Social Institutions

 Do we legitimize harmful social institutions? It appears we do! And if we want humankind to improve, and plan to do anything about it, we must understand the forces which allow this. I contend there are harmful social institutions in our cultures and we unnecessarily legitimize them by enacting them; then teach our children to do the same. Since I have a strong innate aversion to harm, particularly to my family, it is my goal to identify harmful social institutions and consider some of the forces which may impinge on our capacity to do better than we have to dismantle them. Fact is, our predecessors cultivated, and we support and cultivate our irrational social institutions. Through the generations we have carried forward myth, superstition and plain old wrong answers from times when there were no better answers. I want to consider why we legitimize our faulty institutions and try to understand to what extent we are to blame for their continuing existence. By the conclusion of this commentary I hope to understand a little more about why we knowingly do harm to ourselves and our families.

For my purpose, a social institution and cultural institution means the same: “a complex of positions, roles, norms and values lodged in particular types of social structures and organising relatively stable patterns of human activity with respect to fundamental problems in producing life-sustaining resources, in reproducing individuals, and in sustaining viable societal structures within a given environment.” ~Jonathan Turner.

We create our institutions and support them; in turn our institutions create and support us. This cycle can be, and is, a harmful cycle! Around the world there are many social institutions supported and passed along in many cultures, generation to generation. Although many of these institutions seem fairly benign, some are nothing less than hurtful; disfiguring, crippling, sometimes dehumanizing—and even lethal. In different places and different times it’s easy to be critical of the more blatant forms of harmful cultural practices: female genital mutilation, male circumcision rituals, honor killing, body scarring, foot binding, chipping children’s teeth, living in castes, etc. Ancient evidence of some of these practices is found in studies of mummies and cave paintings. The longevity of these cultural/social institutions attests to the tenacity and power they have over our lives—even when ineffably cruel. These institutions make sense to the people in the cultures which practice them because they were enculturated with them; enculturated beliefs don’t have to be rational. Those outside the culture are not, therefore, able to understand in the same way—perhaps, not at all.

At the same time, the populations in the developed world, which generally don’t participate in such blatantly harmful behaviors—any more, seem no less guilty of doing harm to themselves and their children than are those in Africa or Asia who perpetuate the more blatant, egregious social institutions. But to judge them this way will be perceived by some as ethnocentric.

So, how do we fare here in one of the more developed countries of the world? Well, we support, with the way we live, the notions of; class, racism, genderism, speciesism, conferred vocation and education status, importance of cultural identity and many other constructs which are demeaning, hurtful and counterproductive to a good life. These are examples of tacit culture, things we do but don’t necessarily understand or explain; contributing to our difficulties. The worrisome component is the lack of critical thinking with regard to the seemingly benign artifacts from days gone by, as this may therefore also be absent when it comes to overtly harmful practices.

Our everyday actions support a culture which has strongly stratified its society; providing opulent lifestyles for a very small minority, a life of daily toil for most and a miserable existence, or death, for way too many—not to mention the burden to the planet. But we are taught to believe this is the way it should be. From my point of view the socio-economic institutions responsible for this are flawed in many ways and do critical damage to our species and everything else on the planet. But—our society continues to participate as if we approve; generation after generation.

As we listen to those adversely affected by the poor economic conditions we should feel some empathy because it can happen to anyone at any time; any of us! But, conspicuously missing from all pleas for better economic conditions is a critical judgment of what’s going on. Yes, people get critical, but they get critical of the wrong things; the president or foreign countries or immigrants or the American corporations which are moving and leaving us high and dry. But I don’t hear any putting the blame where it belongs—on us! We are the ones, generation after generation, who perpetuate the thoughts and actions which cause the conditions we are complaining about.

The Free Market is one example. When asking, ‘would you prefer a Planned Market over what we have’ the typical response is ‘NO’. But consider what is being asked. Would a market being operated by intellect and need be better than one operated by desire and greed? That’s over simplified for sure, but sufficiently accurate for my point. We have been taught and we support the status quo—even when people are being evicted from their homes, sick, jobless and scared. In this country, outside philosophical circles, it’s taboo to talk about the benefits of a planned economy. Why? We are guilty, we support harmful social constructs, and then we teach our children to participate fully and to teach their children to do the same. Why don’t we want to engage in this conversation?

Another of our social constructs which surely must come under the heading of harmful is the typical American diet. We are taught to eat a particular way in the U.S, which is reinforced in the schools, grocery stores, the media, restaurants, hospitals, etc. The American diet is now recognized as a significant contributor to the health problems in this country—expanding into the world. Medical science has been telling us that over half the deaths from the leading killers; cardiovascular disease, cancer and stroke are related to improper diet.

“Seven out of ten deaths among Americans each year are from chronic diseases; with heart disease, cancer and stroke accounting for more than 50% of all deaths each year.” “Four modifiable health risk behaviors—lack of physical activity, poor nutrition, tobacco use, and excessive alcohol consumption—are responsible for much of the illness, suffering, and early death related to chronic diseases.” ~ Center for Disease Control website. It has been stated by the American Cancer Society that the overall costs for cancer related illnesses alone, is $104 billion a year in the U.S.

A National Research Council survey revealed that 90% of the poultry from federally-inspected plants were contaminated with salmonellosis. A 1987 study by the Federal Center for Disease Control, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, the salmonella thriving in the factory farms are increasingly resistant to antibiotics, they are also not all killed by most forms of cooking. The fact is, according to the Union of Concerned Scientists, as much as 70% of the antibiotics in this country are used to fatten animals for slaughter, which is contributing to antibiotic resistance; and is putting all of us further into harm’s way. Should this be enough to cause us to change our ways?

The American diet is also responsible for severe damage to the environment, which is taking its toll on us—in fact on the world.  Huge amounts of wastes are dumped into our lives because of the production and consumption of animal products. This practice is extremely inefficient and contributes many pathogens to our lives. Sixteen pounds of grain are required to produce one pound of beef; the 16 pounds of grain will feed a lot more people than one pound of beef. Furthermore, the grain is less likely to be contaminated with pathogens and is easier to store. Plants are much more efficient food sources—without the enormous destruction caused bringing it to market. Ten billion land animals are raised and slaughtered in the U.S. yearly. This contributes millions of tons of pollution in terms of greenhouse gasses and solid wastes. Animals create 130 times more waste than humans; 15,000,000 pounds per minute, and we have no treatment process for it, so it ends up in our water, air and land. Over half our fresh water is used in the production of animals and with the threat of water shortages in the next 15 to 20 years, this is another very conspicuous warning we seem to be able to ignore—so far. Apparently this hasn’t changed us either!

Speaking for the interests of animals, science is finally getting on the same page with compassionate animal owners; now admitting animals are more like us than we were told just a few decades ago. They have nervous systems; feel pain, joy and fear and they recognize faces—even their own. And some researchers have shown that animal primates are just as offended by inequality as humans. But, animals are treated by most as if they have no right to be on the planet other than to serve us. This is the same attitude taken toward slavery by slavers. They were wrong about slavery! I wonder if someday people will look back at our time as a barbaric time in humankind’s history as well?

Not too long ago those of similar ilk as Descartes treated animals as if they were automatons; without feeling of any sort. If the animals cried out when they inflicted terrible injuries on them they claimed it was merely a mechanical response. Now researchers tell us about the human-like characteristics and behaviors of animals which lead toward the very obvious notion—they have the same types of drives and feelings causing their behaviors as we do.

Chickens form friendships and social hierarchies, recognize one another, develop a pecking order, and even have cultural knowledge that is passed between generations. According to researchers, cows enjoy mental challenges and feel excitement when they use their intellect to overcome an obstacle. Dr. Donald Broom, a professor at Cambridge University, says when cows figure out a solution to a problem, “The brainwaves showed their excitement; their heartbeat went up and some even jumped into the air. We called it their Eureka moment.” (Opposing Views.com)

The animal production industry is harmful to everything it touches—to our health, to the planet and to posterity—not to mention all the animals. Still, according to a survey by the Vegetarian Resource Group in 2008, vegetarianism is the lifestyle of only about three percent of the population. Even with all which is known about the deleterious effects of the typical American diet to us, to posterity, to the planet and to the animals; the same dietary lifestyle choice is passed along—generation after generation. Evidently this is still not enough to deter us from a harmful institution!

Most of us are routinely adversely affected by myriad forms of corruption, incompetence, greed and more—even to the point of destruction and death. This damage is attributable to the institutions we have developed, and worse—support. The emphasis on financial excess and competition, the incessant striving for status (of any kind) the bias toward beauty and intelligence, the tendency to discriminate and dominate, are some of the by-products of our social institutions which also encourage corruption, greed, violence, dishonesty and more. Yet we encourage our children to join the fray, pursue the dream, to play by the unspoken rules, thereby supporting the institutions which validate these negative traits and exploit our populations.

The American socio/economic paradigm elicits negative traits in our societies; yet the majority of our populations go through the motions everyday as if everything is as it should be. While we are critical of some of the negative aspects of our cultural institutions, usually only the ones which affect us personally (our bank accounts) as a group we support and teach our children to support the status quo. And if anyone criticizes society for all our problems, society will consider him, or her, a pessimist—at least.  So, it seems there is no doubt, we legitimize harmful institutions every day, in every way.

Is it true of us? Are we actually knowingly harming ourselves and our children because of our choices? Considering some of the evidence, the truth of this seems unavoidable; but it is typical for most people to resist this notion at first glance, but out of ignorance—as this is contrary to what we are taught. In the enculturation process we acquire a social identity and this identity is given to us based on what others think more than on what we think. It is a destructive social construct in that we then try to live our lives according to it, and in spite of it—instead of finding out who we are. We spend too much of our lives struggling with self image in a culture which perverts the sense of self and one’s identity in society. Some people are unnecessarily embarrassed and some overly proud of heritage, nationality, race, gender, education, vocation, neighborhood, possessions—right on down to the length of the fingernails for some people.

To understand how it is possible that we can, and do, participate in our own harm we must learn a little more about the effects of our nature, culture, beliefs and free-will. Do we really not understand what we are doing to ourselves and our families? It’s hard to imagine that we could understand—then continue down the same path. But it’s just as hard to imagine that with all the information available that we could not know.

How does our nature affect our judgment? Consider one of our innate traits; survival.

Because every brain activity serves a fundamental survival purpose, the only way to accurately understand any brain function is to examine its value as a tool for survival. Even the difficulty of successfully treating such behavioral disorders as obesity and addiction can only be understood by examining their relationship to survival. Any reduction in caloric intake or in the availability of a substance to which an individual is addicted is always perceived by the brain as a threat to survival. As a result the brain powerfully defends the overeating or the substance abuse, producing the familiar lying, sneaking, denying, rationalizing, and justifying commonly exhibited by individuals suffering from such disorders.”(Gregory Lester)

So the brain is hard wired for survival! Unfortunately this seems to cause some negative side effects for us, in our relatively modern world.

Consider some of the problems introduced by culture; culture being, the learned and shared knowledge that people use to generate behavior and interpret experience. Our culture defines us, as our culture is the pattern we are modeled after. Much of our cultural knowledge is tacit, subconsciously contracted; but once established, tacit or explicit—culture informs our thoughts and actions. So if we learn that eating animals at every meal is correct or that a capitalist economy is fair enough for our society or female genital mutilation is good for our sisters and daughters, this is what we will believe. Unfortunately, this is what we will do—and we will defend it. We live and make decisions based on these ideals—right or wrong!

What effect do beliefs have? How important are our beliefs in the decision making process? Well, people are willing to die for their beliefs. Our beliefs are at times so much a part of who we are we can’t let go of them even when confronted with contravening evidence.

Belief works like the blinders they put on a horse to keep it from spooking. Belief makes reality less spooky for us, which affords us a degree of emotional and psychological comfort. However, believing that things are a certain way has the unintended consequence of preventing us from seeing them as they might really be. The more emotionally addicted to a particular belief, the less able we are to consider anything else. Of course, we easily recognize such obsessive blind-spots in those whose beliefs are false. Remarkably, we are unable to see how this parallels our own true beliefs. Why? Emotional dependence is profoundly blind. Dependence has this same effect, whether it is an addiction to alcohol, love, food, drugs or beliefs. Indeed, beliefs may be the strongest of all addictions. (www.centertao.org)

The brain utilizes some form of a “framework” or “worldview” against which data is evaluated and collected. This worldview or “belief system” would consist of data drawn from experience that represents our subjective sense of the world around us. It doesn’t necessarily have to be factually correct, but it does need to be operational. In addition, the rejection of another’s data is not simply stubbornness, since the resistance to change would be an important element of human survival. Such resistance would ensure that data had to be overwhelmingly convincing before we would risk our survival knowledge on a new piece of information.(Adam Gerhard)

As part of our survival mechanism our beliefs are not going to change easily. “Beliefs are not supposed to change easily or simply in response to disconfirming evidence. Our caveman would not last long if his belief in potential dangers in the jungle evaporated every time his sensory information told him there was no immediate threat.” (Skeptical Inquirer)

We must also consider free-will when trying to understand why we legitimize harmful social institutions. There are some who believe we have no free will and some who believe our free will cannot be limited. The arguments on this subject have been with humankind for thousands of years at least, and the answers still aren’t clear; but with the advances based in philosophy and science we must be getting closer to truth. One explanation for the origins of our thoughts and intentions, is “they just arrive” and “we won’t know what we intend until the intention pops into our mind” ~ Sam Harris.

The model of decision making I am proposing has the following feature: when we are faced with an important decision, a consideration-generator whose output is to some degree undetermined produces a series of considerations, some of which may of course be immediately rejected as irrelevant by the agent (consciously or unconsciously). Those considerations that are selected by the agent as having a more than negligible bearing on the decision then figure in a reasoning process, and if the agent is in the main reasonable, those considerations ultimately serve as predictors and explicators of the agent’s final decision.(Daniel Dennett)

Considering the testimony of experts I conclude that we appear to have some control, but we may not be as free as we have been taught. “Man is free to do what he wills, but he cannot will what he wills.” ~ A. Schopenhauer. The evidence seems to be mounting for the idea that we have some control, but we are at the same time; our thoughts, intentions and choices, subject to laws of natural cause and effect and physical processes at the level of the brain which are not yet fully understood. So it seems we have some limitations!

From this one can ascertain that our physiology and psychology can destroy, at least dampen, the reasoning, logical processes of the mind. And certainly if our belief systems are as dominating as it seems they are, and our ability to make free choices is tempered by other factors, biological and cultural, then change may prove to be difficult, perhaps impossible for some—even when faced with the possibility of disaster. Even—when we know we are doing wrong!

Who’s to Blame?

This phenomenon of the human mind coupled with the haphazard evolution of cultures and their overriding effects on our decision processes, allows us to pass our harmful institutions and practices from generation to generation; perhaps not culpably aware of just how harmful some of our beliefs and behaviors are, but certainly not ignorant enough to avoid carrying some blame for our actions—or inactions.

At this time in human history; we know better than appearances let on, and we may be at the precipice. If the predictions for mid century are partially forthcoming I feel sorry for those who have to experience life in such worsened conditions; and I feel shame because we are partly to blame for the problems our children will face. It seems we have reached the time when we have to take responsibility for our choices and actions—the next generations are dependent on us. We have blamed the gods and our genes for our behaviors up to now, but this isn’t sufficient anymore. It’s time for us to take charge of our evolution!