Social Change: Does Society Use Repression To Create Change?

When it comes to how someone’s behaves in a certain society, there is the chance that their behaviour goes against what has been defined as acceptable. At times this could lead to someone ending up in prison and at other times, it could cause them to be labelled in some way.

And while ending up in prison can be a sign that someone has taken part in something that has harmed or could have harmed another, there is also the chance that they didn’t do anything inherently wrong. The only reason they have ended up there, is that what they went against the law’s of a given society.

One example of this would be when someone takes ‘illegal drugs’: on one side it can keep people safe, as drugs can be dangerous and yet, it also takes away peoples free will and their individual responsibility. Thereby keeping people in a childlike state and this state means they will need to be continually watched over by parent like figures.

And the fact they are illegal and shouldn’t be used means that they are more enticing to some people. If they were accepted, they are not going to have the same enigma. As well as this, through them being legal, there would be better education available.

Labelled

And when someone is labelled, it might not lead to them ending up in person, but what it could do is cause them to end up being ostracised. This might not cause too many problems for someone, but it could lead to different challenges; depending on what one was labelled for and who took offence.

For example, if someone was to be too emotionally expressive in public, they might be seen as unhinged or out of control. And this can relate to the expression of ‘negative’ and ‘positive’ emotions. If emotions were embraced and not rejected, there is the chance that expressing would be seen as normal and therefore acceptable.

Acceptance

So it can be easy for one to be on constant alert as to what is acceptable and what is not and to behave accordingly. And this is going to relate to what is classed as illegal and what could result in one being socially rejected in extreme cases.

Of course, it will be important for one to learn the laws and rules of the society that they live in to avoid doing things that are not acceptable unknowingly. However, one can end up placing so much of their attention on doing what is ‘right’, that they become disconnected from their own essence.

The Loss Of Individuality

Being an individual is then no longer what matters, what matters is fitting in. And while there will be certain things that one will need to abide by, there will be plenty of others things that need to be broken or at the very least challenged.

People are easier to control when they follow what other people do and have no sense of who they are. This works in a society’s favour and allows the rules and laws to be upheld, even though it might be necessary for change to occur.

Change

When there is the need for change to occur and this could be something that will actually enhance the majority of people’s lives, it is likely it will be based around getting people to change their behaviour.

It is not likely that deeper questions will be asked as to why people have been behaving as they have been. And this is understandable, as this would take too long and even if some people were asked, they might not have an answer or be willing to find out what the answer is.

Conditioning

So people will be conditioned to behave in others ways and this will be done through causing them to associate their old ways of behaving as being unacceptable and as what could lead to social isolation for instance.

Political correctness is one example of how people have come to associate certain behaviours and words as being unacceptable. This doesn’t mean that what caused the behaviour and words in the first place no longer exists though.

It just means that it is going to be kept under control, in most cases, through a mind that has been conditioned. So while it may look as though change has taken place, in many ways it is just an illusion.

Repression

Ones true feelings, thoughts and beliefs, the things that defined how they behaved and spoke to others, have just ended up being pushed out of their conscious awareness. And this can lead to what is known as reaction formation.

Here, one ends up behaving in ways that are the complete opposite to how they feel. So if a man feels hate towards women, he can end up coming across as extremely nice. As it is not acceptable for the man to show his true feelings, he ends up going to the other extreme.

On the outside it could appear as though change has taken place, but it is just one big cover up. One has simply become cut off from their true feelings and is now living in denial.

The Usual Approach

So the reason as to why a man feels hate towards women is then not looked at. And through being conditioned to believe that this feeling, as well as others, is unacceptable, one is not likely to look at why they feel as they do either.

This feeling of hate is there for a reason: it could stem from a man’s childhood and therefore need to be faced and released. Through this, a man may no longer have the need to hate women.

This feeling is not necessarily going to be seen as having a cause and how based on this cause, it can be normal that a man feels as he does.

Labels

What will usually happen is that the man will be labelled as being a misogynist and/or a sexist. And if his behaviour is looked at, without an understanding of the real cause and one that he is probably unaware of himself, then this is going to come across as the truth.

The same thing applies to many other isms that are around today. Looking deeper at why people see others as they do, is going to take longer, but the real answers will be found.

Awareness

How someone behaves may not be acceptable as it will harm others, but if one was to look at the situation or situations that caused them to act as they do and this may relate to what happened many years ago, then a different outlook may appear.

And when something is looked at differently, it can result in a new approach being utilised.