War and Social Structures
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Language is often an imprecise way of communicating, but it’s what we’ve got until we all become telepaths. In 1996, a scientist named Talcott Parsons wrote:
Science is intimately integrated with the whole social structure and cultural tradition. They mutually support one other—only in certain types of society can science flourish, and conversely, without a continuous and healthy development and application of science, such a society cannot function properly.
Parsons, a functionalist, argued that social practices had to be studied in terms of their function in maintaining society. If "Continuity" here is a continuous flow, and if human needs and desires are essentially the same regardless of time and space, the “continuity” in the writings of Sun Tzu and Carl von Clausewitz is based on their understanding of what humans desire and how they want to achieve it.
Substitute "war" in the Talcott quote and what do we have?
War is intimately integrated with the whole social structure and cultural tradition. They mutually support one other—only in certain types of society can war flourish, and conversely, without a continuous and healthy development and application of war, such a society cannot function properly.
Yuk, you say.
Well, yes, but let’s talk about how societies form. Oxford says it’s “the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.” Well, OK…so, people band together into some sense of order. For…what? Oxford also says, for example, “the community of people living in a particular country or region and having shared customs, laws, and organizations.” So…countries, religions, entire regions, even. And, of course, there’s “a specified section of a community.”
So, parts of entire countries or regions or even confessions of faith.
Just parts of these can be called “societies.” Then, our quote starts to make sense when we substitute “war” for “science.” But it isn’t right for all societies, but it’s just right for some. Examples include:
Russia, then and now. Russia’s biggest national holiday is 9 May: VE Day. Has been since 1945. We see their celebration of war being played out now in Ukraine. Before that, a series of small “operations” that broke into an all-out war since the Soviet Union broke up. And under the old USSR, Russia’s primary role was as cheerleader for the “liberation movements” that tore continents apart.
Japan before 1945. The “militants,” better known as samurai, lived by a very violent code that no one could abolish with a few decrees or by rearranging some borders. The samurai dominated the archipelago for eight centuries, imposing their moving target of a “code” in any way they saw fit, butchering anyone any different, like American sailors, who ventured into their domains. Civil wars wracked Japan all the while, with rice riots punctuating nearly every year. The 20th Century eruption was their last gasp.
Germany before 1945. A love of uniforms, regimentation, and pageantry precipitated Prussia/Brandenburg’s unification of Germany in the 19th Century. This same Prussia had been Europe’s doormat army for centuries, and developed a soldierly society that simply worshipped controlled violence as a matter of necessity/survival, hiring themselves out to any in Europe who needed a hard-core of disciplined soldiers.
Israel since 1947. This has been simply a matter of survival. Israel has fought so many major conflicts in its brief history that the Israel Defense Forces have become another branch of government, albeit controlled by the government. For decades, the missile alert sirens have been sounding nearly every day. Bad actors on all sides pledge to destroy the Israeli state. Even people in “allied” states chant for Israel’s destruction, including the streets of the US their most powerful “friend.”
Radical Islam. Not all Muslims are “militants” or “radical.” But enough are to control the tenor and pace of the narratives blared across the media of all kinds. Not every Muslim relishes violence, but enough do to alter the structure of Islamic society in ways that make it appear that most Muslims want the entire world to revert to the 8th Century, that a global caliphate takes the place of elections, of capitalism, of socialism, of communism. This caliphate would not tolerate dissent, nor women in public life, nor homosexuality. Deviate from their “norms” and you could get thrown off a roof. In other words, it supports a global conflict with anything not deemed “Islamic.”
There are scores of others.
The need for military action formed and shaped nearly every society known to man at one point or another. Ancient societies were hardly immune to the needs to support conflicts with neighbors over resources, ideology, and notions of “honor.” Even “love thy neighbor as thyself” Christians have gone to war, with blessings of their clergy, against “heathens” who didn’t believe the same way or for the same reasons. The scepter of Papal regalia is a symbol of the Pontiff’s authority…a form of a club.
As much as many of us hate to admit it, war shapes us.
We may not celebrate violence, organized or not, but it drives many of the social structures we have built to keep some semblance of order in our society. Our justice system, which seems to keep a lid on that might otherwise consume us, relies on violence. I’ve had this argument with many a lawyer.
What do you think is the most powerful influence in any courtroom?
The judge with his gavel? The books full of legal wisdom? Or, the attorneys with their arguments? None of those things would have any power at all if it were not for the bailiff/guard with a gun and manacles. The assurance of violence and incarceration keeps a lid on social disorder…or it tries to. The threat and control of violence are key to peaceful and orderly social structures.
The Fire Blitz: Burning Down Japan
The Fire Blitz disrupted Japan’s social structures in radical yet expected ways. Homelessness affected one in ten people in Japan by August 1945. People driven out of cities ended up either in the mountain wilderness of Japan or on farms, scrounging for food.
Those who stayed in the cities had to seek ways to survive among the charred ruins, not the least of which were ways to replace factory jobs when the factories no longer ran. Available from your favorite bookseller or from me if you want an autograph.
Coming Up…
Six Ways to Rewrite History I
Money and World War Two
And Finally…
On 4 May:
1945: German forces in the Netherlands and northwestern Europe, including Denmark, surrender to British forces. Though the German government did not give up for another three days, 4 May marked the certain end of any Allied attempts to fight their way to Berlin, which surrendered to the Soviets two days earlier.
1980: Josip Broz, known as Tito, dies in Ljubljana, Slovenia, at age 87. Unique among Cold War leaders, both East and West admired the committed communist Tito, who was a founder of the Non-Aligned movement. After his death, Yugoslavia went through several shocks before it broke up for good in 1992.
And many remember today as KENT STATE DAY, the day when Ohio National Guardsmen opened fire on a Vietnam War protest mob at Ohio’s Kent State University in 1970. The nation was shocked, the Guardsmen were acquitted, but the Neil Young song “Ohio” is the lasting legacy.