Who Shapes Society?

Who Shapes Society? I’ve spent the last several months reading things that most people don’t put together in the same pile. Sociology. Psychology. Socialism. Critical Theory. The Constitution. The administrative state. Religion. Education. At first glance, they don’t seem connected.

But I keep coming back to the same question: Who shapes society?

And perhaps more importantly: Who shapes the people who shape society? When most people hear the word sociology, they think of an academic subject. The study of society. The study of groups. The study of institutions. The study of social behavior. Nothing threatening about that. And to be fair, sociology isn’t inherently socialism. Not every sociologist is a socialist. Not every study of institutions is an attack on individuality. But I think many people miss the more interesting question. If we understand how people behave… how values spread… how norms are created… how identities form… what stops someone from using that knowledge to influence society? That’s not a conspiracy theory. That’s advertising. That’s politics. That’s religion. That’s education. That’s public relations. That’s social media. Everybody wants influence.

Some thinkers argued: Society shapes the individual. Institutions reproduce power. Religion reinforces social structures. Education transmits ideology. Language influences thought. These ideas became incredibly influential. Some people view them as tools for understanding humanity. Others see them as tools for reshaping humanity. That’s an important distinction.

Take schools.

Many people insist: “Schools are for learning.” And I understand that argument.

Schools should teach: reading, writing, mathematics, science, history.

But schools also teach: discipline, cooperation, citizenship, social expectations, acceptable behavior, and sometimes… values. Children don’t simply learn facts. They learn how to exist within a society. The question isn’t whether socialization occurs. It obviously does.

The question is: Who decides what children are socialized to believe? That question extends far beyond schools. Governments shape behavior. Corporations shape behavior. Religions shape behavior. Political movements shape behavior. Media shapes behavior. Social media shapes behavior. Everyone is competing for influence. Everyone. And then there is morality. I’ve become less convinced over time that values are entirely rational. History is filled with people who died for beliefs. Religious beliefs. Political beliefs. National identities. Moral causes. People have sacrificed their lives for ideas that could never be proven mathematically. Why? Because values don’t always obey reason. Sometimes values and rational thought don’t occupy the same space. People don’t merely believe ideas. They become those ideas. This is where sociology and psychology become both fascinating and dangerous. If people are not primarily rational… If identity matters more than facts… If values are stronger than logic… Then understanding how values form becomes an extraordinary source of power. Who shapes the stories people tell themselves? Who defines what is normal? What is moral? What is acceptable? What is forbidden?

This question led me toward government. The Constitution of the United States is remarkably short.

Yet today we have: The IRS. Social Security. Homeland Security. The Federal Reserve. Thousands of agencies. Millions of regulations. The Founders could not have imagined the modern world. Or perhaps they could. That’s a debate worth having.

Some people argue: Modern society is too complicated. Congress cannot legislate every detail. Administrative agencies are necessary.

Others argue: Congress has delegated powers it was never intended to give away. That unelected bureaucracies increasingly create rules carrying the force of law. That the administrative state has grown beyond constitutional limits. I don’t know if either side has all the answers. But I think the question matters. At what point does administration become legislation? At what point does governance become management? At what point do institutions begin serving themselves rather than the people they were created to serve?

And perhaps the most uncomfortable question of all: Can any institution remain neutral? Universities? Churches? Governments? Corporations? Media? Schools? Political parties?

History suggests: Probably not. Every institution develops values. Every institution protects itself. Every institution creates norms.

Every institution decides: What is desired behavior. And what is undesired behavior.

The struggle isn’t over whether society is being influenced. Of course it is.

The struggle is: Who gets to do the influencing? Who shapes culture? Who teaches morality? Who defines normal? Who writes the story? Because stories become values. Values become laws. Laws become institutions. Institutions shape society. And society… shapes us.

Which means the most important question may not be: Who rules?

But: Who taught us what ruling looks like in the first place?