Blindspot!
From Issue: 1002 [Read full issue]
Society and Community
A difference should be made between society which is an external group of individuals gathered on the basis of interest, and community which is an internal group of people brought together on the basis of the feeling of belonging. A society is based on material needs, on interests; a community is based on spiritual needs, on aspirations. In a society, people are anonymous members connected or divided by interests; in a community, people are brothers, connected by common thoughts, trust, and simply by a feeling that they are one. Society exists because it makes it easier to acquire benefits or to ensure our survival. A child cannot survive without other people's help, while adults cannot love well without associating with people - that being the source of a society in its external sense (the source of the social idea). We can conclude that man's aspiration to live in a society does not stem from his real being but from a necessity. Socialization is not looked for as such, but for the benefits that result from it. A society is ruled by the laws of the fittest, laws of subjection, exploitation, or, at its best, laws which share the interest. It is only a community that knows justice, mutual help, solidarity, and brotherhood. Many misunderstandings result from the unconscious confusion of these two terms.
Jesus talks about love among people and he is right. Hobbes talks about a war of all against all (or Marx about external exploitation) - and he is right too. While Jesus has in mind a community of people, Hobbes and Marx think of a society. Adam Smith discovered that an affinity for and impulse of revenge are forces that regulate relations among people, but an affinity for and an impulse for revenge are forces that exist in a community, not in a society.
Compiled From:
"Islam Between East and West" - Alija Ali Izetbegovic, pp. 170, 171