> The atomized individual is a position within the sociocultural domain.
> Despite its detachment from others, the atomized individual is a mode of relating to others and the world. We cannot help but exist in relation to others, culture, conventions, norms, and the rest of world. What we are, therefore, at a given moment can be described as a place among other places within the sociocultural order. This is true even when what we are appears as an absence of relation, or a refusal, or an inability. The position of the atomized individual is characterized by its distance and detachment. That distance, however, ought to be viewed as a way of relating to the world. Recognizing this leads us away from seeing the atomized individual as simply isolated, and it prepares us to ask, “What is the relationship between the atomized individual and others?”