ANALYSIS OF "THE SOCIOLOGICALLY EXAMINED LIFE" (part 7)

What the Social World Is Made of

by

Charles Lamson

To say that the social world exists only because of ideas does not mean that it is an illusion. Bodies are not illusions. Nor are their tendencies to act in certain ways. Families, schools, banks, churches, clubs, corporations, towns, governments, armies, and nations are not illusions. You cannot wish them away. They consist of people doing things together in recurrent and orderly ways. That is really what the social world is made of: patterns of activity.

We do not usually put it that way. Usually we talk about families, schools, banks, churches, clubs, corporations, towns, governments, armies, nations, and so on. But these are just names for patterns of activity that involve lots of people. It is because people share ideas about how to do things together that these patterns persist.

Ideas let us get things done together in familiar ways, day after day. Without ideas to guide, inspire, and justify what we do, we would have no society. Ideas do not grow on trees. We cannot just pick one to help, when we are confused, disorganized, or in conflict with others. If we lack the ideas we need to solve certain problems, or to inspire or justify certain actions, then we must create those ideas. Humans have a wonderful and sometimes frightening, capacity for doing this. We can interpret, imagine, or justify almost anything.

The social world is no less real, because its existence depends on ideas invented by human beings. However, its reality is different from that of stars, and trees, and bacteria - all of which existed long before hominids evolved on earth. On the other hand, Michael Schwalbe contends that there were no families, schools, churches, government, and so on, until humans came along. In his book, The Sociologically Examined Life, Schwalbe espouses his belief that these things exist only because of ideas and ways of doing things, devised ages ago by human beings struggling to survive.

To say that the social world is a human invention sounds strange, because this makes it seem arbitrary and flimsy, and that is not how we usually perceive it. The social world usually seems solid and durable, as if it existed apart from us, and could be touched. It also seems compelling and real, at least most of the time.

One reason the social world is durable, is that people refuse to doubt the ideas that hold it together. For example, suppose that you thought your parents were alien shapeshifters. If you told anyone of your belief, you would seem crazy. People would not believe you, because to do so, they would have to doubt many of the ideas on which their sense of reality depends. Most people, even those who act crazy at times, dislike this kind of disorientation. Every human mind strains in the opposite direction - toward making sense.

People also hold tightly to ideas, because those ideas tell them what is right and wrong. "Thou shalt not kill" is just an idea, but it is a good one for guiding behavior, since it makes it safe to live with others. To threaten such a basic idea is to threaten society itself. There are many other such ideas about moral behavior, ideas that people see as essential to hold society together. It is no wonder that people resist changing these ideas, and even insist that such ideas be respected as sacred.

Ideas like this also allow people to feel good about themselves. How do you know that you are a good person? Because you have learned a set of ideas for judging yourself and your behavior. For example, you have probably learned that kindness, generosity, and forgiveness are qualities of a good person. If you see these qualities in yourself, you can feel worthy of esteem in your own eyes, and in the eyes of others. All of us relish these feelings of self worth, and resist changing the ideas on which such feelings depend.  

The ideas that hold society together or help people feel good about themselves, are often protected by other ideas. For example, some people might say, "These principals on which our society is based, come from God, and must never be changed." Other people might say, "In ancient times, our wisest elders devised these principals, and we must not change them, or else our society, and everything we hold dear, will perish." In either case, the attempt is to make society durable. To the people in it, a society thus, will seem solid and real for as long as it lasts.

Ideas shape people's feelings too. When people settle into a way of understanding the world, they are also settling into a way of feeling about it, about others, and about themselves. Perhaps these feelings are pleasant, perhaps not. Either way, people can feel as if they are being pushed around emotionally, perhaps being pushed toward feelings they do not want to have - when their ideas are challenged. So it is no wonder that people resist giving up familiar ideas, and try to keep the world as they know it intact.

To be continued...

*SOURCE: THE SOCIOLOGICALLY EXAMINED LIFE, 2ND EDITION, 2001, BY MICHAEL SCHWALBE, PGS. 12-14*

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