Lecture Notes & First Family Activity

Before I get into my lecture notes, let me remind you that next Tuesday 2/21 we will be seeing the video "Affluenza," following which the groups (or families) I announced yesterday at the end of class will discuss what they saw. The details of what I want the families to do appear at the end of this blog post under "First Family Activity."

Regarding the lecture notes, you want to copy or print these out. They represent how I had planned to wrap up the subject of developing a ground or basis for recognizing what constitutes a social problem, but of course I ran out of time yesterday. I am sure I will be doing more of this from time to time throughout the semester.

LECTURE NOTES:

Recall that I wrapped up my remarks on the individual by arguing that we as individuals are essentially defined or constituted by our relations to objects in nature and culture. Then, I expanded the argument to encompass society. And to make this leap from the individual to society, I underscored that human beings act, that action of course also involves objects.

F. Fundamental to human development is the creation and organization of objects such that people can act. Human ends are achieved by way of action, by organizing objects toward the achievement of some end -- that is, by creating INSTITUTIONS. (One way of defining institutions being that they are ORGANIZED SYSTEMS OF OBJECTS DIRECTED TOWARD HUMAN ENDS.)

1. A doctor achieves his/her end -- to improve the health of her patients -- by utilizing stethescopes, X-ray machines, drugs, hospitals, etc. etc. And in order to perform this task well, these objects must be organized properly and be in good condition.

2. Think of all the objects that surround your life and how necessary they are to doing your job well or just living a decent life.

G. It is through action that human beings have come to build up a world which we variously call society, the state, or civilization, or -- that we have come to build up a vast institutional structure which characterizes modern society. For example --

1. Through the activity of growing food to sustain life has developed AGRICULTURE, which today organizes objects on a vast scale to carry out the task of producing food necessary to sustain the lives of individuals and society.

2. Or, through the activity of helping the sick, which in the beginnning was an individual or family function, we have built huge MEDICAL INSTITUTIONS (OR A HEALTH CARE SYSTEM), which involve the organization of people and objects on a vast scale in order to carry out the basic human activity of caring for the sick.

H. Indeed, I believe it is no exaggeration to say that these institutions (or "SUPER-INDIVIDUALS") are the REAL ACTORS today -- that it is only by way of them that human purposes are achieved. As individuals, we participate in institutions. All of our acts (even the simplest of them, such as making breakfast) are bound up with this larger institutional order.

I. Human relations are mediated by these institutions: a farmer enters your life (even though you may never meet him personally) by way of agriculture, by way of participating in the production of food necessary to sustain us. Or, I enter your lives by way of education -- that is, the books, classrooms, buildings, and myriad of other objects that make up Wofford College, and were necessary for my own education. (Dr. King had something like this in mind when he spoke of the "single garment of destiny" that we are all a part of.)

J. On this basis, then, I believe society can be more accurately defined as an ORGANIZED SYSTEM OF INSTITUTIONS.
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A. Having established what society is, we now need to turn our attention to the question of what society is capable of becoming, or what a HEALTHY, WELL-ORGANIZED, or IDEAL society would be like.

1. Recall the doctor/medical analogy -- social scientists must have some understanding of the proper functioning of society and the institutions which make it up as a basis for diagnosing society's illnesses, especially those that appear to be life-threatening.

B. So, based on the conception of society as an organized system of institutions, I would argue, IN GENERAL, that a properly organized society would involve the proper organization of these institutions -- that these institutions function HARMONIOUSLY, which is a key to individuals leading a satisfying life.

1. There is a difference between this and the "normal" functioning of institutions -- the normal functioning of these institutions may be the real problem (as you all explored a bit in your first blog exercise). I believe this will come through in our critical analysis of overconsumption and debt, which many people just take for granted or see as normal.

a.) Social critic, Erich Fromm, in an interesting book entitled, "The Sane Society," published back in the 1950s, introduced a relevant concept here: the "PATHOLOGY OF NORMALCY." That is, that the norm may be the problem, such as the acceptance of racial segregation back then.

2. Practically speaking, to have a good house to live in, it is important that the carpenter you hire is competent, has been well-trained, that he/she has good tools, materials, proper nourishment, etc. etc. -- in short, that he/she is properly INSTRUMENTED. This would require, in an ultimate sense, that the economy be right, agriculture be right, education/training be right, etc. for good houses to be built. Remember, human relations are mediated by objects. One could make a similar point about having proper health care, or anything else for that matter.

C. To push this farther, one would have to define the essential purpose of the basic institutions in our society, what role these institutions play in maintaining that larger life in which we all participate. It is also vital for us as individuals to consider our place, our role, in this larger life, too. (For example, the authors of "Affluenza" ask us to consider what the economy is for in Chapter 14.)

1. Let me also mention another interesting book, "The Costs of Living," by Barry Schwartz, in which he makes a serious effort to define the purpose of basic institutions and then looks critically at how and why these institutions clearly are not fulfilling that purpose.

D. Since my sketch of society is largely based on the social thought of American philosopher, Elijah Jordan, I believe it is appropriate to give him the last word on this -- a statement of what he calls "the law of morality," or a standard for determining what constitutes a healthy society. This comes from his major work on ethics entitled, "The Good Life," p. 59:

"The good life posits a person or actor endowed by nature and by culture with all the capacities that are possible to him, with these capacities developed to their fullest possible degree; the person living in a world so organized or ordered as to guarantee to the person full and free access to all the means and instruments necessary to the adequate and appropriate expression of his capacities and the realization of his acts in satisfying objects."

Let me also add a nice statement from William Morris of a similar standard, which can be found in the bottom paragraph, p. 140 of "Affluenza." Check this out as well.

E. A couple final observations regarding the above statement are in order --

1. One can easily gather from this that such conditions as poverty, hunger homelessness, unemployment clearly represent problems both for individuals and the larger society. Work is especially important -- it is AN ORGANIZING PRINICPLE OF LIFE. We build our lives around our work, what we do. When there is a lack of work, meaningless or unrewarding work, or work that destroys or undermines the larger social order, this is a serious social problem.

2. Insofar as our society, or any society, falls short of this standard of a healthy society described above (as all societies do in varying degrees), we can say something is wrong, that social problems exist, that we have work to do.
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FIRST FAMILY ACTIVITY:

After viewing the video program, "Affluenza," in class next Tuesday (2/21), which runs about 55 minutes, you will get together in your respective families (as noted below) and discuss which ONE of the many symptoms of affleunza presented represents the greatest threat to the health and well-being of our society. I want each family to come to a CONSENSUS (or agreement) on what you believe is the most adverse symptom. Each family will, then, designate a spokesperson to present your findings at the beginning of class on Thurs. (2/23). I also want each family to post your findings as a comment on this blog post. This should include the name of the symptom and some points in defense of your choice (that is, pretty much what you present in class). ALL FAMILY MEMBERS HAVE TO CONTRIBUTE TO EARN THE ACTIVITY POINTS FOR THIS EXERCISE. This exercise is worth 5 activity points.

The two families are: (1) Qay B., Helen S., Travis, T., Madison W.
(2) Ricco B., Shelby H., Adam, S., Mary Katherine K.
Remember to be thinking about what color you like your family to be.

See you next Tuesday.