The Social Contract Saga: A Tale of Centuries, Countries and Citizens
Shared knowledge and wisdom are crucially important if a society hopes to continue to grow and improve, but it is on us as a society - all generations - to ensure that this transfer of information happens. When it doesn’t, the rifts between generations widen. They become deeper. This hurts all of us.
I was born in February 1991 in Oakland, CA. As an adult (whatever that means), it’s fairly easy to see the unnecessary gaps in the knowledge I was given as I grew up. But as the saying goes, you don’t know what you don’t know. A kid doesn’t know what they don’t know. I was that kid, and I grew up and still didn’t know the things I didn’t know. As a result I did a whole lot of “learning the hard way”. While it’s gratifying to look back and see how far I have come, it is still frustrating to contemplate how many of my struggles could have been alleviated by the adults in my young life simply sharing what they knew. For better or for worse, my lived experiences during the 3+ decades that followed taught me everything that I didn’t learn from my parents, my teachers, my employers. It’s anecdotal of course, but many of my friends and peers have similar stories, and have similar frustrations with their own parents and elders as a result. Love and frustration are not mutually exclusive.
Now my generation and those younger than us hear that we are supposed to fix everything, that it’s our problem now. How do we bring my generation — and future generations — to the table to add our diverse perspectives, insights, and expertise into identifying the problem and its possible solutions? What does the “American dream” even look like at this point?
We need to learn from those of you who have knowledge to pass to us, to help us navigate a very uncertain global future.
Why Our Generations Must Come Together
In the first WeAccel blog, I introduced The Social Contract, concepts upon which the United States was founded:
Illustration of Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson writing the Declaration of Independence. https://www.history.com/news/how-the-declaration-of-independence-came-to-be
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.—That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed...””
Inalienable rights? Governments derived from consent of the governed? All of the governed? We trust that our Founding Fathers knew that these lofty goals would be a work in progress.
Thomas Jefferson, the primary architect behind the 1776 Declaration of Independence, was not the first to imagine such a Social Contract.
Socrates to Rousseau
The earliest record suggesting the relationship between a stable society and a social contract was in the Platonic dialogue, Crito, where Socrates convincingly argues that compliance with civic laws and judgment is the very foundation of a stable and just society.
The origins of modern social contract theory really launched with the works of Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679), who emphasized the need for a social contract to create societal order and reduce conflict. English philosopher John Locke (1632-1704) posited that the State of Nature could not be tolerated so “rational men” should have no problem submitting to the absolute will of the state. (We’re sure Queen Elizabeth I loved that position!)
Conversely, in the decades leading up to the French Revolution, Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778)) challenged this view. In his view, “Man was born free, and he is everywhere in chains”. Rousseau focused on the “progress of civilization” that forced humans to depend on others for that freedom through economic and social inequalities. In Rousseau’s view, the purpose of politics is to restore freedom to us - not to curb freedoms.
It was during this Age of Enlightenment that Thomas Jefferson penned this Declaration, establishing “inalienable” rights of the individual to “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, supported by Government who powers are derived “from the consent of the governed”. Of course, King George III of England, projecting from the vantage of kingly privilege (!) pronounced “for daring and desperate is the spirit of those leaders, whose object has always been dominion and power, that they have now openly renounced all allegiance to the crown, and all political connection with this country”. Translation: Monarchy rules, the rest of you wish you were me!
Historically these discussions focused on monarchy and divine authority versus human rights: a symbiotic relationship where ruler and ruled mutually benefit.
Social Contract for a New Generation
Where is the Social Contract for my generation?
Photo of a group of people advocating for their rights: “No Justice No Peace”: Photo by Clay Banks on Unsplash
My generation has experienced decades of established women’s rights stripped away. My generation knows we we’re not likely to be able to buy a home close to our jobs, families and friends. My generation doesn’t understand how your financial, energy, transportation, housing, innovation, economic development systems - and so many others - work. And yet my generation continues to hear that the existential crises faced globally will be my generation’s to solve!
I was born an American and have never lived in any other country. That — and my Latina, millennial perspective — are key to my insights and those of many of my friends: culturally diverse, born in an age of rapid technological advances that favored development of technical skills over balanced lifestyles, and facing an uncertain climate future.
Boomers and Millennials, Gen X and Gen Z - we all must learn from each other. Younger generations must be in the room where “it” happens.
The ongoing economic and climate crises, as well as the rolling back of basic rights for specific groups of disadvantaged Americans, are the inevitable results of a society whose civic and corporate power players do not feel accountable for upholding their end of the social contract.
Anna Acosta
In 2024, we must re-interpret the Social Contract to apply to a non-monarchical society that is truly rooted in the principles of diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility. The ongoing economic and climate crises, as well as the rolling back of basic rights for specific groups of economically, physically and culturally disadvantaged Americans, are the inevitable results of a society whose civic and corporate power players do not feel accountable for upholding their end of the social contract.
Next Up: WeAccel’s Take on the Social Contract
Until then, be well.