The Individual and Society - An Explanation Better than 42 In 2 Minute Bites (Part 1)

Inside all of us is a being in conflict who is part social self and part ‘essential’ or independent self.  The two ‘selves’, although resident in the same physical envelope, are anathema to one another.  That they have managed to survive for millennia together, without some major chernobylian meltdown is a tribute to the resiliency of the human brain, To have gone through generation after generation without triggering mass extinction or a bonfire of self immolation is truly remarkable.  But now, self immolation is imminent and it must be stopped and, as far as I can see, we have no choice but to understand each other and ourselves.

There are two protagonists in this battle: our individual self and our social self.  The self, also known as the ego in psychological parlance, is the essential you.  It is basically the pilot light at the heart of your existential furnace – the first thing to get lit when you come into existence and the last thing to go out when you stop.  It precedes language and socialization, is fiercely independent, and rates survival above all.  Later in our development, a second ‘self’, the social self, emerges.  From day one they battle for ascendancy.  Their natures are so vastly different that conflict was inevitable.

Where the essential self or ‘individual’ is an objective entity, society is a concept.  As a physical entity, we have basic physical needs: food, shelter and clothing; as members of a society we have developed other needs: affection, aesthetics, approval, and status among others.  When we consider that the meeting of needs requires prioritization (some needs will need to be repressed or foregone in order to meet others) and requires the allocation of personal resources, it is easy to see that there will always be a conflict between social and essential self.  A simple example might be suppressing the need to go to the bathroom (a personal need) until a speech is finished (a social courtesy).

continued