Political and social philosophy megathread

[ebola?]

Yes, we've had similar threads in the recent past, but I think this topic warrants revisitation with the current crop of denizens.

How do you conceptualize society and its entailed systemic dynamics? How does this social context relate to political institutions and practices? And where does the individual fit into this picture? What are your political prescriptions, and what claims underlie these prescriptions? How does political activity relate to your vision of 'the good'? And which political tactics will most efficiently cultivate your vision of a better future society?

Or are the assumptions underlying these questions I'm asking untenable (if so, why)?

ebola

 

[rickolasnice]

You may get more replies if you dumb it down a bit..

I'd love to reply buy my feeble vocabulary and intellect can't comprehend what your post says.

 

[sekio]

Keepin' it erudite, I see.

How do you conceptualize society and its entailed systemic dynamics? How does this social context relate to political institutions and practices? And where does the individual fit into this picture?

tr: How does society work? Does "society" work at all? What are the roles of individual, corporation, and government?

What are your political prescriptions, and what claims underlie these prescriptions? How does political activity relate to your vision of 'the good'? And which political tactics will most efficiently cultivate your vision of a better future society?

tr: What are your political beliefs? Do you believe your political leanings will influence society in some way? What is the most effective way to do so?

I will chew on these questions and post back in a while.

 

[Abject]

How do you conceptualize society and its entailed systemic dynamics?

Society is fucked up. From the inequity of rights and opportunity, to the difference in money/goods/services/labour/effort to the laws in place/justice system to the lack of liberty and personal rights.
Humanity, in terms of society, is inhumane. And we the people are complacent/compliant.
I don't think my interpretation of social dynamics is what you're referring to, as it seems too interpersonal to speak on. Culture wise, I think we habour fear/close mindedness.

where does the individual fit into this picture?

bent over feeling awfully uncomfortable

What are your political prescriptions, and what claims underlie these prescriptions?

Well for me, I'm hoping the AUD drops to shit and we stop fucking Australia and selling land to the Chinese. Becoming a banana republic is not on my cool list.
As for as politcal policies go, I think the GST is a load of shit and will raise like NZ. I think criminal law is far too strict and harmless crimes should be taken out.
More importantly, I think we need to look at things globally and surmount the powers keeping people from basic human needs.

which political tactics will most efficiently cultivate your vision of a better future society?

Things need to get worse in order to inspire people to stand against it.

Or are the assumptions underlying these questions I'm asking untenable (if so, why)?

I don't see much assumption/connotation. I think the questions you're asking are faraway and futile (in terms of effect) but it's cool enough to talk about.

Why didn't you state your views in the OP?

NSFW:

I lack so much class Marx declared me a utopia.

 

[Bardeaux]

How do you conceptualize society and its entailed systemic dynamics?

I don't respect national borders as cultural or social barriers. When someone uses the word "society", I automatically assume they're talking about society at large, international/global society. As an internationalist, I identify as an American only because I happened to be born here and I happen to live here. I think the ages of nationalism and regional centrism ought to be coming to a close. When I stop hearing "What's good for America?" and start hearing more "What's good for humanity?" I think I'll be able to better adjust to contemporary politics and social policy.

Although sometimes I wonder if this view is a privilege. I live in a highly developed nation that is extremely active on the global stage. Is it a privilege of mine to be able to advocate a non-nationalistic, global perspective when there are small, heavily dominated nations seeking independence?

How does this social context relate to political institutions and practices? And where does the individual fit into this picture? What are your political prescriptions, and what claims underlie these prescriptions? How does political activity relate to your vision of 'the good'? And which political tactics will most efficiently cultivate your vision of a better future society?

Obviously, my politics reflect my view of society. As a remedy for national expansionism and imperialism, I would suggest international cooperation and global consideration. Our neighbors and the culture we're exposed to is no longer limited to our own backyard or wherever we travel, the world is now interconnected in a way that really make borders and ethnocentrism socially obsolete. The barriers that partition humanity now are economic and political barriers. A theoretical solution could be global sovereignty and much more equitable, cooperative global economics. As for how to practically implement such an idea, I think there have been many thousands of thinkers trying to reconcile the idea with the human condition and contemporary social structure

 

[ebola?]

Why didn't you state your views in the OP?

I've outlined them elsewhere, and I'm getting bored of my own opinions.
...
I begin most of my political reasoning from a Hegelian Marxist perspective. To be human is to collaborate with others to transform one's external environment, shaping the world in one's own image (or in terms of a particular collaborative vision). In the process, we gain an enriched understanding of our environment, and one could say an according expansion of our consciousness. Thus, political activity should aim to disassemble those forms of social relations that present obstacles to fruitful forms of collaboration that we would otherwise afford the benefit of participating in. Concretely, this takes the shape of an opposition to coercive hierarchy, particularly in economic domains.

Now, I'm not sure how to square the Foucauldian critique with this vision of human freedom. Per Foucault, certain visions of freedom are actually linked with the construction of particular forms of self-regulation and self-monitoring, and in turn the production of certain types of disciplined and assessed selves, their behavior intelligible via the particular form of regulation it falls under. Per this critique, seemingly liberatory ideologies can lead to constraint and myopia. This was Foucault's critique of Maoism (which was bizarrely popular in European academia at the time). So for Foucault, the way to be 'free' is to defy these discursive technologies, to participate in peak experiences that defy intelligibility per the structure of existing relations of power-knowledge. Foucault accordingly found inspiration in anarchic movements in arenas of identity-politics.

As far as tactics go, I'm still not sure about how to get from 'here' to 'there'.

ebola

 

[Zerrr]

You may get more replies if you dumb it down a bit..

I'd love to reply buy my feeble vocabulary and intellect can't comprehend what your post says.

Unfortunately, I have this issue with ebola?

 

[sekio]

Disclaimer: Cynicism! NSA: I don't actually advocate armed insurrection in the United States as a means of social policy reform!

How do you conceptualize society and its entailed systemic dynamics? How does this social context relate to political institutions and practices? And where does the individual fit into this picture?

Society is characterised by the lowest common denominator. Due to this factor and the sheer population count it's also an enforcer of Murphy's Law on most systems - you can always rely on the unwashed general public to break things eventually, statistically speaking.

Government is not what it is on paper. It's bread and circuses now, baby. Their job is to mollify the populance by keeping the essential services running (rat wheels, food dispenser, telescreen) and the tax dollars coming in to pay for same. Individually most people in government are excellent, upstanding men and women, yet somehow nothing ever gets done. Occasionally they will tighten, or loosen, churchlike moral restrictions, or make economic adjustments to either wage fiscal warfare or ensure flow of goods and services to the populance.

Clearly there are people who are aware of the farcical economic state in the US ("post employment economy"), but I don't think they hold a majority. The status quo is too good, I mean, it isn't bad enough yet.

What are your political prescriptions, and what claims underlie these prescriptions? How does political activity relate to your vision of 'the good'? And which political tactics will most efficiently cultivate your vision of a better future society?

Armed insurrection in the US. Or something. You didn't hear me say that. Black vans are pulling up outside, I will BRB.

... seriously. It's going to have to get worse before it gets better. I kind of hope we can move into an age of more economic rationality, corporations as not-people, universal basic income, etc... but at the current rate, it wouldn't happen, or would be so in name only. Political lobbying, gerrymandering, and a multitude of other dirty tricks mean the electoral deck is pretty well stacked.

 

[ebola?]

You may get more replies if you dumb it down a bit..

I'd love to reply buy my feeble vocabulary and intellect can't comprehend what your post says.

Put simply, how do you conceptualize politics and society at the most fundamental, generalized level?

The complex compound question originally posed was structured as it was just to suggest particular analytical focus and elaboration, which I was hoping would impel people to produce higher quality answers.

ebola

 

[ParappaTheRapper]

...

 

[-=SS=-]

How does society work? Does "society" work at all? What are the roles of individual, corporation, and government?

Society works, it has too otherwise we're back in the caveman days, and most people generally do not want that. There's lots of room for improvement and I think we've reached a very important point in the evolution of our society with the invention of the internet.. the ability to share information instantly, removing the component of time and distance. In the past a war could be waged and word would only travel as fast as the fastest medium ie by horse. This delay gives an opportunity for corruption and nefarious activities. With exposure through instant sharing light can be shone on these shadows, removing it.. or forcing it into a corner..

Which is where we are now I think. Just in time too. Corporations and big government have become incredibly bloated through the lust for power and money, and the individual has been reduced to a semi-intelligent cog in the machine.. "just smart enough to do the paper work and run the machines, but just dumb enough to accept increasingly shittier jobs etc.." (George Carlin). Education is still seriously lacking, with emphasis on maths and science for the benefit of these corporations/government, and no emphasis on educating individuals for the betterment of themselves.. such as personal health, nutrition/diet, philosophical and critical thinking. It's all for the benefit of business and the state.. any personal betterment is secondary and a happy accident.

I disagree with Bardeaux on internationalism, otherwise known as globalization by the establishment. I know (I think) what he is implying and I agree with that sentiment in that we need more cooperation and better organizing ideas, but this ideal has been hijacked by the establishment in the form of globalization. This is nothing more than spreading this bloating corporate-state virus to other nations that still retain some form of individuality, and it benefits the establishment most.. again any personal betterment is happy accident. It can't work because at its core it is unsustainable and unstable.

Until we address the root issues we're just increasing our acceleration towards the proverbial brick wall. We need structure, organizing principles, and I believe we can have the best of both technology and community.. that we don't need to go back to tribal living and mud huts. The individual needs to re-assert its role in society to balance out the bloated top heavy power structure we currently have. We need a better culture, a better religion for lack of a better word.. something to organize us around. "Individualism" doesn't actually exist.. our materialistic-atheistic paradigm is just as enslaving as any religious paradigm of past eras.. we just don't see the bars that surround our minds.

What are your political beliefs?

Our political class are only going to be as good as the culture we have/had.. "garbage in.. garbage out!" (George Carlin). And right now we have predominantly baby boomer politician's who are incredibly money orientated and who lack any real good ideas for solving the crisis.. "I'm alright jack, keep your hands off my stack". Then there's the corruption which seems to be endemic in the UK and USA political systems. Looking to politician's to solve this is pissing into the wind, unless we send a clear message that we demand more.. such as hanging certain figures from lampposts around Westminster. There's plenty of sellouts to choose from too.

The expenses scandal in the UK just shows how much contempt they have. And it just keeps on going.

So I do not believe we're going to solve this politically, so my beliefs on politics are that it can work for solving small and sometimes medium sized issues.. but for the larger picture where we sorely need new ideas political solutions are absolutely useless at this point. Unless we're talking globalization and other corporate/state benefiting activities.

Do you believe your political leanings will influence society in some way?

There seems to be moments where we're ripe for change, but it doesn't hang around forever. Until there's some momentum that strikes at the right moment, which requires someone to effectively predict the Zeitgeist, then I don't see anything happening. The younger generations have the energy that the older folk don't have, but they're hypnotized by gadgets and other crap.

What is the most effective way to do so?

Given that I don't really see any way forward/I'm too lazy to care because this is just one random internet post, I'll just go with 'we'll start to see some improvement once the majority of the boomers and older folk start to disappear". Least I'd like to believe that but I know little will change. The power of institutions is stronger than the very slow cultural change inherent in each new successive generation.