Goodness is a Social Construction
By: Pat Adams 16 September 1999Goodness must be a social construction. If a man grew up totally alone, he would not know what good or evil is, only survival. Concepts such as good and evil are created by groups of people commonly agreeing on a standard by which they judge themselves.
The yardstick for measuring goodness has changed throughout the years as well. Ancient Greeks had no moral problems with killing another man if the gods told them to. Killing in modern American society is considered wrong, and when someone does it because a god told them to they are either labeled 'crazy' or a 'fanatic'.
Even though goodness is a social construction, one's idea of goodness is also influenced by smaller elements of the society, like religion. Most religions believe that certain acts make a man wicked: murder, lying, stealing. Yet not all go as far to impose customs one must observe in order to be good. Orthodox Jews practice much more stringent practices to be 'good' in the eyes of their fellow men and their perceived deity. Atheists might believe that to be good one just needs to not harm others. While these are just two examples, if one were to look at religions of the world, they would share some characteristics and differ on others about what makes a person good.
In my life I have noticed contrasts between my definition of good and that held by the society that surrounds me. I have had an upbringing very different from most of my peers. As a military brat I moved very regularly and thus my notion of goodness is a construction of the many different segments of society that I have lived in.
In another way, goodness is a construct of society indirectly. Society has a definition of what is good, but individuals do not need to have the same definition of what is good to be good. Fear of the actions of society may keep one from not acting good. People in general want what is 'good' for society. So society creates its own goodness and forces people to conform to it or face penalties, i.e. jail, fines, execution, etc. So goodness requires laws, and the laws are created to make people good.
The yardstick for measuring goodness has changed throughout the years as well. Ancient Greeks had no moral problems with killing another man if the gods told them to. Killing in modern American society is considered wrong, and when someone does it because a god told them to they are either labeled 'crazy' or a 'fanatic'.
Even though goodness is a social construction, one's idea of goodness is also influenced by smaller elements of the society, like religion. Most religions believe that certain acts make a man wicked: murder, lying, stealing. Yet not all go as far to impose customs one must observe in order to be good. Orthodox Jews practice much more stringent practices to be 'good' in the eyes of their fellow men and their perceived deity. Atheists might believe that to be good one just needs to not harm others. While these are just two examples, if one were to look at religions of the world, they would share some characteristics and differ on others about what makes a person good.
In my life I have noticed contrasts between my definition of good and that held by the society that surrounds me. I have had an upbringing very different from most of my peers. As a military brat I moved very regularly and thus my notion of goodness is a construction of the many different segments of society that I have lived in.
In another way, goodness is a construct of society indirectly. Society has a definition of what is good, but individuals do not need to have the same definition of what is good to be good. Fear of the actions of society may keep one from not acting good. People in general want what is 'good' for society. So society creates its own goodness and forces people to conform to it or face penalties, i.e. jail, fines, execution, etc. So goodness requires laws, and the laws are created to make people good.
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