menshealth

Longing for common values
At least since the emergence of state-level societies at the beginning of the Bronze Age more than 5000 years ago, humans have been involved in politics. The word originates from the Greek polis, indicating a community with a certain level of complexity. In 2014, Wikipedia summarizes politics as 'organized control over a human community'. To my taste, this definition gives too much weight to top-down control (in 2024, the entry had been changed). Maybe a better definition would be: politics deal with social processes influencing the functioning of large human communities.
At the core of politics lies a fundamental dilemma of human nature. On the one hand, each member of a society has his/her own interests; on the other hand, these interests should not be in conflict with communal interests on a larger scale.* The successes of mankind result from highly efficient cooperation of large communities. No single human being would have been able to fly to the Moon or to build up our world-wide communication system. The human dilemma is to follow both impulses at the same time: the drive for personal successes and pleasures, and the drive for the advancement of the community someone feels connected to.
This permanent conflict keeps our societies running. It somehow provides the fuel for all small-scale and large-scale communicative processes. Of course this maintained tension is always a source of conflict and even aggression, but from an utilitarian point of view (i.e. trying to maximize happiness and to minimize suffering) the tension is necessary, even if it entails many dangers. The main purpose of politics is to foster the benefits of the tension, and at the same time to reduce the involved dangers.
The multitude of unavoidable conflicts in societies is usually channeled to a couple of political parties. Here, community members with common interests assemble and try to achieve their goals against the goals of conflicting parties. Some controversies between parties have old anthropological roots as e.g. the conflict between farmes and hunter/ gatherers, and the conflict between those at the top and those at the bottom of hierarchies. Societies will differ from each other by the different weights these particular conflicts have.
One conflict, however, will always be at the heart of all human societies: the conflict between self-interest and common interest. Actual human societies could be ranged on a scale, reaching from societies putting much weight on the integrity and power of each single individual, to other societies with more weight on communal aims and visions. Both behavioral concepts are laid down in our genes. No society can survive on the long run, if one of these two concepts is neglected. If a society moves to one or the other extreme of this spectrum, powerful forces will be unleashed tending to reestablish equilibrium.
In many societies, rituals have evolved to channel these forces. Since the end of the Second World War, western-type societies (as e.g. the Austrian) increasingly favor the rights of individuals. Nevertheless, these individuals still long for identification with common values and ideals. In particular, we still enjoy the feeling of unity with others, sharing the same values, but we no longer live to this feeling in reality. We rather adopt surrogate identities and stick to our soccer team; in the stadium, we scream out frenetically together with ten thousand comrades, and it feels fine.
In reality, western-type societies tend to overrate the importance if single individuals, more and more neglecting the unabated needs of the same individuals for identification with common values. It almost appears as if the only common value left IS the integrity of the individual, but such a value alone is poor compensation for the loss of a powerful feeling. Therefore in recent decades, as a reaction to this neglect, parties evolved with national, patriotic programs, often mobilizing against immigrants and minorities.
While these latter aggressions are dangerous and have to be discouraged, the adherence to and propagation of common values is the natural right of any political party. As outlined above, common values and aims are at the heart of human identity. Right-wing European parties are all too often exclusively seen as xenophobic and fascist. Many of them might simply be fuelled by the innocent longing for more common values. We should allow for the natural dynamics characterizing all healthy societies.
Both tendencies must be allowed to gather their followers. Successful human societies need both: happy individuals and happy communities.
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Society as a complex system
To continue: Aiming for common norms
*During a radio interview broadcasted in Austria on April 10, 2019 (Salzburger Nachtstudio), Francis Fukuyama saw a similar tension in societies, naming the competing players Egality and Freedom.