Defining Individuals by Their Societal Expectations

The typical way to judge a person’s beliefs and place in society is comprised of asking what they do. What about instead of focusing on the person to determine this, we asked what this person’s assumptions and expectations out of society were? Assumptions and expectations are rather vague words, so they might be better understood as what a person views as a service or commodity in their life; a resource that guaranteed to be available for use when needed. For example, many Americans assume that electricity, running water, and gasoline will be available at all times. The result of assuming that these consumables are readily available is that the mind is able to focus on other matters and thereby provide without the burden of worrying about such things. Most of my life I’ve had a hard time understanding how people can commodify these things and result in extreme anguish when they are removed. I suppose I’m such a essentialist that I assume or expect very little. Anyways, if one can determine this about someone, the core beliefs and world views can be revealed. Gas, electricity, and running water are expectations of nearly every American. Other items, such as money, the internet, a filled refrigerator, a mowed lawn, and a quiet house, a serving spouse, keep to themselves neighbors, a slice of pie every night, etc, can more readily identify these qualities. In fact, for many, the context in which people find themselves could theoretically define them more than what they actually create in life. That is, that life could be defined and understood more by what they’ve surrounded themselves with and consumed than by what they’ve contributed.

That last statement isn’t meant to condemn those that consume more than contribute; only that certain kinds of contribution can only be given if their environment is sufficiently guaranteed. An engineer may need a large quantity of money in order to support a highly controlled environment in order so that he might focus on just his work. A governmental leader likewise may need an even greater amount of environmental control in order to have sufficient focus to analyze data to make proper governmental decisions (now I'm not saying that governmental expenditures are free of suspect, there are surely members who by corruption indulge). Without these, focus is taken away and that person can no longer give to society in those ways.

A natural understanding of this system is that some portion of individuals will contribute more than they consume. However, their contribution is likely to be from industrial labor and thereby do not need such a highly focused mind in order to guarantee the product they are to yield.