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Why would anyone choose to forgo providing directly for their own needs? They trust an unwritten agreement - society will reward individuals and families with more than they can provide by themselves.\nThe basis of a Mutual Dependence society is that society will reward individuals and families with more than they can provide by themselves. That is not to say there is any legally binding arrangement. It is just that if members of society perceive that society is failing to deliver, they will stop specialising for the benefit of others and start to provide directly for their own needs.\n
\nSo a Mutual Dependent society produces very much more than self-susbsistence levels and each member must be convinced s/he will receive at least appreciably more than self-subsistence levels. What about the excess - the difference between the total output and the amount that must be allocated to a sufficient proportion of members to keep them in the system? This allocation of the \"profit\" of the system is at the heart of politics and social justice.\n
\nIt is important to distinguish the extent of our specialisation from the reward for what we do. Some specialising is simply unpaid. Mothers rearing children, for example, carry out a specialist activity and certainly forgo much. Child rearing is about as essential a part of the success of society as it is possible to imagine. Yet society is structured to provide no financial reward for this activity. Conversely, a private brain surgeon or successful entrepreneur can earn a thousand times more than the average earnings for not much more forbearance of personal needs. \n
\nWhat impacts on the workings of society is that everyone believes their needs will be better served by specialising than by self-sufficiency.\n
", "slide": "Why would anyone choose to forgo providing directly for their own needs? They trust an unwritten agreement - society will reward individuals and families with more than they can provide by themselves.\n
This may beg the question of how much should \"more\" be. Each society has a complicated, and often irrational, way of dividing the bounty of its material success between its members, largely influenced by history and politics.\n
\nBut there is no bounty to divide if we don't work together effectively. And the entire system is based on the willingness of individuals within society to behave in ways that are compatible with the effective workings of society. At the heart of this .. is trust.\n
", "sources": "", "Feedback": "", "title": "Basis of Society"}