Do the new working conditions make us more flexible, independent, and creative – in other words, better – people? Against the backdrop of a recognition-theoretically updated Critical Theory, Lutz Eichler connects findings from labor and cultural sociological research on subjectivity with analytical social psychology. His historical perspective opens up insights into the metamorphoses of the psychosocial glue of society and demonstrates that strategic recognition does not promote autonomy, but rather certain narcissistic forms of interaction and psychodynamics.