Society

Although – and thankfully – we live in a modern world (‘modernity’ as a positive alternative to, say, the dark Middle Ages, colonialism, Manchester capitalism, communism, fascism, Western or Asian oligarchism), there is something wrong with our current societies – seriously and fundamentally wrong: There are massive inequalities both globally and within countries; economic inequalities (in income and wealth) as well as social inequalities (in the form of, and caused by, stratification, hierarchy and asymmetrical relationships) – and these inequalities are fundamental, systemic and persistent. As a consequence, our societies are largely unjust because of systemic, institutionalised injustice(s) and contract-based exploitation (e.g. through the standard employment contract). In addition, we live in fairly undemocratic societies. Obviously, dictatorships, military regimes, oligarchies and kleptocracies in Western countries, Africa, Asia or South America are (very) anti-libertarian and undemocratic. But even fully fledged democracies (like Western European countries) make available only minimal political democracy (I call them ‘undemocratic democracies’) and most of our institutions, such as organisations, are not only undemocratic, but anti-democratic. Moreover, people’s freedoms are severely curtailed even in liberal societies; people are individually and socially unfree in various forms and they face institutions, such as hierarchical organisations, that represent organised unfreedom. In addition, such social systems or societies are hardly balanced and sustainable; they are (relatively) unsustainable in environmental as well as in economic and social terms.

Massive inequalities, systemic and systematic injustices, lack of democracy, lack of freedoms as well as unsustainability – there is something seriously wrong with our societies, organisations and institutions, how they are designed and function (or don’t function). These issues are not just ‘technical’ inefficiencies – they are fundamental, systemic flaws and shortcomings even of the most advanced and developed, free and democratic societies. They are existential problems of and for (almost) all the social systems and societies we have known so far as well as for the people that live in these social systems, at least for the great majority of people. Inequality, the lack of democracy and lack of freedoms as well as unsustainable systems are de jure and de facto incompatible with, and alien to, the notion of the good society, of a libertarian, democratic, equal, just and sustainable social system or society. Compared to what could be, how our societies could be, how they should be, we are 1,000 years behind. We live in the Dark Ages, still.

This must change. We cannot go on like this.