Questions on Society

    I wish there was a place to learn about society. If you want to learn about what it looks like from the top down, you don't have to look very far, but if you want to learn about what it looks like from the bottom up you have to look hard, and you still won't have a lot of good answers. I feel like a lot of our problems could be solved if we knew what causes people to put society's wants over their own and vice versa. I know the easy answer is that people are just following whatever people in charge tell them to do, but I have a feeling it isn't like that at all. I know that thinking as much as I do is rare, but I just don't believe that everyone is as willing to just do what everyone else tells them to without input. I understand wanting to make other people happy, it's built into everyone, but shutting off your brain entirely? 

    I know that most people value being part of a group more then anything else. I'd go so far as to argue that whether or not you're a part of society is mostly dependent on whether or not you can find a group to join. It's not about being a member of society, it's about being a member of a part of society. I know that a lot of people don't want to go against members of their group because the group has become a major part of their identity. But is everyone so devoted to their group they go along with what the leaders of that group say even if they disagree? What circumstances change how willing they are to disagree?  

    It goes deeper then that. I've read that people are inherently selfish, so why do so many charities exist and why do we value giving them money so much? If so many people are bigots, why do we think that bigotry is such a big problem? If we keep saying we want society to be less cruel, why do we vote against policies that would make it less so? Is it just because we're all evil deep down? Is it because we can't care about every issue that affects everyone around us, so we focus on the issues close to our hearts? Is the problem that society is making us evil, or are our actions poisoning society? Are we using society as a way to excuse our awful behavior, or are we going along with the direction society is pushing us because we think we'd make the wrong choices otherwise?