Cultural Dynamics in a Democratic Structure

Abstract

WE LrVE IN A WORLD of actual and potential unrest. In a world such as this the of human nature must be reconsidered. The motives of men must be reconsidered. Culture itself-the framework within which men move and have their being-must be reconsidered. We live in a world vastly more complex than any we have ever known. The preliterate world which was the world of our ancestors concerned itself with food, shelter, sex, and the general security of life. In the present-day world these are still unavoidably real. But, added to them, are motives often lust as compelling. The need for freedom, the need for education, the need for recreation, the need for creative expression, are today just as vital as those basic needs ever were. The ways in which the motives of human beings can be satisfied, as well as the things that make these satisfactions possible, are derived from the cultural setting of man, from his group life. Outside of culture there is a void. Within culture there is life. Hence our problem is to consider more fully what it is that gives us the means and the ends of our existence, and makes possible the life men want to live. In other words, our problem is-What is an adequate culture? When we think of an adequate culture, we think of civilization. Our first impulse is to point out to what extent we have succeeded, as a people, in replacing the physio-chemical pressures with cultural controls. Our ability to defy cold and rain and heat is shared by all cultures. But our defiance of space by skyscrapers, radios, and airplanes, our defiance of time by electric typography, and our conquest of pain and disease are impressive cultural achievements in a certain sense. Yet, in another sense, they are signs of but partial achievement so long as the cultures which have implemented the researches of science still have people tied to their dungeons: people unable to read or write, people at the mercy of the elements. Unless cultural progress in the realm of physical science is matched by equal progress in the field of social science, we cannot say that science gave us an adequate culture. By itself, science is not a sign of adequate culture. One of the tests of cultural adequacy is the diminution of the formal control aspect of culture. No group life is possible without social control.