Rugged individualism

Rugged individualism, a recent phenomenon in some developed societies, is the sense of ultimate total responsibility, that is, that in the end, one is really answerable only to one's self. Taken to extremes, such rugged individualism could result in the despairing individualism that leaves one disbelieving in society's niches: marriage, family, religion, and politics. One may conclude that life is merely a game without purpose, that all action is futile, and that one can actually do nothing in the face of the world's relentless chaos. This could lead to wild personal style and belief experimentation or to hermitism.