Introduction

Humans have evolved from apes. Apes are social animals. Very early in evolution, certain species decided to collaborate and cooperate to derive social benefits. A society allows for division of labour and hence enhancing the overall value derived. Imagine if you had to do everything you need today i.e. find food for yourself to eat, protect yourself from all adversity, find clothing and shelter everyday. You would not be able to do anything after this. What happens if you fall sick or are unable to find food? There is a very high probability, you may succumb to the adversities alone sooner than when you are in a society.

But the society with all its benefits comes with constraints - rules and norms. While trying to maximize global benefit, they may be affecting individual maximization. At what stage does societal norms stack up high against individual choices and values? Let’s explore.

Society as an organism

Just like an organism, society assumes its own life - witnessing growth, decline, emotions and transformation. A society initially forms through coming together of individuals and families who share common beliefs and goals. These were early tribes. These tribes in order to manage their affairs appointed leaders (brute force, brawn, brain or mere coincidence). These leaders would take decisions for the tribe and set rules which everyone would follow. They used to mediate over arguments and strife between members of the tribe. The tribe had external adversaries in the form of natural forces, animals and soon other tribes competing for resources. This “us” vs “them” banded them together as they fought against these challenges.

As evolution has it, the stronger tribes survived. They also started having a shared memory of how the elders fought against the animals, how they found the best fruits, etc. This knowledge was passed on from generation to generation as did the obedience of rules. Some of the early logic of rules and practices adopted turned into customs which defined the tribe or society.

As the civilizations continued to prosper and humans settled into agrarian settlements leaving their nomadic life, the tribes converged into larger towns, empires and nations. With the discovery, rational thoughts and innovation, societies prospered with the new found knowledge. The new generation of thought leaders stood over the shoulders of giants (previous generation) and enriched the societies.

Individuality in a society

Societies acknowledged the role of individuals but bound by social mores and norms. An individual in a Greek society could become a hero by fighting and triumphing over the enemies. People skilled in their profession were recognized and regarded. However, if someone did something remarkably different and in contradiction with social customs were disregarded, rebuked and pushed to toe the line. Galileo was persecuted for exclaiming that the Earth is round which was hitherto considered flat in the dark European ages.

Incentives and constraints

It is important that we understand the incentives and constraints driving the actions of the society vis-a-vis individuals. Societies have an incentive to maintain law and order and hence obedience of rules. Any person breaking the law is appropriately punished to signal to rest of the members that they will bear consequences lest they fail to uphold the law. The society also has an incentive to maintain the status quo as any changes would require the society to agree to the changes. An absolute ruler or strong leader could run his diktat over the society. While a coterie of elites can also influence framing of laws to suit them. Whenever a new idea is thrusted, either it is accepted gladly, grudgingly or a section of society may end up revolting to see that the idea is challenged and rolled back.

In a society, the numbers matter. Rarely is an individual strong enough to go against the societal norms and accept all the consequences of his/her waylaidness. Most simply give in to be a part of the society.

However, an individual has the power of influence. S/he can influence other members of the society to agree to the change and create a movement big enough that it’s difficult to turn the tide. You could consider religious and cult leaders in this category. While such influential individuals are rare, they go on to occupy important positions in society and drive change.

Many times, change is thrusted upon the society from outside. This could be a natural calamity like flood or drought which forced the Indians settled in the cities of Indus-Saraswati valley to turn to the agrarian village communities eastwards. Conquests of societies lead to imposition of the policies, rules and religions of the victor. Most of the times, it was bloody and cruel and the defeated societies had to pay a heavy price. Think about the inquisition led by Portuguese in Goa where they wanted every Hindu family to convert to Christianity or face dire consequences.

Differences in Societies

Not every society is similar. Some societies are very strict and follow the rules. While some societies allow much more freedom to individuals and are libertarian. These choices have consequences. A disciplinarian society rallies strongly as a nation and would ensure strong defence, fairness and camaraderie but may fail in innovation. A libertarian society on the other hand allows for diversity of thought and innovation but may be more chaotic and unequal. This kind of divergence in different aspects results in the kind of thoughts like socialism vs capitalism, polytheism vs monotheism, etc.

Membership of different societies

As we live in larger societies, we are part of various groupings. Some of these are thrusted upon us based on our birth (location, religion, class, language) and some are groupings we choose to become part of. Thus, an individual could be part of multiple societies or groups simultaneously. Some of these groupings may be independent of each other while some of these identities may be at conflict with each other. Thus, the use of word ‘society’ also needs to be considered in the context in which it is used. In this post, I have used the word in varying contexts.

Exchanges among societies

Just like individuals communicate and interact with each other, we can also think of interactions between individuals and societies and among societies. With technological innovation, people could travel larger distances and communicate with a far larger group than just their tribe. This often results in exchanges of different cultures and thoughts. This results in assimilation of new ideas depending on what is deemed acceptable or overt rejection and identity creation from the negatives i.e. we do not believe in this or we don’t accept this. As a global citizen, there are these multiple philosophies, identities and thoughts which people carry and bring changes to the different societies they belong to.

The eternal conflict

The question that comes to mind is if there is a possibility for complete individuality and the answer is no. We would continue to be dependent on others for the foreseeable future even if we take into account technological innovation. There may be a remote possibility of an individual living on a distant planet all by oneself with the aid of technology however fragile it may sound. But the term individuality itself derives a lot of meaning in the interactions with other members of the society besides nature. Thus, the two can’t be separated from each other and would continue to be in eternal conflict and cooperation forever.