Human Relations and Solidarity in the 21st Century: The Logic of Sameness and Difference

Will internationalization of heart and mind become a cultural current in the 21st century? Will the idea of the universality of mankind take root firmly in a socioculturally diverse world? This paper compares human relations in premodern and modern societies, and attempts a look at the future. Life in local communities and class stratification were the most notable features of premodern societies. On the one hand, the life of people everywhere revolved almost totally around the local community, and its boundaries were the boundaries of their minds. On the other, these societies were divided into classes, representing great differences in possessions, education, and life styles. The main factors determing their identities were group-belonging and other aspects of ascription. As a result, there was considerable social distance between the classes. A homogeneous feeling of community that existed in tribal societies now tends to be heterogeneous, reflecting class differences. While tribal societies were integrated on the principle of non-differentiation, the class societies of premodern times were hierarchically integrated. A common culture in both types of societies enhanced their integration. What are the characteristics of modern societies? A total revolution appears to have taken place with respect to human relations. The horizon of modern life transcends not only local communities but also national boundaries. Through expanding education, differentiation of work and private life, selection of information and selective participation in culture, individualization and massification of consciousness is affected at the same time. Through individualization a sense of interpersonal difference is enhanced. Through massification a sense of sameness is fostered among various people. As a result, the tendency to absolutize sameness and in-group identities, both of which are factors of discrimination, is being counteracted, while a sense of communality transcending local communities and in-groups has a chance to develop. Weakened restraint of local communities and in-groups enable people to share particular parts of culture. Modern societies consisting of several differentiated social domains are only functionally integrated. They are no longer culturally homogeneous. In this atmosphere, the idea of the universality of mankind will tend to grow, and, while socio-cultural differences are greater than ever, in-group and out-group mentalities that used to characterize people everywhere may gradually disappear