Social Convention & Social Cohesion

[Elliot Kane]

I guess you might describe this as a short look at one aspect of Evolutionary Sociology. Quite fascinating, I like to think, even if most of it is pretty obvious stuff.

(And yeah, I'm pretty sure 'Evolutionary Sociology' does not exist as a proper classification. Draw whatever conclusions you like from that...)

[Elliot Kane]

Social Convention And The Importance Of Social Cohesion

Throughout history, a great number of tribes and civilisations have risen to prominence in various corners of the world, leaving their mark upon the world only to fall at last into oblivion. All follow the Cycle Of Civilisations from birth to death in a manner both predictable and inevitable, but what is truly surprising is the vast number of similar conventions that occur in societies which are widely disparate in both time and planetary location.

The goal of this article is not to examine the entirety of the Cycle Of Civilisations, but to look at the common conventions that occur in the vast majority of cultures and to attempt to uncover the underlying reasons for the existence of these conventions.

For those of you who are interested, this is only a small part of the Cycle Of Civilisations, which certainly deserves its own article at some point, and will doubtless get it. Where that will likely be an overview of the entire process, this article is an examination of one small facet only, and should not be considered a thing entire unto itself.

Even the most cursory examination of history will reveal that every society which successfully evolves to the point of tribalism, let alone beyond, develops a number of social structures that it shares with every other. Primarily, these conventions are social hierarchy, law, religion and ceremony. All seem to provide a vital ingredient in the process of creating a fully functional society. Given that societies evolve over time in order to best ensure tribal survival, the fact of the near ubiquity of these things is clearly significant.

The purpose of social hierarchy is probably the most obvious of the three, so the best place to start. A well defined hierarchy gives a firm command structure and ensures that in the event of crisis or outside threat, everyone knows how best to work together in order to avert the crisis or deal with the threat. Less developed societies have only an upper and lower class because their main priorities are to feed their people and to fight off enemies. There is no need for a middle class, because there is no economy to worry about. With the creation of a flourishing trade and the invention of money, a class is required to take care of this new pillar of the evolving society, so a middle class develops.

This process is part of a very common pattern in the development of human society. New levels of social complexity cause an evolution of the social structure in order to ensure that the society runs in an orderly and cohesive fashion. Cohesion is vital because a non-cohesive society cannot unite properly when faced by a common threat. A failure of cohesion is the main reason why civilisations fall.

Any time that large groups of people gather together to live in the same place, sooner or later they will develop rules to allow them to live comfortably with each other. The leaders of the nascent tribe will likely formalise these, creating laws, and there will be punishment for transgressors. The more a society develops socially, the more these rules will need adding to, and the more gradations of punishment will develop to represent a gradation in severity of the crimes. Law is a definite requirement for social cohesion, as it replaces the concept of personal revenge with that of justice. It is, in fact, a social covenant between rulers and ruled - the people surrender their right to revenge and in return justice will be exercised on their behalf.

It is obvious from the purpose for the existence of law (The social covenant aspect) that a good ruler will not enact iniquitous or poorly thought out laws, and will also try to ensure that the punishment for any crime is a fair one, and one that society as a whole will accept as such. If the covenant is destroyed, the people lose respect for the rule of law and are thus more likely to break the law themselves, which will badly damage social cohesion.

Poor social cohesion results in an increased crime rate, unhappiness and general restlessness amongst the populace and an increasingly fragmented social structure, with large sections of the popultion alienated from each other if it is allowed to go on for too long. This is obviously a bad thing.

The purpose of religion in a purely social context lies in its unifying effect on the populace. Every religion promotes both a belief in a common deity or deities and an associated life style. Both give many common points of agreement between all followers of the religion, allowing members of the society to feel greater kinship with each other, as they all share this one significant aspect of their lives. It also gives the society a greater strength in adversity, as after all their god(s) is/are on their side. The morale boost gained from this, whether in the face of war or disaster, is incalculable - though obviously depending on the strength of collective faith.

Religion is thus a vital tool for unifying the people and guaranteeing social cohesion. The attendent life style frequently acts also to reinforce (Or create) the secular laws that govern society, and respect for the social hierarchy. It is no accident that successful societies tend to have strong but tolerant religions - a thing that will be examined in more detail elsewhere.

By now, the purpose of ceremony is already obvious. It affirms to celebrant and celebrators alike the place of a person in society, and that s/he is a part of that society. The most usual ceremonies are for coming of age, marriage and death, and ceremony is mostly - though not always - tied in to religion, which serves to reinforce what is already a powerful building block for social cohesion.

A coming of age ceremony impresses upon the minds of everyone present that the celebrant is now an adult, and ready to play an adult role in society. It represents a fundamental shift in the life of the celebrant, and affirms that s/he is accepted into the new role.

A marriage ceremony is a statement to society at large that the couple intend to form an exclusive bond, and affirms both their right to do so in the eyes of society, but also their acceptance as a couple within that society. As with other ceremonies, it represents a threshold into a new area of life, where the couple are no longer reponsible only for themselves, but also for each other and any children they might have. The whole process is made as intimidating as possible to ensure that anyone who has any real doubts will not go through with it, thus ensuring that the relationships that make it to the altar are those which are most likely to last. A good marriage ceremony is an exercise in pure sadism for this reason.

A death ceremony - a funeral - is an affirmation that the deceased was a valued member of the community, and often involves a recitation of their notable deeds. It also offers a catalyst for grief for the bereaved, and the knowledge that they are not alone in vauing the deceased.

As you can see, the purpose and uses of ceremony could easily form an article of their own, and they are but one small part of the one thing above all others that a functional society tries to guarantee - a strong social cohesion.

Indeed, the conclusion is inescapable. Very many social conventions, and probably most, exist primarily for one purpose - to enable the highly disparate individuals who make up any given society to live alongside each other in relative peace, and to promote the welfare of the society as a whole. Conventions arise to try to balance the needs of individuals with the needs of society as a whole, and exist for the benefit of all.