Post-industrial society: values, family, morality and law
Disclaimer . Write this topic prompted me to comment nail84 to the previous bestseller about pornography .
Modern Western society is, from a sociological point of view, quite unique. Let me list in brief: the emancipation of women; liberalization of law (legalization of drugs, prostitution, same-sex marriage, et cetera); liberalization of morality, incl. sexual; the breakdown of the traditional family; long childhood and long education; degradation of the institution of marriage; decrease in birth rate and increase in fertile age; consumerism - all these phenomena together have never met in human history.
In the previous topic, I wrote that I did not accept the explanations of the form "(something takes place), because such is Western society," because such explanations do not explain anything. In this topic I will try to show that all these processes are explainable from quite rational positions.
')
PS Topic in personal blogs, do not want - do not read. Write in comments “this is not for Habr !!! odynodyn "not necessary.
The following information should be attributed, first of all, to William Goode (William Goode), a pioneer in the study of the sociology of industrial and post-industrial society. Alas, I am familiar with his works exclusively in the style “Izzy Sang” from retelling and quoting (another heartfelt greetings to the masters of the copywriters).
For several millennia, mankind has formed a variety of social structures, due to both objective geopolitical reasons, and a variety of random fluctuations. However, some moments remained universal: as a rule, the social unit was a “big” family (several generations living together), whose occupation has remained unchanged for decades . The children of the nobles were noblemen, the children of the kshatriyas were the kshatriyas, the children of the peasants were peasants. This principle did not exclude, of course, social mobility, but, in general, the occupation of a son was 99% determined by the occupation of his father. Special vocational training could take many years, but at the same time the volume of special knowledge transferred did not change much from generation to generation. The time frame for technology change far exceeded the generation change period .
The role of traditions and morals in such a society is absolutely clear: they ensure the continuity of generations, the inviolability of the social structure. Other things being equal, a more holistic society has an advantage. See on this for a wonderful study of religious communities .
The capitalist way of managing at first had no effect on this principle. However, the seeds of rationalism sown by the Reformation ultimately brought abundant seedlings. Lutheranism and Calvinism - extremely totalitarian in their warehouse religious trends - nevertheless contained a rational grain: your Salvation is completely determined by your success in business, by your everyday work. (For details, see Max Weber, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism .") Protestantism inclined people to actively seek ways to do their job better. Technical progress began to accelerate slowly, and entrepreneurs began to act faster and more decisively. The pace of life has accelerated, and this is where “industrialization” began.
I deliberately do not associate industrialization with factories, railways, and other attributes traditionally attributed to it. In our context, the social aspects of industrialization are much more important.
1. Industrialization demanded mobility ; New plants were created quickly, and closed just as quickly. A professional worker had to be ready at any moment to withdraw from his familiar place and rush to the other end of the country. Industrialization demanded not only geographical, but also social mobility, creating a class of hired managers - and the manager here became not only for parental merit, but also rising from the position of line staff. Thus, the social status achieved by an individual personally in his professional field of activity has become increasingly important.
2. Industrialization demanded more and more professional specialization . The more difficult the production became, the more new professions appeared.
What happened? For the first time in human history, the continuation of parental affairs has ceased to be massively a profitable strategy ; on the contrary, those who, using their own mind and intuition, benefited new professions, moved to a better life, opened a new business, benefited.
First, the conflict of “fathers and children” (“Fathers and children” of Turgenev, which is characteristic, was written just at that time and fully reflects the above-mentioned problems), which ended in favor of the children , arose (or, rather, escalated) . The “Big Family” fell apart in favor of the nuclear family: husband, wife, and their minor children. Care at a young age from under the parental wing became the norm, the concept of “dowry” disappeared.
More importantly, the concept of the importance of choosing one’s own life path has spread widely in Western society. Personal, acquired social status, readiness to accept changes and use them - these are the most important features of a person of the industrial age . Of course, the new way of life was not limited to the purely professional sphere, and the idea of ​​the importance of making decisions independently and living with your mind spread to all areas of human activity. In particular, like the freedom to choose the occupation and place of residence, the freedom to choose a couple has become stronger; Romantic love in public consciousness has become a key condition for a happy marriage.
The ideal of the family of the industrialization era looked like this: the husband works in large-scale production, the loving wife is engaged in housekeeping and raising children; they live in their own home and look to the future with hope. In general, this ideal has been fully preserved in our days, although its positions have shaken considerably.
At the stage of industrialization, only the relationship between parents and children significantly changed and there was a certain shift in the public consciousness in favor of the acquired status and the ideal “self-made man”. Broad layers of public morality, social values, rights, principles of family relations were not affected . All this fun story began in the second half of the 20th century, although the seeds of their own destruction of a trust called “industrial society” (like any other trust) had sown long before that.
First, the non-productive sphere of the economy grew, grew and slowly grew into a serious, full-fledged industry - including and those industries that have traditionally been "female". Of course, there were always “female professions” - lace maids, governess, etc., however, as a rule, the successful marriage in such an industry was the crown of a career. The 20th century provided an opportunity for a woman to make a normal, full-fledged career - moreover, not as an exception, but as a mass phenomenon.
The developed service sector and urban infrastructure, while drastically reducing the time spent on households. Back in the 19th century, housework took 8 hours a day from a woman (I won’t give you proof, lost the link), in the 20th century, with the advent of washing machines, fast food restaurants, refrigerators, frozen food, electric ovens, microwaves (and credits , to buy it all) - the household has become possible to conduct with minimal cost.
What follows from this? That a sufficiently developed post-industrial society can double the labor force if women start working on a par with men . And this gigantic competitive advantage in the shortest possible time crushed ancient stereotypes into dust. A woman was suddenly considered a man.
Lyrical digression. Many people are probably thinking of something like “here's a breeze,” recalling the Amazons and other pop myths about matriarchal communities. Alas, must disappoint. As Wikipedia exhaustively expresses this point, there are no matriarchal societies that are unambiguously matriarchal .
By and large, Western society was extremely patriarchal. Suffice it to say that in Switzerland, women were granted voting rights (in most cantons) in 1971. Feminists tend to believe that it was their stormy activity that led to equal rights for women with men. Let me categorically disagree with them. Emancipation of women is due, primarily, to the logic of the development of Western society, a competitive advantage in the form of a doubling of labor resources , and suffragists and feminists became a concrete form of pressure on the public consciousness, which crushed outdated and inconsistent with the spirit of the time principles of patriarchal social structure.
Primary school education was widespread in Europe as early as the 18th century, and by the end of the 19th it was almost 100% - which, of course, played a significant role in the rapid process of industrialization. With the deepening division of labor, the emergence of new professions and technologies, the demands on education have also increased. In the 20th century, higher education became the norm, it became very difficult to qualify for high-paying, qualified work without completed higher education. Accordingly, the term of training has also grown, the age of admission to work has been postponed.
Let us now try to sum up the contents of the three previous sections.
The post-industrial society is characterized by:
1. The approval of the concept of the exceptional importance of their own choice and the achieved social status;
2. The development of the non-productive sphere of the economy and the wide involvement of women in economic processes;
3. The development of urban infrastructure to a level that allows you to comfortably and alone conduct household households without much time and money;
4. Extension of the study period to 15 years or more.
Let us now turn, in fact, to the most delicious - let us show how this explosive mixture affected social values, public morality and family relations.
So, the post-industrial society cultivates in man the desire to live with his mind, which in itself has a tremendous impact on public morality.
The approval of their own independent social status (“to take place in life”) has become regarded as the main purpose of individual development of a member of society. At the same time, “childhood” has ceased to be a concrete concept: on the one hand, the child has been declared capable since about 14 years old; on the other hand, it takes up to 10 years or more before gaining social independence (and corresponding social status). Those. formal and actual capacity are separated by a very significant time interval . There is a so-called. “Long childhood”, a long transitional period, until a person is biologically an adult, but socially not.
At the same time, the entire surrounding information space from the young nails instils in man the idea that he is free to choose how to live. What does this logically lead to? Cap suggests: to the fact that a person chooses how to live. Thus, public morality is hit in the gut.
What is the moral meaning? This is some kind of averaged set of ideas about how to behave “correctly”. Those moral prohibitions, which are shared by most of society, become laws. The rest, "optional" moral norms are used to regulate the behavior of people in social situations.
What happens when a person from birth is used to the fact that he chooses how to live? On the one hand, “non-binding” moral norms are simply ignored - no one decides me. On the other hand, laws that have a universal meaning “do not do to others what you wouldn’t want for yourself” = “do not bother me to live as I want”; on the contrary, they become binding. Modern Western society is a society of the dictatorship of law.
Thus, all moral norms are broken into two blocks — non-binding, which no one observes; and mandatory, which force with terrible force.
What is happening on the periphery - where the laws are located that do not go back to the universal Confucian formula - such as the prohibition of pornography, prostitution, drugs, weapons? Fierce battles take place there, as expected. A huge number of post-industrial people are seeking the abolition of punishment for "crimes without a victim" - and it seems that they will achieve it in the end.
We turn, finally, to the most delicious. So, we have: the social ideal “live as you like,” the 10-year difference between physical and social maturation and the ability to comfortably exist completely autonomously. What does this lead to?
Well, first of all, the concept of “sex only in marriage” becomes a kind of unfunny joke, because a man is ready for sex in 13-14 years, and many are not ready for marriage at 30.
Accordingly, sex simply ceases to be associated with marriage . It’s normal to learn all my life, to search for my calling - it’s normal for partners to change their whole life, to search for their soulmate.
Further, microwaves and washing machines significantly level the meaning of living together. If both partners are not inclined to independent housekeeping (and this is no longer a rarity), then the meaning of living together disappears . Cohabitation with parents becomes more meaningful than with peers :).
Emancipation of women has another great (sarcasm) consequence - children become a stage in their careers . Since the birth of a child __ greatly influences the plan for self-realization, it becomes part of the plan. Two things follow from this: (a) a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in the age of young mothers - minimization of negative consequences for the career, (b) an increasing independence of childbearing from romantic relationships.
"Children" and "marriage", in fact, are two projects in terms of personal development , and more and more (a) independent of each other, (b) optional.
How do these projects relate to sex? Yes, nothing. They are engaged in sex not for the sake of children and not for the sake of marriage, but simply because it is pleasant. Just as in the professional sphere, a layer of freelancers appeared who did not want to exchange independence for participation in a standard corporate culture despite the buns - and in the sexual sphere a layer of “freelancers” appeared who did not want to exchange independence for participation in a standard marriage despite the buns.
What happened to sexual morality? She disappeared. Sex no longer has a social function as an integral part of marriage and does not lead to the appearance of children. The need to regulate it has disappeared. Do it as you want, with whom you want, with any composition you like .
Another thing is that sexual morality is determined not only by social order, but also by sexual instincts. Therefore, we see, for example, the destruction of the institution of the family, but we do not see a clear rejection of monogamy - jealousy is determined by instincts that will always be stronger than reason.
I would venture to suggest that sexual morality has not disappeared, but only redistributed, resulting in a concentrated hatred for deviations that are unacceptable in modern society - pedophilia and sexual harassment. Probably, it is this that should explain the general hysteria of the feminist and anti-pedophilic type.
Nothing new. Some trends will come to a logical conclusion - the legalization of prostitution, homosexuality, pornography, drugs is likely to triumph in developed countries (only if the church does not interfere, but this is a topic for another conversation).
The family will degrade further. Norma will live separately, raise children out of wedlock in single-parent families. However, the complete dissolution of the nuclear family is unlikely to occur, since the desire for it laid genetically.
The situation with fertility will not change, the concept of "children - the project", it seems, has already been fully established in developed countries. Something can change here only if some state decides to make childbearing a full-fledged profession - which, in my opinion, will not happen in the foreseeable future.
It is curious that the influence of parents on the child’s career, minimized at the beginning of the century, is growing again; if it disappeared due to the fact that the knowledge of the father did not come to hand to the child, then it is revived due to the fact that the parents' ability to navigate in a changing situation (must have of modern society) exceeds that of the child. Rather, the multiplication trend of the kidult will continue - it is convenient to live under the parental wing in a state of permanent “maturation”.
And what are the "conclusions"? The conclusions are very simple - all the Bedlam that we see around in Russia (and Bedlam squared in any Netherlands) is a direct and logical consequence of the development of a post-industrial society. He is not going anywhere, relax and try to have fun.
- I hereby pass the above text into the public domain.
Modern Western society is, from a sociological point of view, quite unique. Let me list in brief: the emancipation of women; liberalization of law (legalization of drugs, prostitution, same-sex marriage, et cetera); liberalization of morality, incl. sexual; the breakdown of the traditional family; long childhood and long education; degradation of the institution of marriage; decrease in birth rate and increase in fertile age; consumerism - all these phenomena together have never met in human history.
In the previous topic, I wrote that I did not accept the explanations of the form "(something takes place), because such is Western society," because such explanations do not explain anything. In this topic I will try to show that all these processes are explainable from quite rational positions.
')
PS Topic in personal blogs, do not want - do not read. Write in comments “this is not for Habr !!! odynodyn "not necessary.
Industrialization
The following information should be attributed, first of all, to William Goode (William Goode), a pioneer in the study of the sociology of industrial and post-industrial society. Alas, I am familiar with his works exclusively in the style “Izzy Sang” from retelling and quoting (another heartfelt greetings to the masters of the copywriters).
For several millennia, mankind has formed a variety of social structures, due to both objective geopolitical reasons, and a variety of random fluctuations. However, some moments remained universal: as a rule, the social unit was a “big” family (several generations living together), whose occupation has remained unchanged for decades . The children of the nobles were noblemen, the children of the kshatriyas were the kshatriyas, the children of the peasants were peasants. This principle did not exclude, of course, social mobility, but, in general, the occupation of a son was 99% determined by the occupation of his father. Special vocational training could take many years, but at the same time the volume of special knowledge transferred did not change much from generation to generation. The time frame for technology change far exceeded the generation change period .
The role of traditions and morals in such a society is absolutely clear: they ensure the continuity of generations, the inviolability of the social structure. Other things being equal, a more holistic society has an advantage. See on this for a wonderful study of religious communities .
The capitalist way of managing at first had no effect on this principle. However, the seeds of rationalism sown by the Reformation ultimately brought abundant seedlings. Lutheranism and Calvinism - extremely totalitarian in their warehouse religious trends - nevertheless contained a rational grain: your Salvation is completely determined by your success in business, by your everyday work. (For details, see Max Weber, "The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism .") Protestantism inclined people to actively seek ways to do their job better. Technical progress began to accelerate slowly, and entrepreneurs began to act faster and more decisively. The pace of life has accelerated, and this is where “industrialization” began.
I deliberately do not associate industrialization with factories, railways, and other attributes traditionally attributed to it. In our context, the social aspects of industrialization are much more important.
1. Industrialization demanded mobility ; New plants were created quickly, and closed just as quickly. A professional worker had to be ready at any moment to withdraw from his familiar place and rush to the other end of the country. Industrialization demanded not only geographical, but also social mobility, creating a class of hired managers - and the manager here became not only for parental merit, but also rising from the position of line staff. Thus, the social status achieved by an individual personally in his professional field of activity has become increasingly important.
2. Industrialization demanded more and more professional specialization . The more difficult the production became, the more new professions appeared.
What happened? For the first time in human history, the continuation of parental affairs has ceased to be massively a profitable strategy ; on the contrary, those who, using their own mind and intuition, benefited new professions, moved to a better life, opened a new business, benefited.
First, the conflict of “fathers and children” (“Fathers and children” of Turgenev, which is characteristic, was written just at that time and fully reflects the above-mentioned problems), which ended in favor of the children , arose (or, rather, escalated) . The “Big Family” fell apart in favor of the nuclear family: husband, wife, and their minor children. Care at a young age from under the parental wing became the norm, the concept of “dowry” disappeared.
More importantly, the concept of the importance of choosing one’s own life path has spread widely in Western society. Personal, acquired social status, readiness to accept changes and use them - these are the most important features of a person of the industrial age . Of course, the new way of life was not limited to the purely professional sphere, and the idea of ​​the importance of making decisions independently and living with your mind spread to all areas of human activity. In particular, like the freedom to choose the occupation and place of residence, the freedom to choose a couple has become stronger; Romantic love in public consciousness has become a key condition for a happy marriage.
The ideal of the family of the industrialization era looked like this: the husband works in large-scale production, the loving wife is engaged in housekeeping and raising children; they live in their own home and look to the future with hope. In general, this ideal has been fully preserved in our days, although its positions have shaken considerably.
Post-industrial society
At the stage of industrialization, only the relationship between parents and children significantly changed and there was a certain shift in the public consciousness in favor of the acquired status and the ideal “self-made man”. Broad layers of public morality, social values, rights, principles of family relations were not affected . All this fun story began in the second half of the 20th century, although the seeds of their own destruction of a trust called “industrial society” (like any other trust) had sown long before that.
First, the non-productive sphere of the economy grew, grew and slowly grew into a serious, full-fledged industry - including and those industries that have traditionally been "female". Of course, there were always “female professions” - lace maids, governess, etc., however, as a rule, the successful marriage in such an industry was the crown of a career. The 20th century provided an opportunity for a woman to make a normal, full-fledged career - moreover, not as an exception, but as a mass phenomenon.
The developed service sector and urban infrastructure, while drastically reducing the time spent on households. Back in the 19th century, housework took 8 hours a day from a woman (I won’t give you proof, lost the link), in the 20th century, with the advent of washing machines, fast food restaurants, refrigerators, frozen food, electric ovens, microwaves (and credits , to buy it all) - the household has become possible to conduct with minimal cost.
What follows from this? That a sufficiently developed post-industrial society can double the labor force if women start working on a par with men . And this gigantic competitive advantage in the shortest possible time crushed ancient stereotypes into dust. A woman was suddenly considered a man.
Lyrical digression. Many people are probably thinking of something like “here's a breeze,” recalling the Amazons and other pop myths about matriarchal communities. Alas, must disappoint. As Wikipedia exhaustively expresses this point, there are no matriarchal societies that are unambiguously matriarchal .
By and large, Western society was extremely patriarchal. Suffice it to say that in Switzerland, women were granted voting rights (in most cantons) in 1971. Feminists tend to believe that it was their stormy activity that led to equal rights for women with men. Let me categorically disagree with them. Emancipation of women is due, primarily, to the logic of the development of Western society, a competitive advantage in the form of a doubling of labor resources , and suffragists and feminists became a concrete form of pressure on the public consciousness, which crushed outdated and inconsistent with the spirit of the time principles of patriarchal social structure.
Education
Primary school education was widespread in Europe as early as the 18th century, and by the end of the 19th it was almost 100% - which, of course, played a significant role in the rapid process of industrialization. With the deepening division of labor, the emergence of new professions and technologies, the demands on education have also increased. In the 20th century, higher education became the norm, it became very difficult to qualify for high-paying, qualified work without completed higher education. Accordingly, the term of training has also grown, the age of admission to work has been postponed.
Let us now try to sum up the contents of the three previous sections.
The post-industrial society is characterized by:
1. The approval of the concept of the exceptional importance of their own choice and the achieved social status;
2. The development of the non-productive sphere of the economy and the wide involvement of women in economic processes;
3. The development of urban infrastructure to a level that allows you to comfortably and alone conduct household households without much time and money;
4. Extension of the study period to 15 years or more.
Let us now turn, in fact, to the most delicious - let us show how this explosive mixture affected social values, public morality and family relations.
Brave new world
So, the post-industrial society cultivates in man the desire to live with his mind, which in itself has a tremendous impact on public morality.
The approval of their own independent social status (“to take place in life”) has become regarded as the main purpose of individual development of a member of society. At the same time, “childhood” has ceased to be a concrete concept: on the one hand, the child has been declared capable since about 14 years old; on the other hand, it takes up to 10 years or more before gaining social independence (and corresponding social status). Those. formal and actual capacity are separated by a very significant time interval . There is a so-called. “Long childhood”, a long transitional period, until a person is biologically an adult, but socially not.
At the same time, the entire surrounding information space from the young nails instils in man the idea that he is free to choose how to live. What does this logically lead to? Cap suggests: to the fact that a person chooses how to live. Thus, public morality is hit in the gut.
What is the moral meaning? This is some kind of averaged set of ideas about how to behave “correctly”. Those moral prohibitions, which are shared by most of society, become laws. The rest, "optional" moral norms are used to regulate the behavior of people in social situations.
What happens when a person from birth is used to the fact that he chooses how to live? On the one hand, “non-binding” moral norms are simply ignored - no one decides me. On the other hand, laws that have a universal meaning “do not do to others what you wouldn’t want for yourself” = “do not bother me to live as I want”; on the contrary, they become binding. Modern Western society is a society of the dictatorship of law.
Thus, all moral norms are broken into two blocks — non-binding, which no one observes; and mandatory, which force with terrible force.
What is happening on the periphery - where the laws are located that do not go back to the universal Confucian formula - such as the prohibition of pornography, prostitution, drugs, weapons? Fierce battles take place there, as expected. A huge number of post-industrial people are seeking the abolition of punishment for "crimes without a victim" - and it seems that they will achieve it in the end.
Sexual morality
We turn, finally, to the most delicious. So, we have: the social ideal “live as you like,” the 10-year difference between physical and social maturation and the ability to comfortably exist completely autonomously. What does this lead to?
Well, first of all, the concept of “sex only in marriage” becomes a kind of unfunny joke, because a man is ready for sex in 13-14 years, and many are not ready for marriage at 30.
Accordingly, sex simply ceases to be associated with marriage . It’s normal to learn all my life, to search for my calling - it’s normal for partners to change their whole life, to search for their soulmate.
Further, microwaves and washing machines significantly level the meaning of living together. If both partners are not inclined to independent housekeeping (and this is no longer a rarity), then the meaning of living together disappears . Cohabitation with parents becomes more meaningful than with peers :).
Emancipation of women has another great (sarcasm) consequence - children become a stage in their careers . Since the birth of a child __ greatly influences the plan for self-realization, it becomes part of the plan. Two things follow from this: (a) a decrease in the birth rate and an increase in the age of young mothers - minimization of negative consequences for the career, (b) an increasing independence of childbearing from romantic relationships.
"Children" and "marriage", in fact, are two projects in terms of personal development , and more and more (a) independent of each other, (b) optional.
How do these projects relate to sex? Yes, nothing. They are engaged in sex not for the sake of children and not for the sake of marriage, but simply because it is pleasant. Just as in the professional sphere, a layer of freelancers appeared who did not want to exchange independence for participation in a standard corporate culture despite the buns - and in the sexual sphere a layer of “freelancers” appeared who did not want to exchange independence for participation in a standard marriage despite the buns.
What happened to sexual morality? She disappeared. Sex no longer has a social function as an integral part of marriage and does not lead to the appearance of children. The need to regulate it has disappeared. Do it as you want, with whom you want, with any composition you like .
Another thing is that sexual morality is determined not only by social order, but also by sexual instincts. Therefore, we see, for example, the destruction of the institution of the family, but we do not see a clear rejection of monogamy - jealousy is determined by instincts that will always be stronger than reason.
I would venture to suggest that sexual morality has not disappeared, but only redistributed, resulting in a concentrated hatred for deviations that are unacceptable in modern society - pedophilia and sexual harassment. Probably, it is this that should explain the general hysteria of the feminist and anti-pedophilic type.
What will happen next?
Nothing new. Some trends will come to a logical conclusion - the legalization of prostitution, homosexuality, pornography, drugs is likely to triumph in developed countries (only if the church does not interfere, but this is a topic for another conversation).
The family will degrade further. Norma will live separately, raise children out of wedlock in single-parent families. However, the complete dissolution of the nuclear family is unlikely to occur, since the desire for it laid genetically.
The situation with fertility will not change, the concept of "children - the project", it seems, has already been fully established in developed countries. Something can change here only if some state decides to make childbearing a full-fledged profession - which, in my opinion, will not happen in the foreseeable future.
It is curious that the influence of parents on the child’s career, minimized at the beginning of the century, is growing again; if it disappeared due to the fact that the knowledge of the father did not come to hand to the child, then it is revived due to the fact that the parents' ability to navigate in a changing situation (must have of modern society) exceeds that of the child. Rather, the multiplication trend of the kidult will continue - it is convenient to live under the parental wing in a state of permanent “maturation”.
findings
And what are the "conclusions"? The conclusions are very simple - all the Bedlam that we see around in Russia (and Bedlam squared in any Netherlands) is a direct and logical consequence of the development of a post-industrial society. He is not going anywhere, relax and try to have fun.
- I hereby pass the above text into the public domain.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/120070/
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