Where Have We Gone Wrong
In sociology, a system is said to be in social equilibrium when there is a dynamic working balance among its interdependent parts. Each subsystem will adjust to any change in the other subsystems and will continue to do so until an equilibrium is retained.
The process of achieving equilibrium will only work if the changes happen slowly, but for rapid changes it would throw the social system into chaos, unless and until a new equilibrium can be reached.
An open society, as defined by Sir Karl Raimund Popper CH FBA FRS, an Austrian-born British philosopher, academic and social commentator, is one "in which individuals are confronted with personal decisions" as opposed to a "magical or tribal or collectivist society.
A closed society, claims certain knowledge and its ultimate truth lead to the attempted imposition of one version of reality. Such a society is closed to freedom of thought.
Social interactions typically give rise to multiple equilibria because they induce externalities. The multiple equilibria can be locally unique or there can be a continuum of equilibria.
In social theory as in classical economics the idea of equilibrium is still only intuitive, and associated with the impact of Adam Smith’s pioneering ideas. Analysts used the metaphor of the invisible hand that leads competitive economies to an equilibrium state in which resources are efficiently allocated.
Disequilibrium on the other hand, is a situation where internal and/or external forces prevent market equilibrium from being reached or cause the market to fall out of balance. This can be a short-term byproduct of a change in variable factors or a result of long-term structural imbalances. Which, should come as no shock to those familiar with such.
Social justice issues can be delineated into two categories, which are interrelated and often co-dependent: Inter-Social Treatment and Unequal Government Regulation.
- Inter-Social Treatment
- Unequal Government Regulation
In other words, social justice is a concept of fair and just relations between the individual and society, as measured by the distribution of wealth, opportunities for personal activity, and social privileges.
According to Theodosius Dobzhansky, a prominent Russian-American geneticist and evolutionary biologist, nearly everything we study in biology makes sense only in the context of one central unifying concept: evolution. Yet evolution is still quite "controversial." Many people are still convinced it never happened.
The world has changed much since earlier missionaries set sail across the seas. And as a new millennium dawned, even greater global and cultural changes are overtaking us.
The quality, quantity, and funding of ethnic minority research have been inadequate. One factor that has contributed to this inadequacy is the practice of scientific psychology. Although principles of psychological science involve internal and external validity, in practice psychology emphasizes internal validity in research studies. Because many psychological principles and measures have not been cross-validated with different populations, those conducting ethnic minority research often have a more difficult time demonstrating rigorous internal validity.
Thus, psychology's overemphasis of internal as opposed to external validity has deferentially hindered the development of ethnic diversity research. To develop stronger research knowledge on ethnic groups, it is important that:
- all research studies address external validity issues and explicitly specify the populations to which the findings are applicable;
- different research approaches, including the use of qualitative and ethnographic methods, be appreciated; and
- the psychological meaning of ethnicity or race be examined in ethnic comparisons.
Laws can intentionally (explicitly) or unintentionally (implicitly) create the conditions for social injustice. Laws and regulations that purposefully or otherwise create conditions that obstruct, limit, or deny certain groups equitable access to the same opportunities and resources available to the rest of society.
Law Enforcement misconduct is often associated with conscious or unconscious social discrimination. Misconduct has been shown to be related to personality and correlated to education, but it can also be significantly affected by the culture of the Law Enforcement agency. Education is negatively correlated to misconduct, with better-educated officers receiving fewer complaints on average.
Some analyses have found that changes in structural disadvantage, population mobility, and immigrant population have been associated with changes in Law Enforcement misconduct. Social disorganization may create a context for misconduct because residents may not have in place the social networks necessary to organize against Law Enforcement malpractice.
Thereby, government failure may arise because of unanticipated consequences of a government intervention, or because an inefficient outcome is more politically feasible than a Pareto improvement to it.
Most studies of a society's collapse have looked at the specifics of how one civilization declined, citing individual causes such as a disaster (earthquake, flood, pandemic), loss of resources (soil erosion, deforestation) or human conflict (war, uprising, outbreak) that led to the particular society's downfall…
Food for thought!