What is society, and who is responsible?

This was sparked by a comment on a sermon (haven't quoted it as I am not picking on anyone in particular).

Often people say 'it's society's fault' or 'society is to blame'... this seems to me to push some of the responsibility onto everyone else, but not ourselves..

What is society? Who is responsible?

People around us affect our way of thinking, our emotions, which are the roots of our actions.
Still, at the end, we are responsible for our moves.

According to Dictionary.com, society is:

1.
an organized group of persons associated together for religious, benevolent, cultural, scientific, political, patriotic, or other purposes.
2.
a body of individuals living as members of a community; community.
3.
the body of human beings generally, associated or viewed as members of a community:
the evolution of human society.
4.
a highly structured system of human organization for large-scale community living that normally furnishes protection, continuity, security, and a national identity for its members:
American society.
5.
such a system characterized by its dominant economic class or form:
middle-class society; industrial society.
6.
those with whom one has companionship.
7.
companionship; company:

We're ALL responsible. As a society, no one can be ruled out. We can all do something to fix a societal problem.

In the end the individual, and the individual alone, is responsible. As an individual is a part of society that makes society also to blame, but the individual can only control themselves so they must bear the responsibility. It should be simple.

Hungry? Feed yourself. Cold? Warm yourself up. Tired? Get yourself to sleep. Threatened? Protect yourself. All of those can be more complex issues, but at their core they're that simple.

Or you could wait for someone else, or society, to do it for you. Doing it yourself is usually harder, but it is also usually more effective and more efficient.

well, responsible for what?

im responsible for whether or not i chose to smoke cigarettes, but phillip morris is responsible for selling a deadly poison which is more addictive than heroin, lying about what it does to people, and deliberately marketing that poison to children because they know that no intelligent adult will start a smoking habit and all the adults that already buy their products are going to be dead soon

so what about those people who believed the lies that phillip morris told? military rations used to contain cigarettes, and every movie star since humphrey bogart has made it look not just normal but sexy - who is responsible for that?

its a layered question

who is responsible for this:

(these images are quite harsh - really, not for the squeamish and not appropriate for children)


did you know she wasnt driving and that the car wasnt even moving when she spilled the coffee? she put the cup between her legs so that she could take the lid off and add cream and sugar and and thats when the coffee spilled

did you know that mcdnlds had settled out of court multiple burn lawsuits already because their coffee was so hot that it literally melted skin and their lids were lousy? and that her law team was able to document 700 cases of burns from McDonald's coffee over 10 years and that "Applying the principles of comparative negligence, the jury found that McDonald's was 80% responsible for the incident"

did you know that she only asked for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses - two years worth because it took two years worth of medical treatment, and that it was the jury who awarded more than that because they thought she deserved it

who is responsible for climate change? or gmo's? is it my fault that monsanto will lie to its own employees and watch them die rather than admit to the risks of working with pcb's? is it my fault that they havethe money to pay their way through the courts and maintain their stature as an economic powerhouse?

i do belive in personal responsibility, but its got to be a standard held to all, not just the ones who die or get devoured and are ignored as being irrelevant or labelled irresponsible out of scorn and convenience

heres a question: at what point am i no longer responsible for my government?

its not my fault that usa invaded iraq

i did not support that decision at all and i expressed my view as intelligently as i was able and it made no difference

i have to deal with the national consequences but am i "responsible" for them?

EDIT

i am responsible i think for accepting the reality of things, and for determining how i may use my influence to most positively affect my portion of the social conversation

OB1Shinobi wrote: well, responsible for what?


who is responsible for this:

(these images are quite harsh - really, not for the squeamish and not appropriate for children)

Warning: Spoiler!

did you know she wasnt driving and that the car wasnt even moving when she spilled the coffee? she put the cup between her legs so that she could take the lid off and add cream and sugar and and thats when the coffee spilled

did you know that mcdnlds had settled out of court multiple burn lawsuits already because their coffee was so hot that it literally melted skin and their lids were lousy? and that her law team was able to document 700 cases of burns from McDonald's coffee over 10 years and that "Applying the principles of comparative negligence, the jury found that McDonald's was 80% responsible for the incident"

did you know that she only asked for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses - two years worth because it took two years worth of medical treatment, and that it was the jury who awarded more than that because they thought she deserved it

About the McDonald's case.... I m o the judgement greatly depends on the way of reasoning. At Hungary, the region I come from, it is improbable that the trial would have ended this way... "Applying the principles of comparative negligence,"..and so on...
What?!?
Look, pal, you want a good cup of coffee, right?
Do you like lukewarm coffee? You neither? That's why it is hot....
Since you are in McDonald's, it will be served in paper cups. Paper cups are limp, especially if you put them between your legs! If you don't count with this, you are mentally challenged, pal! (It is possible, in the medical sense of it, but that is an other case...) That's it. Next time put it onto the table or to the floor. Period. (Get well soon, by the way...)

Tamas wrote:

OB1Shinobi wrote: well, responsible for what?


who is responsible for this:

(these images are quite harsh - really, not for the squeamish and not appropriate for children)

Warning: Spoiler!

did you know she wasnt driving and that the car wasnt even moving when she spilled the coffee? she put the cup between her legs so that she could take the lid off and add cream and sugar and and thats when the coffee spilled

did you know that mcdnlds had settled out of court multiple burn lawsuits already because their coffee was so hot that it literally melted skin and their lids were lousy? and that her law team was able to document 700 cases of burns from McDonald's coffee over 10 years and that "Applying the principles of comparative negligence, the jury found that McDonald's was 80% responsible for the incident"

did you know that she only asked for $20,000 to cover her medical expenses - two years worth because it took two years worth of medical treatment, and that it was the jury who awarded more than that because they thought she deserved it

About the McDonald's case.... I m o the judgement greatly depends on the way of reasoning. At Hungary, the region I come from, it is improbable that the trial would have ended this way... "Applying the principles of comparative negligence,"..and so on...
What?!?
Look, pal, you want a good cup of coffee, right?
Do you like lukewarm coffee? You neither? That's why it is hot....
Since you are in McDonald's, it will be served in paper cups. Paper cups are limp, especially if you put them between your legs! If you don't count with this, you are mentally challenged, pal! (It is possible, in the medical sense of it, but that is an other case...) That's it. Next time put it onto the table or to the floor. Period. (Get well soon, by the way...)

yeah, that was my first reaction

what changed my mind ultimately was the history of mcdonlds and the issue of burns of their customers and how big of a company they are - that theyre everywhere, not simply that they make money - if your customer base is the entire western world and you know that your product has a potential for really serious injury, then at some point in ten years you could do something deliberate to address that - the hit that the woman took was a much more serious hit to her life than the hit mcdonalds took to its life -

maybe we are all responsible for ourselves AND each other

what is a society but a cooperative attempt to defend ourselves from the dangers of existence?

an effort to make life safe and predictable and maybe even enjoyable on a broad scale?

obviously its not possible to make life totally safe, and it would be boring if it were totally predictable, but is it appropriate to say "you are responsible for not allowing yourself to be injured" but not to also say "you are responsible for not being a source of injury to people" ?

i dont really know what the right answer is

but i think we are all in it together and that a lot of the problems we have come as a result of forgetting that or of not ever realizing to begin with

I try not to blend terms like society and culture, but I think it is applicable to this discussion. I would compare two cities in which I've lived:

City One:
No outdoor activities to really speak of
The city was overwhelmingly obese and uneducated (statistically speaking)
The city has a culture of rude selfishness (subjectively speaking)
There is a culture of negative isolationism
Trash in the streets and on the sidewalks is the norm
Yeehaw guns

City Two:
By and large, people bike or walk instead of driving
People are generally in better physical condition
People chip in right after a concert to help pick up trash visitors have left on the ground
There is a culture of positive enforcement of accountability
Guns are for hunting or quiet concealed carry

These cities both exist in our society, and each citizen is a member of our society. But each city has a different culture, and that culture plays a large role in the concept of social responsibility. The individual is of course responsible for his actions, but culture and society are the framework in which that individual develops as a person.

Edan wrote: What is society? Who is responsible?

As a sociologist (the study of society and its social behaviour), I find the question of responsibility an interesting one. The definition of society depends on the context you are measuring, but in its basic form it is a group of individuals that share common norms and culture. If we look at sociology's definition or Streen's, we can see that society is not all encompassing and differs. We need to define the parameters of society before we can see who is responsible in or for that society.

In my studies, what I find is that the individual ultimately has to take responsible for their own actions. However, society has an enormous influence on people, and thus influences much of our behaviour. Our entire past is based on how society has influenced us (the brain as well, see my other post about this).

While we hold the individual responsible for their actions, once there is a pattern of behaviour, it is then up to us to realize there is most likely a societal influence at play. It needs to be researched and possible solutions can be provided. Societal changes, or public policy such as laws and legislation, are the most effective at influencing a group of people's behaviours.

So, who is responsible is a more convoluted question that depends on many factors. Ultimately, in my opinion, everyone is a human being and have been influenced by their genes, social surroundings, and their history. It is difficult to blame the human being but easy to blame the actions of the individual.

Edan wrote: This was sparked by a comment on a sermon (haven't quoted it as I am not picking on anyone in particular).

Often people say 'it's society's fault' or 'society is to blame'... this seems to me to push some of the responsibility onto everyone else, but not ourselves..

What is society? Who is responsible?

We are all responsible , we all are society , but its hard to take responsibility because we always think someone else wil solve the problem

This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.