A social contract in turmoil
IN A two-page article in yesterday’s newspaper, author Tony Gallienne offered much food for thought about the ongoing development of ‘the social contract’.
What does society owe each of us, and what do we owe in return?
Over the past six decades or so, the stakes have been heightened on both counts. A largely cash-rich government has been keen to do more and more, while the times we live in have also directed that more people need protection or assistance, which comes at a cost.
Self-sufficiency has fallen out of fashion, while the idea of people bettering themselves has deteriorated to the point where there is an expectation on the state to provide, and our sense of entitlement is staggering.
But while our personal expectations of the social contract have changed, that contract too is changing, based as it is on a set of assumptions that are now rather dated – marital status, the role of the housewife, the school-leaving age, employment trends, the expected length of retirement, inheritance expectations – with many of these moving faster than we, or the government, can handle.
Our social contract with each other is ever-changing. The social contract with the government is in turmoil, needing to move faster than ever before, and facing the kind of pressures we’ve never previously known.