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    Belonging: Anomie: The Threat to Society
    Belonging: Anomie: The Threat to Society
    Belonging: Anomie: The Threat to Society
    Ebook118 pages1 hour

    Belonging: Anomie: The Threat to Society

    By Floyd Sully

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    About this ebook

    Anomie has stalked society since humans first settled in communities. Belonging is an essential part of human existence. When the connections that hold us together are broken, the result is anti-social behaviour and a lashing out at the community that has abandoned us. Sully asks the question of why civilizations fail. And he finds his answer in human behaviour and the alienation of individuals from their community.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTellwell Talent
    Release dateMar 27, 2024
    ISBN9781779416568
    Belonging: Anomie: The Threat to Society
    Author

    Floyd Sully

    Floyd Sully is one of eight children raised in a small village on the Canadian prairie. Through family and his community he learned at an early age the importance of belonging, of being connected to the society around him. In his own life, Sully has continued to pursue connections through the company he founded, community organizations he has volunteered with and reaching out to help others.

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      Book preview

      Belonging - Floyd Sully

      Table of Contents

      Introduction

      Chapter One: Belonging

      Chapter Two: Anomie

      Chapter Three: Social Isolation And Loneliness

      Chapter Four: The Social Contract - Groupthink

      Chapter Five: Social Media And Alienation

      Chapter Six: The Lone Wolf

      Chapter Seven: Tribalism

      Chapter Eight: Curing The Disease

      Endnotes

      Introduction

      I have always enjoyed reading history. The rise of civilizations and their golden age always captivated me. Whether they were Incan, Greek, Roman, Chinese, or Islam, I would find myself lost in their glory days. But it is not possible to read these accounts without wondering why once-great civilizations now cease to exist. Why is it that success is only a fleeting moment in the passing of humankind? That it seems impossible to hold on to what was best as it slips through our fingers? If these cultures failed, why not ours? Can we learn something from their experience that would help keep us from following them into ruin?

      My readings of comparative studies of culture in history, such as Austin Coates’s work, China, India and the Ruins of Washington, have whet my appetite for the question of success and failure of cultures, if there were any lessons for first-world democracies.

      Like many others, I read Collapse: How Societies Choose To Fail or Succeed by Jared Diamond with great interest. I believe Diamond’s work, as with his other writings, is inspired as it raises to a new consciousness the question of success and failure of the most powerful of human experience. However, I believe Diamond peels back only the first layer of the onion, the scientific layer. I could not help thinking there had to be more to it. That the answer to why civilizations fail must lie within ourselves as human beings.

      With this book and great humility, I try to peel back another layer of the onion. A skin that deals with social structure and our unique behavior as humans. I do not believe that societies fall simply because of a lack of leadership. Across a thriving culture, there are lots of persons capable of stepping forward to lead. Failure at a societal level, across a culture, involves a flaw in human behavior that affects the greater part of the population. Like a pandemic disease, a change in behavior infects and spreads until it cripples a society to the point where it is ungovernable and collapses. If we fail to understand this process, we will surely follow in the footsteps of other great civilizations that have preceded us.

      We are in a period of history where the breakdown of social structures and traditions is cutting across all aspects of our society. Individuals are being cast adrift from their traditional touchstones. Attachments that we were brought up to believe were sacrosanct and secure have and are continuing to vanish. Families are being broken. Trust in government has weakened. Faith, except for fundamentalist churches, is waning. The number of homeless and dispossessed is growing. The gap between the haves and have-nots widens with each passing year. Alienation and anomie are everywhere we look.

      Anomie, if you are unfamiliar with the term, is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as social instability resulting from a breakdown of standards and values. It is personal unrest, alienation, and uncertainty that come from a lack of purpose or ideals. I am truly concerned that anomie is a destructive social force in our societies. Hopefully, knowing more about it can help us remediate its effects.

      Belonging is a book about the connections we all need in our lives to thrive as human beings. Connections that weave a web of community. Communities that, in turn, form nations with a vibrant culture and social structure. Cultures that advance civilization.

      Belonging is a discussion of the importance of belonging in a community to an individual. It discusses the consequences when the bond of our belonging is broken, when anomie grips the individual and leads them into antisocial behavior. When we are more informed about anomie and the costs of loneliness and alienation to society, ideally, we will be more motivated to address and remedy it within our own families and communities. And, with effort and a bit of luck, we can prevent our modern civilization from falling.

      Chapter One: Belonging

      Human beings are social animals. It’s in our nature to belong. Recall a time you discovered you weren’t invited to a social event, and the ensuing sting, and you’ll understand what I’m talking about. As a species, we have learned that we are all the better off when we cooperate. In our work, play, and belief system, it is a most unusual person who is solitary throughout their life.

      Our Early Development

      Belonging starts the day we are born, and unlike with most animals, humans require several years of nurturing to reach adulthood. In these formative years, we are taught the importance of cooperative behavior, first within the family structure and then in school, church, and the larger community. This teaching takes the form of values that are common in the society. We are taught that cooperation requires give and take. That if we participate in society, be it family, the workplace, our community or faith, we will receive the benefits of being a member of society. When these benefits are not forthcoming, anomie results. A loss of connection may occur with family or lifelong friends or perhaps in the workplace where loyalty is unrewarded. It can take place in our community where we are taught that participation in democracy is important, only to find that our vote has been suppressed or so gerrymandered that it doesn’t count. Whatever the tie that is cut, the resulting anomie can lead to antisocial behavior.

      With simple tasks as children, we are instructed that each of us must share in the responsibilities of the family. It may start with learning to put our toys away and progress to mastering simple household chores and eventually helping care for younger siblings and the family business. I still remember the first time I had to change the diaper of one of my younger brothers. There was a sense of accomplishment, a sense of belonging. We come to understand that these family connections provide us with the necessities of life: food on the table, a place to sleep, and a secure and loving world in which to thrive. Play and recreation strengthen the bonds that tie us to family and community. Our emotional needs as humans are satisfied through these connections. As we develop, these bonds are fortified through a system of common beliefs.

      Growing up in Community

      It is said that it takes a village to raise a child. I was fortunate to grow up in such a village on the Canadian prairies—about 450 souls. When I was seven or maybe eight years old, I would spend the late afternoon huddled in the corner of the small post office waiting room. The train would have arrived some half hour earlier, and the aged postmaster would have brought the mail bags to his office in a two-wheeled pushcart. As he sorted the mail, the local village folks and farmers would mill around the waiting room, holding forth about the weather, their crops, and the government. On alternative days, they would talk about the government, the weather, and their crops.

      As a seven-year-old, I was not allowed to be in the waiting room—an unwritten rule. But I quietly sat on the floor in my corner, surrounded by a forest of denim legs. Everyone would open the door of their post office box so that when a letter was sorted, it would come skittering through to the floor only to be sorted again by the waiting men.

      In what was a very innocuous way, these clandestine meetings at the post office built my bonds to my community and its members. Listening to the farmers talk, I learned of the history of the village and the families that built it. The back and forth about government informed me of what worked for the community and what did not. Most important were the stories of the neighbors’ struggles and how they came together to help one another. Belonging and interdependence of one person with another were the foundation of the community. I am certain that the men were aware of my presence, but they, too, understood that this was all a part of growing up and becoming a member of the community.

      In the same way, the bonds

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