On 26/01/2023 17:21, Richard Lung wrote: > > > Sorokin on liberty compared to keep values > > The masterpiece of the worlds most cited sociologist, Pitirim Sorokin, > Social and Cultural Dynamics views the span of recorded history as a > sacred and secular cultural cycle, he calls ideational and sensate. A > transitional period he calls idealistic. I refer to his 1941 > popularisation, The Crisis Of Our Age. > > Thus, Sorokin, on liberty, distinguishes sensate liberty and > ideational liberty. Both are described according to a simple ratio: > Sum of means divided by sum of wishes. If ones wishes do not exceed > ones means, this defines personal freedom. Consequently, a ratio of > one wish for one means defines liberty, at a threshold of unity. > > This liberty ratio compares to the ratio: one person one vote, which > is usually regarded as an equality principle. From the Sorokin > perspective, however, this universal suffrage is also a liberty > principle. The literal meaning, of the word, vote, is a wish. And what > Sorokin calls the means are the fulfilment of the wish in a count. > > Sensate liberty seeks to maximise the fulfilment of ones wishes by > maximising ones means. As long as the wishes do not out-number the > means, a person may still be considered free.According to Sorokin, > ideational liberty follows the opposite course of pursuing freedom. > Instead, it seeks to minimise ones wishes, so that one is free, with > few means. > > I would argue that representative democracy belongs to the compromise > idealistic culture, because representation is a compromise between > egoism and altruism. The sensate culture is egoist because it seeks > personal sensory enjoyment. The ideational culture is altruist for > godlike impartiality. Representation involves the sacrifice of > self-representation, by many voters, in order to be represented by > another. > > This transfered liberty of the representative may be given by another > simple ratio, the keep value, which is the quota (or elective > proportion of the total vote) divided by the sum of a candidates > votes. If the ratio is unity, the representative is just elected, > freely by the voters, to freely represent them. > > The keep value may be considered a transfered version of the Sorokin > liberty ratio, or a transfered liberty ratio. > > Representative democracy is an example of what Sorokin calls a culture > of contractual relations. Western statesmen sometimes uphold it, as > the rules-based order, in contrast to the rule of force. > > However, Sorokin thought that the contractual culture was no longer > viable, and would pretty well have to be rebuilt on a new more > ideational basis. It had achieved much, as the voluntary agreements of > a free people. But there was generally a bias, in those contracts, > such that they were not entirely free, in practise. And this has > gradually built up a resistance to their acceptance, till a > contractual culture is simply not enough. The reluctance of > non-Western society to align with Western foreign policy, because of > perceived hypocrisy, is only one of innumerable examples thru-out > society. Politics and economics, in general, were viewed by Sorokin, > as a rivalry between state bureaucracy and corporate bureaucracy, > over-riding personal freedom. > > A case in point is the world anarchy of election systems. > Anachronistic and dysfunctional voting methods, kept-on by safe-seat > politicians, the epitome of the sensate culture, give way to > demonstrations, strikes, riots and repression. > >  Regards, > > Richard Lung. > >