Society's social obligations waived aside

If all humanity disregarded the good of society and only considered their own gain, the global society would rapidly disintegrate and degrade back into a barbaric state. All of society, society as a whole even, has a social responsibility to one another and if everybody waived that obligation our developed society over the last several centuries would be no longer. Even now the only reason our society has even come so far is because a few people, such as Nelson Mandela and Mother Teresa, have gone above and beyond their own share of social responsibility. But it should not be this way- everybody should be fulfilling their own share of obligation to society with no one person going so extremely above and beyond. But let’s assume it actually happens- everybody decides to only act out of self-interest and not even give a thought to their social responsibility.

 First the government would be greatly affected if every individual decided his only concern was to himself. Legislators and their respective committees would cow into their ‘sponsors’ that ‘donate’ tons of money to them. Bureaucrats, whom are hard to remove from office anyhow and have no fear of reelection, would take the easiest path and implement policies lazily. So if they were to implement a Medicare program they might try to cut corners if they waived aside their personal responsibilities. Bureaucracy would no longer regulate all the companies properly and thoroughly with concern for the human population’s safety. Really the whole idea of a government being there to promote the general welfare would be gone if social responsibilities were waived aside, and just like that, thousands of years spent in refining government would be thrown away.

After the government’s denigration businesses would grow monumentally with the government off their back regulating everything they did and without a thought toward social responsibility. What stops a biopharmaceutical government from using steroids in their drugs for added strength to show stronger results and stimulate more sales if there is no government regulation and they don’t feel an obligation to the health and safety of the public? Corporations would have no check on them society as a whole decides to waive aside any obligation they feel towards one another. We have spent so many thousands of years in civilizations all over the world trying to find a way to make sure businesses do not abuse the public, but all that work would just be unraveled. Our society would be brought to its knees if people wouldn’t even be able to trust their local businesses to be honest.

Lastly and most strikingly our communities would be literally nothing. The idea of a community predates humanity…communities of individuals have been developing since the first organisms. Literally the idea of working together, intertwined with the very structure of nature, is founded on social responsibility. If as a whole our society waived aside any social responsibility, we wouldn’t feel any need to protect or help our neighbors. If an ambulance showed up at one’s house, neighbors wouldn’t care to check on him. Even further, the concept of friendship would be gone. We would feel in no way obligated to help somebody that we call a “friend”. Even further the very unit of a family, a little hub of protection and safety and love, would be diminished. What would we be but wholly separate individuals with no care but ourselves? Can we even imagine such a world? It is the social obligations that we feel that draws the difference between our current society and that sad existence.

 

One's Obligations

            It is easy to agree with individualist theories and agree with philosophers like Thoreau that we owe nothing to society, only to ourselves, because it appeals to our personal desire and makes sense on a fundamental level. Aren’t we all sole units and hence isn’t our first and only obligation to ourselves?

The problem is that society and the whole world today has only made the progress that it has in the past few millennia because there have been people that put their own self gain aside for the good of the community. If all humanity disregarded the good of society and only considered their own gain, the global society would rapidly disintegrate and degrade back into a barbaric state. We would live in an every-man-for-himself society without any government or rein on society, where ethics and morals would no longer apply. Everybody who could take advantage of other people would take advantage of other people simply because they had the power to.  

            On the other hand if everybody put the good of society first before their own, we would be no closer towards recognizing an ideal state of society. Really, the world would simply be in anarchy because even though people are thinking of the society as a whole first, their personal motivation to do anything is dashed. Who would try to work hard for society when their personal efforts won’t amount to anything significant for themselves or even for society but be shadowed by the rest of the society as a whole? Whenever people work in teams naturally individuals begin to slack off because there’s little personal gain and their contributions won’t be significant in the final output.

            As of today our society is comprised of mostly people that work towards their own personal gain and a few that feel a strong obligation towards society. This structure does not work either. Nelson Mandela (in honor of his recent death) and the South African Apartheid structure illustrates our current society impeccably. The National Party of South Africa had been enforcing apartheid, or racial segregation, primarily for their own self-gain as these white people in power are simply promoting themselves. In the end what it took for actually social progress was a man who put the greater good and society first- Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela suffered punishment and imprisonment on Robben Island before he could bring about the change he envisioned for the better of society in South Africa. Clearly our current society does not work either. Firstly, it is too slow and time taking when so many are not considering the good of society and secondly, it is unfair to those who finally sacrifice their own self gain for all of society’s progression.

            Obviously there is no clear cut answer towards the question “how should society behave as individual people when it comes to their obligations to themselves and the whole of society?” But I find that the best approach would be for all people of society to put their own personal gain first, as all people have a natural obligation first and foremost to themselves, but then to regard society as their second obligation. No decision should be made by an individual without regard to both his own good and the good of society. In this way no one person, such as the great and venerable Nelson Mandela, should have to carry society on their back but society is nurtured and allowed to progress forward.