A Changing World

 I often look to history for guidance in solving modern problems, wisdom ranging from Abraham Lincoln to Edward R. Murrow to Socrates and many more.  My research has now taken me to Emile Durkheim, a French sociologist born 1858, died 1917, who is known as a principal architect of modern social science.  His work involved how societies can maintain their integrity in times in which societies lack agreement on so many norms of behavior, in other words, when they disagree on so many different things that reaching agreement of guidelines for behavior breaks down.

I was a post WW II baby, and between 1945 when the war ended and 2000 when we entered a new century, so many things had changed.  Many of my blogs have included the changes in traditions, in how we dress, in professions now open to women, in communication, in medicine, in population growth and many ethnicities, in religions, in moral changes.  In a survey taken between 2007 and 2014, within persons of faith, 70.6% were Christian, but there were more than 9 different denominations.  Among non-Christian faiths there were more than ten different faiths, and nearly 23% of those surveyed were nonbelievers or "nothing in particular."  

I blogged about the initial purpose of public-school educations, so that all children could benefit from the same education, but today we have public schools, private schools, home schools, and with the Supreme Court ruling of 2022, expanded voucher programs now allow parents to apply government funds to  religious and other private schools, so long as funds are not used for religious education. 

 Americans get their news from the Evening News, the all-day television commentators, from tik-tok, the internet, and countless other sources.  The internet, with all of the value it provides, also provides the wide dispersal of disinformation and falsehoods.  

Emile Durkheim

Emile Durkheim's research sought to answer "how is a society created" and "what holds a society together."  He concluded that the norms, beliefs, and values that are common to the average members of society form "Collective consciousness" essential to the survival of society.

He believed that as people interact with one another they form common opinions and norms.  Without those interactions gradually shaping common norms, the beliefs and sentiments common to the average members of society break down.  When the public and private rituals of society are broken, moral solidarity decreases. 

In August of 2021, a Gallup article by Frank Newport expanded on the work of Durkheim.  Citing the numerous social changes regarding moral and other value decisions, allowing individual choices has become acceptable.  Gallup research has found that the result is the "diminishing of confidence in the church and organized religion, the Supreme Court, Congress, public schools, the news media, and the presidency."  

Author Newport concluded his article with these words:  "But as research shows that Americans show a lessening need to adhere to traditional norms and exhibit increasingly negative perceptions of institutions, structures and systems, it's important to keep the focus on just how the public would like to see things change.  This remains a major challenge for the years ahead.  Important though it is to criticize the systems and structures of our society, it is equally important to recognize that we need acceptable systems and structures that will work well in their stead."

In the months since that article was written, the words seem even more important.  I have written about many of these issues separately, but considered together the importance of our response seems even more complex and essential.