to be relativistic with regards to sex. We celebrate Hugh Hefner’s legacy and trash Harvey Weinstein. We treat Mike Pence as if he is a dangerous sexist, subjecting him to withering public ridicule, for exercising extreme caution around women, amidst cascading evidence of widespread sexual abuse by powerful politicians we are supposed to decry. Mayaim Bialik of Big Bang Theory forced to retract advice, based on her own experience, to dress modestly and be careful in order to avoid the very type of abuse Weinstein, Spacey and others committed.

43. IV. What to do? Identify, teach, affirm God’s moral absolutes.
Maintain a strong nuclear family based on sound marriages and compelling parental role models.
Pay attention to what gets inside our children. In the age of Internet and smartphones, more important, but harder, than ever.
Encourage character over popularity.
Note – we cannot recreate the conditions of the past nor can we completely insulate our children from the outside world, nor should we want to do so.
Francis Schaefer – not that many absolutes, but everyone of them is important. We err when we make things that are NOT absolutes, absolutes, or when we act as if nothing is.

44. Take control of education of our young.
Encourage the right kinds of heroes.
Vital involvement in a biblically-centered church that teaches the whole counsel of God contra-culture is a must.