- Feb 5, 2002
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Too many Catholics are unable to distinguish the Kingdom of God from global technocracy.
Last month I noted that modern people are impressed by the power of technology, industrial organization, and the managerial state. The resulting emphasis on man’s power over things has led people to view the social order as something they can change as they wish. If we can put a man on the moon, people ask, why can’t we abolish war, poverty, and inequality?
The line of thought raises difficult questions. If we reconstruct society, who is the “we”? “Society” means all of us, who are mostly doing what we think good already. So the project in its usual form calls for a small independent group to mold the larger society in accordance with its own wishes, disregarding what people in general want.
That sounds like dictatorship by a revolutionary vanguard. Wouldn’t it be better to persuade people to change their habits and goals—if that seems beneficial to them—so that changes come more organically? Also, does experience really bear out the idea that something as complex as the network of human social relations can be remade any way someone wants? The effort seems especially likely to fail if it is based on misconceptions and involves force and fraud, as is very often the case.
Viewing the social order as an intentional construction has consequences. One is the idea of society as an actor that defines arbitrarily who people are. Whatever someone’s situation, it’s something we did to him. So people who own sleazy nightclubs aren’t marginal characters any more, they are “marginalized.” Women aren’t physically attractive to men, they are “sexualized.” And juvenile delinquents aren’t delinquent, they are “at risk,” “justice-involved,” or even “criminalized”—that is, defined arbitrarily as criminals.
Continued below.
Social justice as a religion
Last month I noted that modern people are impressed by the power of technology, industrial organization, and the managerial state. The resulting emphasis on man’s power over things has led people to view the social order as something they can change as they wish. If we can put a man on the moon, people ask, why can’t we abolish war, poverty, and inequality?
The line of thought raises difficult questions. If we reconstruct society, who is the “we”? “Society” means all of us, who are mostly doing what we think good already. So the project in its usual form calls for a small independent group to mold the larger society in accordance with its own wishes, disregarding what people in general want.
That sounds like dictatorship by a revolutionary vanguard. Wouldn’t it be better to persuade people to change their habits and goals—if that seems beneficial to them—so that changes come more organically? Also, does experience really bear out the idea that something as complex as the network of human social relations can be remade any way someone wants? The effort seems especially likely to fail if it is based on misconceptions and involves force and fraud, as is very often the case.
Viewing the social order as an intentional construction has consequences. One is the idea of society as an actor that defines arbitrarily who people are. Whatever someone’s situation, it’s something we did to him. So people who own sleazy nightclubs aren’t marginal characters any more, they are “marginalized.” Women aren’t physically attractive to men, they are “sexualized.” And juvenile delinquents aren’t delinquent, they are “at risk,” “justice-involved,” or even “criminalized”—that is, defined arbitrarily as criminals.
Continued below.
Social justice as a religion
