Traditional social structures and orders can disintegrate over time

Evidence

The dualisms inherent in social forms stem both from man’s ambivalent instinctual dispositions and from society’s need to have some ratio of discordant to harmonious tendencies in order to attain a determinate shape. Publicity and privacy, conformity and individuation, antagonism and solidarity, compliance and rebelliousness, freedom and constraint are some of the many specific sociological dualisms which Simmel finds compresent in social interaction and utilizes to analyze the structure of various social forms. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 85 (#complicates, via linked claim)

In a ritual definition, communication is linked to terms such as “sharing,” “participation,” “association,” “fellowship,” and “the possession of a common faith.” This definition exploits the ancient identity and common roots of the terms “commonness,” “communion,” “community,” and “communication.” A ritual view of communication is directed not toward the extension of messages in space but toward the maintenance of society in time; not the act of imparting information but the representation of shared beliefs. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 161 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim
• XREF: connects to: Traditional societies and structures can collapse under external pressures; Loss of central authority leads to widespread societal chaos; Collapse is multicausal and rarely abrupt — Collapse, environment, and society (+24 more)

Related

• Society is constituted by communication, not by similarity of customs. (similarity 0.83)
• Societies require a mix of discord and harmony to take determinate shape (similarity 0.79)
• Social relations crystallize into fixed external forms that cannot keep pace with inner life (similarity 0.79)
• Communication’s ritual view aims at maintaining society in time, not extending messages in space. (similarity 0.78)

Library Connections

• Traditional societies and structures can collapse under external pressures #expands (0.85)

Broader Connections

• Societies require a mix of discord and harmony to take determinate shape #complicates (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 85
• Loss of central authority leads to widespread societal chaos #qualifies (0.70)
• The ritual view of communication maintains society in time through shared beliefs #complicates (0.70) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 161
• Cultural meanings are unstable and shift with the social field #expands (0.60)