The term social responsibility may be pointed back its basic notion relating to the golden rule, or treating others like how you want to be treated. According to Wikipedia.com
Painting by E. Espina
Social responsibility in humans may have evolved from the altruistic behavior of our ancestors. Altruism is defined as the devotion to the welfare of others (Microsoft Encarta 2003). It is the selfless act of contributing towards the betterment of the whole species. Altruism may come against the notion of the individual’s struggle to achieve reproductive success, which proves to be egotistic. Altruism is practiced by different species from the smallest to the most gargantuan. Ants and bees are probably the best example of species working together without thinking of individual success. It seems that their whole lives are dedicated to the colony alone and not for themselves. Whales also work together to achieve communal goals. Humpback whales blow bubbles from underneath the sea to gather fish just beneath the surface. Then as a group, they swim up to the surface and eat schools of fish and other invertebraes trapped within the “bubble wall” (Microsoft Encarta 2003). However, altruistic behavior is not universal and there are varying degrees between different species as to how much they contribute to the society, just as some humans are not compelled to contribute for the betterment of others or one’s contribution is not the same as another’s. Looking at altruism as a precedent to social responsibility may be factually sensible, however, can also be an oversimplification. There must be something that has developed for humans to achieve the modern and complex sense of social responsibility and mutual obligation, and some claim that this may be through culture and language. Language is a unique characteristic of humans. The development of language may have increased the complexity but also greatly improved the effectivity of social coordination between humans. Laitman (1983 cited in Smillie 1996) writes: “Skull elements correlated with the structure of the upper respiratory system in early H. erectus fossils provide indications of the dropping of the larynx, typical for modern humans. If this view is correct, we might also suppose that over a period of two million years evolving paleolanguage played some significant role in increasing other dimensions of social coordination and in enhancing cooperative behavioral strategies”. Smillie further justifies his claim by saying that early humans may have not migrated to different locations around the globe if they didn’t have a complex system of communication. He writes, “The capacities of Homo Erectus to adapt to novel habitats and ecologies might well have been enhanced by cooperative activities informed by paleolanguage” (Smillie 1996). The selective advantage of group cooperation and cohesion made possible through language has increased human capability to travel or in general, do things that previously were not possible. In a bigger perspective, culture, which includes language, has contributed the most to the evolution of social responsibility in human societies. Through culture, civilizations have risen and developed divisions of labor among individuals. A.B. Schmookler (1995 p.18) writes: “The rise of agriculture made possible a more settled life with far larger populations living in the same territory under a single social organization. Since the labor of a few could now feed many, an extensive division of labor became possible”. With culture, he says human beings gained freedom to create their own way of life, which before civilization was only true in a very limited sense (1995 p.17). A sedentary way of living, which was made possible through horticulture and agriculture, gave rise to civilizations which has given humans an increased propensity to develop complex culture. The division of labor in civilizations has called for individuals to contribute to the society. Social responsibility then has evolved into something more than a give and take process. Through civilization, a more complex notion of social responsibility has evolved because of the moral obligation to contribute to the society, or otherwise face punishment. This is the view of Gintis et al. (2003) with regards to altruism in contemporary humans. They write: “Recent experimental research has revealed forms of human behavior involving interaction among unrelated individuals that have proven difficult to explain in terms of kin and reciprocal altruism. One such trait, strong reciprocity is a predisposition to cooperate with others and to punish those who violate the norms of cooperation, at personal cost, even when it is implausible to expect that these costs will be repaid.” They have used the term strong reciprocity which may be related to morality, which refers to “the human propensity to judge certain forms of behavior as good and deserving of admiration, encouragement, and reward, and to judge other forms of behavior as bad, not to be imitated, and worthy of punishment” (Irons, W. 1996). Sociability differs from social responsibility in such a way that the former is a need by different species to survive. Working as a group may help in facing various adversaries which includes predators and weather. Different animal herds in the savannah graze as a group to confuse lions and other predators. Seals and penguins gather with each other, lying or standing side by side to warm each other in the blistering cold polar weather. Sociability according to Petr Kropotkin (1914 p. 54) is the need of the animal to associate with its like. He writes (p.57): “Life in societies enables the feeblest insects, the feeblest birds, and the feeblest mammals to resist, or to protect themselves from, the most terrible birds and beasts of prey; it permits longevity; it enables the species to rear its progeny with the least waste of energy and to maintain its numbers albeit a very slow birth rate; it enables the gregarious animals to migrate in search of new abodes”. Kropotkin adds that sociability is the greatest advantage in the struggle for life. Social responsibility may be a complex form of altruism, influenced by different factors mostly relating to culture. Morality plays an important part in the sense of mutual obligation as it provides a guide line to individuals about what to do and how much of it has to be done as well as what not to do to conform to the standards of the society. The claims in the previous paragraphs imply that social responsibility and mutual obligation in human societies are dictated by morality. However, we must go back to the notion of altruism as inherent to most animal societies as the basis for the evolution of social responsibility in humans. Evidence is provided by a research showing that social responsibility is genetically related. It does not claim that it is uniquely a genetic trait but it does show that biology have played a part in mutual obligation and the psychology behind it, which can be pointed to the altruistic behavior of animals. Culture and language have greatly improved interpersonal relationships, cooperation and cohesion among individuals. The dynamic relationship between the rise of civilizations and the flourishing of culture has increased the complexity of social responsibility and the individual’s obligation to contribute to the society. References: Altruism, Microsoft® Encarta® Encyclopedia 2003. © 1993-2002 Microsoft Corporation. Gintis, H., Samuel, B., Boyd, R., and Fehr, E., (2003), Explaining Altruistic Behavior in Humans, Irons, W. (1996), In our own self image: The evolution of morality, deception and religion, Skeptic [Online], 4(2): 50ïƒ (12p), Available: EBSCOhost: Academic Search Premier, Item: AN 9610074901 [viewed on 8 August, 2005] Kropotkin, P. (1914), Mutual Aid: A factor of evolution, Extending Horizons Book, Boston, MA, p. 54, 57 Schmookler, A.B. (1995), The parable of the tribes: the problem of power in social evolution, State University of New York Press, c1995. Smillie, D. (1996), Human nature and evolution: Language, culture and race, Journal of Social and Evolutionary Systems [Online], 19 (2): 145ïƒ (12p), Available: EBSCOhost: Academic Search Premier, Item: AN 970801398 [viewed on 8 August, 2005] Social Contract Social Responsibility Other resources: Furr, L.A. (1997), Exploring Human Behavior and the Social Environment, Allyn & Bacon, MA Ruston, J.P. Study shows ’social responsibility’ and ’social glue’ is in the genes
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