Theories of a Good Society

Yana Kroytor

Essay 1

10/21/16

A good society consists of two broad categories, narcissistic and outward-looking. The

first usually involves a search for peace, harmony, and pleasure. The second is typically a more

individualistic view of a search for meaning. Many people think that having a society work

together will grow together, and others would think that being individualistic upon others is the

true self-esteem someone needs to be successful in life. James Stockinger writes a quote

explaining classical liberalism in the following way, “It is not at first with our own hands that we

pick the acorns and apples from the commonwealth of nature to nourish our own bodies. It is the

hands of other people that supply the needs of our bodies, both in infancy and beyond. For each

of us lives in . . . it is the hands of our people that lower us into the earth.”1 In Rand’s

philosophy, reality cannot be rewritten or escaped; it was informed instead. Once a person can

recognize the meaning of society, then they can define it. One of the real implications of a “good

society” that many people say is that it is freedom. One would say freedom is the right to spend

one’s life in one’s homestead. Others would say, it exists within institutions, like participating in

economic and political decisions that affect all of our lives. It is easier to understand why many

people retreat to their lives and forget about big institutions and problems, but they also have the

knowledge to live that way successfully without being affected by big institutions. Society will

benefit if everyone took care of themselves first before thinking of the bigger picture such as

globalization and being institutionalized.

Ayn Rand and Robert Bellah have different views on how a society or the people struggle

to find their personal human morality. Ayn Rand is ideally a champion of individual rights, and

she wants to protect the sovereignty of the individual as an end in himself. Rand has a very

individualistic point of view when it comes to human nature. She believes that those who live by

1 Bellah, Robert N. The Good Society. New York: Knopf, 1991. 104.

the judgment of their minds are willing to stand alone against tradition and popular opinion. A

person who resembles and struggles for the integrity of his creative work against every form of

social opposition is the perfect ideal individual that Rand desires. “Ayn Rand’s philosophy,

Objectivism, begins by embracing the fundamental fact that existence exists. The reality is, and

in the quest to live we must discover reality’s nature and learn to act successfully in it.”2

Comparing her perspectives to this quote and the quote mentioned, every individual has their line

of work that they must do that will benefit themselves by a social system that allows people to

live together peaceably, by voluntary trade, as independent equals, which is technically

capitalism.

When thinking of capitalism, many people think of a whole society working together to

benefit themselves in the long run. Robert Bellah would agree that as an American citizen,

people must take responsibility for the institutions if the individuals were to create a more

productive and morally conscious society. Bellah’s perspectives would fall into the more modern

world right now because many people today ignore the fact that there are problems in everyday

life. Although, instead of stopping the problem, they retreat back into their individualistic lives.

Robert Bellah explains in his book called, Good Society, that “he is challenging Americans to

take a good look at themselves. Faced with growing homelessness, rising unemployment,

crumbling highways, and impending ecological disaster, our response is one of apathy,

frustration, cynicism, and retreat into our private worlds.”3 The social problems confronting us

today, are primarily the result of failures of our institutions, and our response, largely the result

of our inability to realize the degree to which our lives was shaped by institutional forces and the

extent to which we, as a democratic society, can develop these forces for the better. It is tempting

2 "Introduction to Objectivism." Ayn Rand's Ideas. Accessed October 19, 2016. https://www.aynrand.org/ideas/overview.

3 Bellah, Robert N. The Good Society. New York: Knopf, 1991. 11.

to think technology or technical expertise can solve problems that we face today. To address

these challenges, Bellah gives an understanding of the way a person should comprehend these

problems, and that is to improve our capacity to think about our institutions significantly.

Therefore, if the Conservatives do not stand for capitalism, they stand for and are nothing; they

have no goal, no direction, no political principles, no social ideals, no intellectual values, no

leadership to offer anyone.

Ayn Rand has a reputation of teaching individuals to rely on no one but themselves.

Many people would have a philosophy of supreme self-reliance devoted to the pursuit of

supreme self-interest, and this opinion appears to be an idealized version of core American

ideals; freedom from tyranny, hard work and individualism. It gives many people today a value

of how people will live and how they used to live. “When people behave in ways that violate the

axioms of rational choice, they are not behaving foolishly. They are giving researchers a glimpse

of the prosocial tendencies that made it possible for our species to survive and thrive…then and

today.”4 Many people laugh at the fact that people want “fairness,” many corporate industries

will reply with “economics is not about fairness.” The community will strive better in a way that

people are willing to retaliate vehemently when others behave selfishly. In fact, people are

prepared to pay the penalty for an opportunity to punish individuals who appear to be breaking

implicit rules of fairness in economic transactions. Living in today’s society, not everything will

be fair for everyone. Hence why focusing solemnly on an individual’s goals and morals, they

start to enlighten themselves for the greater good.

Ayn Rand has made very critical statements that impact the real world today. Many

people do work hard to earn what they deserve. The matter of the fact is that in this capitalistic

4 “Column: This Is What Happens When You Take Ayn Rand Seriously.” PBS. Accessed October 19, 2016.

society, if people can afford it, then they can have it, whether it is property, money, and savings.

Some people can relate to that fact almost entirely, and personally, I am one of those people. My

family grew up in the poorest country in Europe. The way to live is by working hard and trusting

yourself that you are doing the right thing. That behavior stuck even when we came to America.

Ayn Rand believes that you have to work hard to achieve a life of purpose and productiveness,

you will pursue your happiness as your highest noble aim. That is all my family ever wanted was

happiness, and we found it by working hard. For example, those who work hard in school should

be able to get into a prestige college because their hard work paid off. If education were free,

there would be no objective or motive to work for their goal. The reality, reason, self-interest,

and capitalism are what this society needs to fix critical problems.

Many people who rise above others are the ones making a profit, the ones that understand

how to work with institutions and the economics of their society. Trading and profiting off of

something a person is good at is one way someone can benefit individualistically in an

institutionalized society. For instance, my family of four owns three businesses each. Profiting

off of what they make daily and understanding what the community wants. Those people who

know how to have self-reasoning and understanding how capitalism works will be better off than

most. She explains in her book, The Virtue of Selfishness, “In order to deal with reality

successfully - to pursue and achieve the values which his life requires - man needs self-esteem;

he needs to be confident of his efficacy and worth.”5 Rand specifies that to truly pursue and

achieve the values you have; you need self-esteem and confidence. It is one thing that every

society needs are motives. Individual motives and group motives can all drive a society to a

better place economically and psychologically.

5 Rand, Ayn, and Nathaniel Branden. The Virtue of Selfishness: A New Concept of Egoism. New York: Signet/ New American Library, 1970. 70.

From the critique of classical liberalism, sociologist James Stockinger writes the

following, “It is not at first with our own hands that we pick the acorns and apples from the

commonwealth of nature to nourish our own bodies. It is the hands of other people that supply

the needs of our bodies, both in infancy and beyond. For each of us lives in . . . it is the hands of

our people that lower us into the earth.” What can society learn from individualism is that the

whole world is a domino effect or in other words a chain reaction that involves every single

person in a community or the world. In this quote, everyone has a particular job that will

voluntarily interfere in a positive or negative way in a person’s life. Analyzing the quote deeper

clearly shows that each has their set of goals, morals, a job, and a set incentive. Everyone will

help one another so many times in their lives that people do not notice that someone’s individual

life, what they do on a daily basis, can change the way someone lives theirs. From Ayn Rand and

Robert Bellah, their philosophies both incorporate into society equally and can relate to the real

problems of society. Conservatism is a cultural and political tendency that sees the past as

importantly superior to the present, that respects tradition, and that is cautious about cultural

change. Tradition for many people is an important part of their lives and conservatives stand for

traditional morality. They think it has an emphasis on private initiative movements and

intellectualism. There is much that is right in the American tradition. America does stand for

individual freedom in its core ideas. America is the country of a self-made man. Much is true

about conservatism, too: its ethic of personal responsibility, for instance, and its respect for the

Constitution. Reason and the facts can only defend these values. Some points and the most

important aspects of pure happiness in an individual’s life is that sense of self-esteem and praise

for their work. Many people should reject the politics of “national greatness” and “national

goals” and embrace the American recognition of the importance of individual liberty. Ayn Rand

was always correct.