In Don't Take It Personally Eviatar Zerubavel comprehensively addresses the fundamental
distinction between the specific and generic visions of personhood. While the former focuses on
specifically who individuals are as embodied by their driver's license and signature the
latter vision concerns itself with what they are as interchangeable members of particular
social roles or groups. Over the course of the book Zerubavel articulates the fundamental
features and underlying logic of impersonality and considers what is gained and what is lost by
impersonalizing so much of modern social life.
