Two Questions - Continued (part 2)

What is the basic building block of a society

I’ve scoured the internet, spending minutes of my life searching for something, anything that would suggest I am wrong, but there was nothing.  Most of what I find supports the theory -- that going back to our earliest times the family group has been the basis for society.  It is not the individual, a political party, or even a group of friends.  It is the family.  There are all kinds of cliché about this, starting with “blood is thicker than water,” and moving into “the nuclear family.”  The historical perspective was a core family has a mother, a father, and their children.  From those grow the “extended” family of grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, etc..  The roles of the parents have had some flexibility, but we will get into that in a bit.

In Ms. Clinton’s appropriation of an African proverb about it taking a village to raise a child she misses the main point of the proverb.  She suggests it is the role of the village to raise and train the child to conform, suggesting that role should be fulfilled by the government.  In looking at historical African village concepts they are generally centered around a single-family group which is a part of a larger tribe.  There is in its center the “alpha” family and then the extended uncles, aunts, cousins and nephews of the chief.  Polygamy was not unheard of and like a pride of lions there would be one chief with multiple wives.  But the point remains in the proverb you can replace “it takes a village” with “it takes a family.”

Modern idealists say children are born innocent and are corrupted by the world.  I’m sorry, but I have to take issue with the premise a child is born innocent or guilty.  I don’t intend to get into the idea of sin or religion, but children are born without knowledge.  A lack of knowledge is not the same thing as innocence.  I believe it is their inherent survival instinct that guides their earliest actions.  They know only what they need or want, and concern for anything else is nonexistent.  If they are hungry or soiled they demand attention, and from those initial demands they begin to develop learned behaviors.  The psychology of child development seems to be fairly well researched, at least within the standards of Western European culture.  There must be a thousand books or websites available to help guide parents into what the experts say is a “normal” development.  My parents had Dr. Spock and today’s parents have a bunch of radicals suggesting just how to make the perfect child.  Of course, all of this is based on rigid (or rigged) research to support the researchers claims.  Behavioral psychology, it seems, has fallen out of favor these days, but I recall the research of Dr. B.F. Skinner who kept his infant daughter in an enclosed box so he could study her in an environment without human interaction/nurturing.

This quote from Dr. John B. Watson helps understand why the behaviorists don’t seem to be in the news too much but it was the progressive thought of the early 20^th century.   What I find intriguing though is how closely it aligns to modern progressive thinking.  The government can shape the individual if they are just allowed to do so.

“Give me a dozen healthy infants, well-formed, and my own specified world to bring them up in and I'll guarantee to take any one at random and train him to become any type of specialist I might select—doctor, lawyer, artist, merchant-chief and, yes, even beggar-man and thief, regardless of his talents, penchants, tendencies, abilities, vocations, and race of his ancestors.”[1]

Historical roles within the family.

Now let’s think about the historical roles within the family, at least as understood in the culture our society is based on (western Europe).

Father – The historical understanding of the Father is as a provider for the family.  He was the hunter, the farmer, the income provider, the manual laborer, and a role-model for the male children.  Looking at the religions that have formed to add a consistent moral basis for societies.  The father has been portrayed as the leader of the family group.  When it came time for decisions to be made the father would be the decider.  Obviously, there is a real spread in the quality of fathers, some being outstanding and others not so much.

Mother – She was the provider of life, the nourisher of the children, the support for her husband, and a provider for the family in his absence or out of necessity.  The mother was both the role model for the female children as well as the provider of most of the early training in the roles the children would grow to fill.  Often, she was the rock of morality that anchored the family unit.  Just as with fathers there will always be exceptional mothers who fulfill their roles in a way that leave others in awe.

Child – Children come into the world as empty vessels.  They know only themselves, and even than they don’t know themselves very well.  How they are to grow and become a part of the family, the community, or the society are all open questions that remain to be answered.  The first and forever most important teachers are the parents.  The child’s view of self, his/her role, his/her value, his/her nature are all derived from and expanded by their relationship with first their parents and then their extended family.  If these lessons are negative ones then the quality of their future learning will be at risk as well.  Members of the extended family may fill in gaps, or help augment the role of parents, but they are unlikely to ever completely replace the shortcomings of a poor parent. 

There is an interesting truth in our humanity.  It is impossible to make blanket statements applying universally across all individuals.  There are outstanding individuals who grow to be good parents despite a lack of strong role models.  There are also individuals who fail to grasp the lessons and examples of good role models and end up being failures in their attempts at being adults and/or parents.  But, that being said, what have we been doing to our concepts of family, and as a result what are the impacts to our society?  

 That is a question for tomorrow.

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[1] https://www.verywellmind.com/behavioral-psychology-4157183