Enabling Societal Institutions

Societal Requirements

The emergence and growth of societal institutions such as those listed earlier depend on a society reaching a particular stage of personal and political maturation where liberal-democratic-scientific values hold sway. Some call this «modernity» and because it is an evolving process, society is described as «modernizing» or «progressive»

A progressive or modernizing society is not only characterized by well developed institutions, but dependent on them to function. It is relatively recently that:

  • governments recognize that societies depend on citizen initiative and self-reliance not leadership and bureaucracy;
  • citizens are educated, prepared for life-long learning, and have enough time for civic duties;
  • the vote extends to virtually all adults, the rule of law applies equally, and transitions of power are peaceful;
  • social problems are addressed through innovating that applies knowledge, requires expertise and demands a scientific approach;
  • people care about the suffering of others defined only by societal membership.

The contrast is with societies which may be labeled authoritarian, hierarchical, or traditional.

  • citizens are indoctrinated, under surveillance and subject to arbitrary handling;
  • the rule of law applies opaquely and unequally, and transitions of power are potentially violent;
  • associations are controlled and society's wealth is exploited for the benefit of elites;
  • people are expected to endure privation and suffering, and are willing and even encouraged to inflict pain on each other.
  • dissent is stifled and the media is controlled.

While this contrast is presented as black-and-white, it is in the nature of humanity's unquenchable desire for progress that many societies are in a transitional state.

ClosedSee Table of Differences:

Personal Requirements

In a modern society, it is understood that we must each look after our own personal needs while also expecting them to be met in the wider community. So personal needs are also communal needs. We must each see ourselves as intrinsically part of the institution that deals with these needs because they are constructed out of our social values-PH6L5 and our cultural beliefs-PH6L6.

Those employed in social bodies linked to a particular social need have a degree of knowledge and expertise that we lack: but no single person or body possesses all relevant knowledge contained within the institution as a whole. Meeting needs has simply become too vast, too specialized and too complex.

An issue for us is how we should be involved directly or indirectly with a particular institution in our everyday life. Our interest in any particular institution typically waxes and wanes as our situation changes or as external events generate an experience of need.

Example: Closed Involvement in Education:

When we were children, we were in receipt of educational programs for 15-20 years, so we are not without experience of the institution. Subsequently we may have contact with diverse educational initiatives as part of our work or to expand our capabilities. As parents of young children, we are actively concerned with how education works in our society and may even be compulsorily made members of a Parents-Teachers Association. In passing on our knowledge and skills or in mentoring, we are again playing a part within this institution, sometimes paid, but often unpaid. Some of us seek work inside a kindergarten, school, or college, while others want to become inspectors of such bodies. Then there are the advanced researchers, journalists, presenters, and others who are concerned to educate the public about amazing scientific advances. And so on.

Exactly what we can or should do to alter the institution (as distinct from altering the functioning of a component body), is the subject of this section.

Because any single person feels so small in relation to the vastness of an institution, it may seem natural to deny involvement, but some minimum sense of responsibility seems essential. Full-time involvement is another matter and, as will become evident, that is the work expected of committed activists, political actors, certain journalists and societally-oriented academics.

Finally, this taxonomic analysis does not state that people must or should associate within societal institutions or perform their civic duties, just as it does not state that people should join a family, an organisation, a doctrinal school or spiritual path. It simply states that this is an option provided by our neurobiological make-up, and we and our children are likely to have a better life if we work, or at least support others working, on our institutions.

Political Requirements

As explained in the Politics Satellite, politics is about the operation groups within society. Individuals discover that they need to coalesce into factions to achieve anything and this sustains a structure of power in society.

Institutions show a similar phenomenon. Factions emerge from power centres like government, professions, political parties, and lobbying bodies. Factions may also emerge from social sectors like "business", "farmers", "miners", "consumers". Some camps may be driven by ideology, but all have vested interests with a unique and distinct perspective on matters concerning the institution.

In a democratic society, factional camps need to be publicly identified and not allowed to operate in secretly. Most will claim concern for the public good, although how much they mean it may be doubtful. There also needs to be user associations or campaigning groups to representing the public in general or presenting views of specific sections of the public like children, women, prisoners &c.

While institutions are nascent and barely recognized, any government is likely to persist in authoritarianism. The public often seems to tolerate this because it finds change disturbing and the very notion of institutions is strange and demanding.

Originally posted: 18-Nov-2022. Last updated: 30-Apr-2023.