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you are here: > Self > 5.
Society and ME
| 5.1 |
Society and self
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| All human beings, no matter where they are on the planet Earth are affected by at least one society. | ||
| For most of us, from the time we are born, to the time we die, live, work and interact within the confines of certain rules and standards set down by national and state governments, city councils, associations and corporations. | ||
| Where we live, what we own, where we work, where we choose to relax, how we move between places are all largely determined by the products, services and rules of our societies. Most importantly, how we see ourselves, our standards and aspirations, what we learn and how we keep informed (e.g. via television and or other media) is strongly influenced by government. | ||
| So strong is a societies influence over its inhabitants that most of the Earth's population only speak one language. Even then, the way in which a language is spoken may differ greatly from region to region. When we seek to identify ourselves to people from different parts of the world, we may instinctively describe ourselves as Afro-American, or Australian, or Indonesian, implying a set of characteristics just by our national "identity". | ||
| So all pervading is the influence of a society over its inhabitants that in some cases it can literally convince people that "black is white" and "wrong is right". During World War II, the propaganda machine of the Nazis was most successful with average German families in convincing them that fellow neighbours and friends who happened to have parents, grand parents or even one great grand parent who might at one time have been Jewish were subverting society and "enemies of the state". Without the tacit approval of the German middle and working classes, the plans of Hitler would not have succeeded for the length of time it did. | ||
| In Serbia and Bosnia, the atrocities committed by neighbour against neighbour because of cultural heritage at the end of the 20th century was not the work of barbarians, but educated Westerners. Many forget that Sareyevo, a city of infamy was also once the home of one of the worlds great spectacles of achievement, the Olympic (Winter) Games. The leader of the Serbian Bosnians, main profession before genocide was as a philosopher and poet! | ||
| In Iraq, even though older people remember the terrible cost of the wars with Iran and the rest of the world, the children view their leaders with affection because of the constant messages taught to them at school. | ||
| 5.1.1 | About this chapter | |
| Over the previous chapters, we have discussed and understood that a great many factors combine to influence our sense of who we are and why we do what we do, including needs, wants, values beliefs, goals, relationships with other people. | ||
| Significantly, we have seen that these factors also affect how we perceive life and living to be. | ||
| Now in this section, we seek to understand the impact of social systems on ourselves and our values as well as our perceptions. In this way, we continue to search for the underlying answers to the questions first posed in chapter 1. | ||
| In this chapter we also seek to understand what makes a society, its rulers, its government, its rules, its cities, its people and how these still strongly influence us today. | ||
| In seeking to understand, we seek to understand further influences of how and why we do what we do, what we wish and how we think. | ||
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