Society — A contract!

A contract we sign amongst each other, spoken or unspoken, where we agree on common rules, practices and ideals that are going to define us as a community and it holds until everyone upholds the contract.

The basis of(or lack of) terms and conditions of the contract is what creates a new society. There are leaders who define the rules of the game, and there is the society who play by those rules. Some people abide by the rules of the contract, even though they don’t have enough, just for the society to exist and function smoothly. However, sometimes the people who sign the contract are not being honoured by the society that has forced them to sign the contract with them.

In order for us to argue that any society is legitimate there are some core principles. In Malcom Gladwell’s book, ‘David and Goliath’, he refers to the ‘principle of legitimacy’. The principles stress that it is the behaviour of the leaders that determines whether or not the followers will follow.

Malcom Gladwell pens down the three principles of legitimacy as follows —

1. Those being ruled need to feel that they have a voice in the contract.

2. The rules must be predictable and consistent.

3. The rules must be consistently applied and appear to be fair to all being asked to follow the rules.

Some society might not be legitimate according to you because your society opposes those rules.The contract is a set of rules. Rules are ideas and ideals of the society. You may kill the society but you can never kill an idea. As long as the idea lives, the society will live.

Today, more than ever before, it is time to realise that we need to embrace societies but before that we need to embrace the people upholding our society.