How possible do you feel social change is? A lot of what we have been talking about in class has to do with social change. But there is an assumption here, that deliberate social change is possible. But is it? Are people really willing to try to change their society? According to Dr. Glasberg's Monday lecture, it seems that, although those of us in Western Civilization want to create a society that is free or equal or just, we are not willing to actually take radical steps to implement that kind of change. Consequently, the major causes of injustice in our society are left untouched, although we try to alleviate the dramatic negative effects through things like social services.

So, is it that we just care, but don't care enough to actually change things?

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

Answers

Well, to a certain extent, yes I think you're right. But instead of not caring, it might be that we're afraid of losing what we have, especially because worth and success, as we have known it our whole lives, has depended on wealth. People are scared because, what if we make a communist society, and we invest all we have in it, and it flops? I think one of the major problems with change, what causes the most strongest opposition to it, is that most of society probably truely believes that capitalism is the only way to go. That it's sort of what we ought to be doing. This is very much reinforced by the media and our education system. I think that if we were educated to work for the community and Really help others, instead of trained to be workers to amasse wealth, we would be a lot more willing to change. Unfortunately, there are vested interests in keeping school pro-capitalism, so I don't know how likely it is that change will occur. Maybe when the oil dries up and we're all left poor in Alberta, we might think that sharing is a better idea. Andrea :) ps. I'm actually a bit more optimistic than this, but as for a method for change, I'm a bit at a loss. Maybe when we start writing the manifesto, I will have a better answer.

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

I'm going to stir the pot a bit here and ask why social change would be necessary in the first place. What are the deepest assumptions about humanity, justice, fairness, etc. upon which any analysis of society is being based and upon which present social systems are being challenged? We can chase the idea of social change all around the mulberry bush but, if that change is going to be deemed necessary, and if we are going to articulate a potential process of change, we need to dig far more deeply than most of the literature is digging. Why do we believe that it's problematic for 80% of the world's wealth to be in the hands of 20% of the population? If we say that it simply isn't fair, then why isn't it fair? What do we believe, what do we conceptualize about human life and the value thereof that relates to the question of economic "fairness"? Some of us who live in the "first" world may have some guilt about what happens in the two-thirds world but is that just the economic equivalent of "white guilt"? What I would like to get at is whether or not we genuinely, at the core of our beings, feel guilt for being part of this culture or if we are buying into a "feel sorry for those poor people" elitism masquerading as fellow feeling? And even if we do feel some genuine guilt, how good is guilt as a motivator for change? If it were really good, we'd all be flamingly religious in one way or another, feeling guilty for our sins and fearful of eternity. And we aren't. So on an IR basis then, how much of that "guilt" is really fear, fear that one day "they" (i.e. the two thirds world, the poor in our own culture) is going to rise up against us and we are, in true Dante fashion, going to reap the consequences of a "loss of intellect"?

If we are going to begin to articulate any kind of process of radical change, we need solid reasons for doing so, certainly something more solid than guilt. Because relating to other human beings with guilt as a motivator is as skewed as relating to them with greed.

Margo

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2000

Wow, that is a great question. I think I can only answer this in a personal way. I think that what I feel is a definet sense of .. it's not guilt really. It's more like a sense of disgust towards White society (ie. the west, which is genereally characterized by the white west). I had the chance to visit W. AFrica this summer, and it opened my eyes to the waste and greed that we live with day to day. I think the change needs to come, not even to equalize the wealth, but to aid a society which I see as sick and confused (ours). It's really not out of fear that, you know, one day "they will come!" and take away what I have. If I could gain their sense of community, then I would almost welcome it. I know this downplays the poverty, which I don't want to do, but all I mean is it's not a matter of fear, or even guilt or feeling sorry for them, but feeling sorry for the way our culture has become. I hope this makes some sense, and is inoffensive. I am trying to edit the GNST midterm, but I thought I would add in my 2 cents Happy hallowe'en! Andrea Oh, as for the question of why it isnt fair, it's a great question simply because I can't answer it logically (yet, if I come up with something I'll let you know). It's just one of those "icky, icky, bad, wrong" responses. Any suggestions as to why?

-- Anonymous, November 01, 2000

In response to Margo I think that the reason social change is necessary is not for guilt or fear on the part of those who seem to benefit from our system. Rather the need comes because the system we live in denies the potentialites of the vast, vast majority of human kind. When a person lives in desperate poverty she is then unable to pursue her dreams and potentials. Also, when people in more materially affluent societies are all-consumed with getting ahead and buying that big screen TV or new car then the potential of those people is also being denied. All of humanity loses as a result of the screwed up system we live in. I believe that people have amazing potentials that are not expressed in the individualistic pusuit of wealth. These potentials will only be realized in most people if we construct a new system that supports and nurtures this. I do not seek change and a 'better world' in the tunnel-vision terms of material progress, I seek change that really make people's lives better, not that gives them more stuff but rather that makes them happier and more fulfilled.

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000

I am with you here re believing in the potential humans have, potential that is not necessarily actualized in the "gimme, gimme, more, more" of the West. But if we are going to change to help people actualize that potential, how are we going to do it and how are we going to know when we have done it? It's easy to see progress in capitalism--more stuff: he who dies with the most toys wins. It's harder to see progress in the abstract. What would the qualities of a changed society be? How could we manage to create a system that would allow for the actualization of individuals' potential and still get the garbage picked up and the sewage treated?

Margo

-- Anonymous, November 03, 2000

Who would take out the trash? Well we could all take a little reponsibility and take our own, or take turns... But waste treatment plantes (ie human waste, of the toilet variety) require a lot of specialized training in chemistry, there's a crapy job that needs training. I'm going to take an unpopular standpoint now... human waste is largely biodergradable, and right now it represents one of our biggest pollution issues. The problem (and what I view as our biggest pollution problem); to many humans. I'm not sure if I had heard correctly, but I belive that we recently passed the point where world hunger is simply a distribution problem and have entered into the realm of just too many people. So all ye intulectuals, how do we solve this problem?

"Fairness is such a human concept" - Q (Star Trek : TNG)

Isis

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2000