Society and Social Order

Society and social order encompasses the totality of human relations and systems of interaction.

Society includes all cultures and human groups, past, present, and future, and it evolves through the exchange of ideas, knowledge, technologies. Each of us are members of society and contribute in some manner to its character through our mere existence and through the ramification of our conduct relative to society.

Social order pertains to the ways in which groups of individuals interact with each other and with other groups. Social order is supported through governmental structures and institutions and through local as well as global trade and commerce. Each of us must reconcile our existence within the operating social order. Depending on the particular time and circumstance, some of us are able to establish our own place within the social order, whereas others will have role more-or-less ascribed to us.

Society and the social order provide things that are necessary for us (shelter, belonging, food, protection). The provision of these things invariably require some manner of action or contribution from us in exchange.

We cannot live, grow, or thrive as humans without accounting for society and social order.

The Work Life-Task

One demand that society places upon us is the expectation to work. Some manner of work is necessitated for individuals in society across cultures and groups. In some societies, those who are unable to work are unable to live. For other societies, work is a natural and organic outcrop of survival and community life.

Work is of central consideration to our social order. Value is ascribed to people based upon the type of work they do. Individuals who are rendered unable to work are often described as being debilitated, even if all other biological functioning and forms of social contribution remains unimpaired. When people are unable to work or when something impedes upon success at work, they seek help, support, or training to address this.

We have entire institutions dedicated to education and training for the purpose of developing work capacity in certain fields of employability, and the government regulates work conditions for safety and fair trade. Government also sets and enforces standards for licensure and training required for certain types of work.

Alfred Adler viewed work as one of three tasks of life that each of us is called to answer for in some way (the other two being the Love and Community tasks). From this way of thinking each of us are tasked with developing our own skills, capacities, and abilities in a manner that fits some greater need within the structure of the existing social order. Our merit is assessed and awarded based off of how others in society and the social order values. Even those who are unable to work and forced to receive assistance to live, continue to experience a desire to contribute and feel valued by others. In this way, the work task is never satiated through provision of material compensation or meeting of basic needs.

Social Exclusion, Equality, and Social Justice

Social exclusion, equality, and social justice are constructs that relate to conditions of society and the operation of the social order.

Social exclusion occurs when access is denied to certain rights or amenities to an individual or group that are available to others in a given society. This may include access to to jobs, healthcare, policing, or marriage rights that others benefit and enjoy.

Social equality refers to the conferring of equal status and value, beyond issues of social access alone. Social equality as measured by social equity, or fairness in the implementation of social policy. Although laws may allow for social access, how these laws are orchestrated and carried out by society may result in social inequities.

Social justice refers to efforts taken to overcome obstacles to societal benefits and privileges that have been systemically withheld to certain groups in society. This includes the idea of social mobility, or the capacity for persons in society to better their societal disposition. Social access (inclusion) and equality can also be considered longer term goals or objectives of social justice.

We view social inclusion, equality, and social justice to be desirable and necessary conditions for a healthy social order and for the health growth and development for all individuals operating within a given society.

Dominant Discourse

The idea of Dominant Discourse was introduced by Michael Foucalt (1926-1984) and Stuart Hall (1932-2014).

Dominant Discourse refers to a scripted manner of communicating and thinking about a certain topic. As the term implies, these are discourses that dominate how we engage around the issue. Dominant Discources shape behavior and speech patterns and eventually become reinforced norms. When Dominant Discourses occur in society regarding particular issues or groups, they have a powerful influence.

Society shapes and is shaped by Dominant Discourse, and the operating social order tends to affirm and reinforce their existence. Marginalized people have their experience dictated to them through Dominant Discourse regarding their role in society. When this occurs the subjective psychological landscape of the individual comes to conform with the expectations that have been ascribed by society.

Narrative Therapy makes use of this construct in tying together how the subjective psychology of individuals relates in turn to objective factors in the form of social conditions and the operating social order. As individuals each of us come to internalize Dominant Discourse through our conscious and unconscious expectations about ourselves, the world, and others. This in turn shapes our patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting relative to the Dominant Discourse.

Personal Growth in the Context of Society

Personal growth occurs hand in hand with the growth of society and our social order. As society offers opportunities for individuals to contribute and belong, individuals are able thrive and grow. The contributions of individuals in turn leads to betterment of society.

As individuals hone personal skills and develop capacities in efforts to better their own circumstances, these acquired skills and capacities contribute to the interests of the society in which they participate. Advances in science and technology, the care and education of others, and the production of goods and services are all achieved through the contribution of individuals who have developed been afford opportunities for personal growth and enhancement through access to education, training, and work!

The broader social order is also influenced by the contributions and investment of individual members of society. As individual community members turn their attentions to the improvement of society and the social order, these individuals leave behind changes with the potential to benefit the circumstance of others. Through encouraging participatory politics and increasing awareness of social needs and issues, the existing social order is able to offer antidotes for its own historic injustices and institutional biases.