How would you create a society that imbues people with a sense of innate worth [ed title]

Great Debates
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In this thread

Trend: Men happier, women not so much. Reckon why?

The discussion about happiness and age seems to keep coming back in many people’s minds to the concept that people have a low sense of self worth.

As a society we’ve progressed on a variety of fronts, and many things that were considered luxuries or ideals in the past are now considered rights.

The right to political self determination (the right to vote in fair elections, to protest, to confront politicians) is not considered a luxury, but more of a right that comes from living in an advanced nation.

The right to health (in the form of accessible health care) is not considered a luxury by most nations. Even in the US the concept of health care is considered a right by a majority of the public.

The right to physical self determination (to choose your own vocation, to move around at will, to put whatever you want in your body, to learn whatever you want to learn) are generally accepted in advanced societies (minus the issue of illegal drugs).

The right to be treated with dignity in the form of the abolishment of torture, arbitrary detention and overt discrimination.

etc.

So why have no advances in the concept that people are entitled to innate self worth independent of external achievements ever come about? It seems that across national boundaries that various right like the ones listed in the universal declaration of human rights are expanding across the board nearly everywhere. However the concept that an individual has innate value and worth, and is worth more than the sum of their achievements (their social status, income, education, relationships, appearance, etc) or lack thereof has not.

How/why have we created a society where being able to vote is considered a right people will fight for, but having innate self worth which is independent of your external accomplishments (appearance, income, education, relationships) is not? Why is being physically beaten by authorities for committing crimes considered morally unacceptable, but mentally berating yourself for social faux paus is acceptable?

Why have many societies determined that a person always has a right to health care no matter their income or social status, but a right to respect themselves is something you have to earn by having the right career, income, appearance or relationships?

This isn’t really about gender (men suffer from low self worth too), however the original thread was focused more on women.

What can be done to change that? Should that be changed?

Or is this not really changeable?

The problem is a society of individuals with no innate self worth is not going to fight as hard to protect their other rights (the right to vote, to self determination, to live free of abuse, etc). And life will be more miserable in that society too.

Is there something different about having innate self respect and self worth? If so, what is it? Why do people feel they have an innate right to vote, not be tortured and to have access to health care and education but not a right to innate self respect and self worth?

Is there something different about this issue, or have we just ignored it?
Oh man, I can’t wait to see the replies to this one.

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First you’d have to make a really big blender…

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LOL. Its appropriate.

Main Entry: im·bibe

2 a : to receive into the mind and retain <imbibe moral principles> b : to assimilate or take into solution

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Er, no. Even according to that definition it would be the society receiving or assimilating the people into its “mind” or “solution” (if that made any sense).

I am pretty sure you meant “imbue.”

Other than that, you ask a good question, but I am afraid I do not have a good answer.

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Really? Because I thought society was heading in the opposite direction. I thought the trend was “everyone gets an A for effort” and “lets give everyone a turn to play”. I thought all kids were taught that they were special unique snowflakes.

No one can give you an innate sense of worth. You build it up over the years though setting and achieving goals and overcoming adversity. You can’t have an innate worth without any sort of accomplishment.

Think of it like this. One person gets all As in high school, is on 3 different varsity teams, does a stint in the Marines, goes to college and graduates with honors. Goes on to have a succesful career in whatever, raises a family and so on. Are you going to tell me he has the same innate worth as some pothead who fails out of high school and ends up living on his parents counch well into adulthood? In what sense does that second person have any worth at all?

IMHO that is one of the biggest problems in this country. The sene of entitlement people have where they expect to be treated as if they have some sort of innate worth without having to accomplish anything.

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Innate means “in-born”. So, you’re right that a person cannot have an innate quality presented to him, or installed in him.

OTOH, if by definition it’s there at birth, it also cannot be grown from scratch. A sense of self-worth can be nurtured or discouraged from without, but without it being there to begin with, there’s nothing for outside actors to work on.

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Aaannnd, I see that I’ve misread the subject at hand.

Thing is, everyone has innate worth. The subject might be better phrased as “How would you create a society that cultivates each individual’s perception of their innate worth in a manner that encourages cooperative, rather than anti-social, life choices?”

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I don’t see how self-worth necessarily translates to cooperative behavior. It’s valuing the worth of others that needs to be nurtured.

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Having a sense of innate worth is not the same as being happy. Persons with a sense of innate worth are often sad, as they feel the world is against them & does not recognize their worth.

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You probably should avoid building a society like the OP envisions, according to this article from Scientific American:

Exploding the Self-Esteem Myth

December 20, 2004

Boosting people’s sense of self-worth has become a national preoccupation. Yet surprisingly, researchshows that such efforts are of little value in fostering academic progress or preventing undesirable behavior

By Roy F. Baumeister, Jennifer D. Campbell, Joachim I. Krueger and Kathleen D. Vohs

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Everyone has the right to innate self worth. It’s just that a lot of people don’t have it.
Everyone has the right to vote, many people don’t excercise that right.

Also, the list of rights you listed are more or less physical, but it seems like you’re asking why the government can’t force everyone to have a certain state of mind.