Have you ever wondered why society expects us to behave in certain ways? For instance, why is it seen as proper for a young person to hold the door for the elderly, help those in need, or honor their parents? Why is it deemed unacceptable to lie, steal, cut in line, or commit marital infidelity?
The role these values and traditions play in our social fabric is intriguing and often underappreciated. Traditions may have unknown roots and understanding the motivation behind their emergence is challenging to even the best social scientists. So instead of postulating why they exist, it is a better idea to try to understand why they endure.
Many scholars discussed the social function of traditions and values. For instance, Friedrich Hayek argued that the transmission of our societal values and traditions from generation to generation was a necessary phenomenon for the functioning of a free society. Often, we dismiss these traditions as irrational customs or religious dogmas. However, as they form the foundation of our social fabric, they provide a framework that makes every human interaction peaceful and efficient. There are terrible ideas all around us. But over years of human existence, a competitive process shaped and finally changed our social fabric. Ideas that improve prosperity often find favor, being embraced, and passed on by society. Simply put, morality and customs endure since they serve our needs. While bad habits vanish, efficient ones remain.
Ideas, traditions, and values that changed over time led to the liberal experiment in the West. Freedom of religion, movement, and a robust legal system all slowly evolved from Medieval institutions. The liberal experiment has fostered an environment where countless ideas can be explored and implemented, as long as they don’t harm others. The freedom to choose and pursue ideas opened the West to a competitive process where, through trial and error, good ideas were refined and adopted. In contrast, cultures that restricted free thought stifled competition, allowing bad ideas to persist and making it difficult to cultivate better ones. We might be unsure of the precise origins of our values and traditions, but we are certain that they serve a purpose.
Let’s revisit the earlier questions and consider the social purposes of all those traditions. Strong family bonds increase the likelihood of success of family members, making traditions that discourage infidelity essential. Treating the elderly well creates incentives for hard work and a rewarding retirement. Honoring parents makes parenting more enjoyable, encouraging young people to have children. Honest conduct simplifies economic transactions, making values that discourage dishonesty vital for a market society. These values and traditions collectively underpin the success of the West. Freedom allows us to experiment with various ideas, keeping the successful ones and discarding the unsuccessful ones.
Freedom is the ultimate differentiation between successful and unsuccessful societies. However, recent challenges to freedom of speech and thinking impose a threat to the organic roots of our social fabric. For example, cancel culture is an intolerant phenomenon that disincentivizes free thinking and expression. Cancel culture does not arise in a vacuum; it is a result of a mentality that arises with Critical Theory. This social theory argues human institutions are not organic but constructed specifically with the intent to harm the weak. Power dynamics are at the core of this view.
There is little reason to believe that a Critical Theory framework can provide a true account for the origins of our traditions and values. However, it is undeniable that this theory has taken control of many higher education institutions and even some corporations. Today, the anti-competitive nature of this theory could disrupt the process that preserves valuable traditions. In an era of cancel culture, where many view traditions as tools of oppression, the competitive and organic process that allowed liberal society to succeed is at risk. If this disruption occurs, we may enter an era where a new normative force prevails, untouched by the competitive process, making the soil fertile for the proliferation of bad ideas.
So, what can we do about it? Well, we can pursue good ideas instead. We can give the children a good education at home, so they have a moral compass to guide them through the world. We can strive for virtue, remain skeptical of grand political schemes, and embrace an entrepreneurial mindset. In our daily lives, we should push ourselves to succeed both professionally and personally. But most importantly, we must live by our values and traditions, not just talk about them.
About this piece
Dr. Gabriel Benzecry is an Assistant Economics Professor and Bretzlaff Scholar at Northwood University. Dr. Benzecry believes that in an era when academic freedom is gradually diminishing, Northwood stands out as a haven for scholars who value independent inquiry and the exploration of subjects that coincide with current trends in acadamia. Readers can email Dr. Benzecry at . This essay is included in the September 2024 edition of When Free to Choose, Northwood’s signature publication promoting free enterprise. Click here to subscribe at no cost.
