Is Society Good or Bad?

The sociological task reveals that this is the wrong question.

Photo by Victor He on Unsplash

Summary:

Two unsatisfactory approaches to society are (1) blind acceptance of how things are and (2) overt verdicts on society’s moral status as a whole.

Neither pays attention to the process of how norms came to be nor the variety of outcomes they produce. The better approach is to notice what society creates and what it might be at the expense of.

Overview:

• How to approach societal value — examining and understanding how a society organizes itself and what its impact is.
• Emile Durkheim as a template through the example of Mechanical Solidarity versus Organic Solidarity.
• Two processes of the sociological task in determining society’s effects.

Part One — The Sociological Task

A cultural epoch — ancient history, pre-modernity, modernity, et cetera — exists, quite generally, as being morally neutral. To ask if modernity is good or bad would be to ask an unanswerable question. Modernity simply exists. How it is used can be good or bad. Or, more importantly, particular effects in particular contexts can be suitable and beneficial or disastrous and harmful.