Stories and Metanarratives - Society

"Those who tell the stories, rule the society."
                                                                       -Plato

Just to re-cap, the idea of stories plays a gigantic role in our society. By "stories", what I mean is actually the morals/lessons that form the meaning of these stories (can even be those found in literal stories like nursery rhymes or the Bible). The morals repeated time and time again become those that are reflected in society and are known as metanarratives. These form a mock state of "Being" with which we can live by. So something along the lines of how we should respect our elders, share, be ambitious, etc. As we explored earlier, the easiest way to control a society is by keeping the stories in your favour, which is really easy to do when you're the storyteller.

Read between the lines.

We were challenged earlier this month to find the stories that illustrate the world we live in. I'll admit we didn't get all that far with that line of thought. I think the reason why is because society's stories have, for the majority, become second nature to us, so it's hard to dissect something that your way of life is based on. You need an external perspective.

Recently we've been going through the past century with politics and corporations in relation to society and it's actually extremely surprising to see just how much the metanarratives have changed over time. One of the more obvious one was the shift from a "needs" to a "wants" society in the Roaring 20's. The moral changed from just getting by, to a society of obtaining luxury to ensure happiness.

Then there was also the Counter Culture Movement in the 60's (around the time of the Vietnam War), when the public (especially the youth), spoke out and were skeptical/paranoid of the government as well as other agencies of potential control. Looking at history in steps makes these changes in metanarratives much more obvious and you can almost see how we slowly became the world of today.

Ambition!

I'd like to take another stab at answering the question of what stories rule our society at present. Gender role stories aside, I believe the greatest story that our society holds is that we should be ambitious and contribute in some manner to society. I'm not saying everybody needs to be the CEO of a major company, but there is a definite push to be successful at whatever field you are interested in. More than that, there's a focus that it's better to be extremely good at one thing opposed to mediocre in several different areas.

Whatever happened to being well-versed in many things? The world has so much to offer it really does seem a shame to focus yourself solely on one or two aspects of it. When factoring in society however, this view is entirely logical. Without contributors, the economy would effectively crash, so it makes complete sense that this would be a story circulated throughout society. In addition, the best way to make contributions to your field, and thus society as a whole, is by focusing all your effort on it (rather than splitting one's focus). A scientist is more likely to prove string theory if he works on it constantly opposed to also being an expert fisherman.

In this light, society repeats this story through demonstrating material gains for the "successful" individuals, that members of society see. Fame, fortune, etc. We do not see whether or not this person is truly happy. Ambition for the sake of ambition and not personal pursuit is doomed for depression.

The stories told by those in power are ones told to control. Not necessarily at the level of slavery, but to reduce the potential for chaos and create docile masses. They will do this however they can regardless of the individual's needs (satisfy subconscious desires through products, create skepticism, etc.). In terms of ambition, contributing to society is definitely important in some form. Don't sacrifice your own happiness for it though because it's your life, and the world is too big and interesting for you to spend all your time in a cubicle. I find it's often our side pursuits that make us so fascinating.

Final thoughts. The idea of stories being told as a set of universal ideas for the society to hold are unavoidable. The encouraging fact I find however is that we've witnessed how things can change over time. Leaders like Barack Obama trumpet the ideas of change. They have yet to deliver *grumble* *grumble*, but I truly believe the potential is there to bring fresh ideas to the table. Hopefully one where the powers can hold less power over the masses without chaos ensuing, or even a society where the individual actually holds power over the political system/media rather than the other way around. Time will tell.

Never stop questioning.