SOCIAL QUESTIONS. - "Social" is a term in common use, always employed to indicate what pertains to society. In the Middle Ages people spoke of the pactum sociale. When, however, one speaks of "s. q." or of "social sciences," its meaning is habitually restricted.
I. EVOLUTION OF THE TERMS
1. The adjective "social" and related terms
According to etymology, "social" is equivalent to "political," the one deriving from Latin, the other from Greek; and until the 18th century everything that referred to society received the appellation "political." For this reason, when economics began to be treated as a science, it was called political economy. In reality the adjective "political" has taken on a particular meaning that differentiates it as much from the term "social" as from the term "economic," and a clear tendency is now noticeable to apply the term "political" exclusively to questions concerning the government of the community; when, on the other hand, reference is made to the common life of the members of the community, the term "social" is used. From this there also arises the usual distinction between political democracy and social democracy: the former is a regime in which the whole people participates in power; the latter is an egalitarian society, and its result is a classless society, without any prejudice to the form of power. The ancient Ottoman Empire, for example, was almost a classless society, without constituting a political democracy at all.
The term "social" is then opposed in the first place to "economic," although the economic element also falls under the term "social" taken in a broad sense. According to the common meaning of the term, the adjective "economic" is used to indicate the material needs of men living in collectivities. But material and spiritual needs are closely intermingled; from the notion of material need, economics thus passes to that of "value"; an object has value when men have an interest in possessing it and are disposed to give, in proportion, material goods or goods of another kind in order to have it; thus, for example, if men want the cinema or the games of the circus or monasteries of contemplative life, such objects, so disparate among themselves, will become values; they will enter into the cycle of exchanges and will fall under the dominion of economics. Economics thus tends to occupy itself with the whole of social life, and the line of demarcation between the economic element and the social element is sometimes difficult. The distinction arises from the angle of vision, which for the social sciences is broader than that of economics, inasmuch as they occupy themselves, in general terms, with all the problems that refer to the organization of society. Nevertheless, the opposition between the social, political and economic aspects tends to limit the social one: for this reason it is quite difficult to propose definitions, since some define social questions as political and economic questions concerning the social classes. In effect, the question of the classes or of equality has had a not indifferent importance in the development of social questions; but, as will be seen, it is not possible to restrict them to this single aspect.
2. The term social questions
The adjective "social" is linked to a not small number of substitutes; thus one speaks not only of social questions, but of social theories, of social doctrine, of social movements, of social action; it is therefore useful to determine the meaning of each of these expressions. A social doctrine is a system that contains a complex of principles directed toward giving a determinate organization to society: in this sense one speaks, for example, of the social doctrine of the Church or of socialist doctrine. The expression social theory is used in approximately the same sense; but it implies less certainty and is applied to more limited fields. It is better to speak of a history of social theories rather than of a history of social doctrines.
Social questions have an immediately practical character. They are questions that arose in a period entangled with concrete difficulties, very often amid abuses or injustices. Social questions arise in relation to the well-being of citizens or of a part of them, for causes of a political and economic character; but, considered in themselves, they tend to determine the value of institutions that allow men to attain the greatest possible well-being. For example, the social question of property does not consist in knowing whether private property guarantees a greater yield to the means of production, but rather whether it guarantees more effectively the independence, the dignity and the well-being of man. Once again, these are different points of view. Social questions differ from country to country, and every day new ones spring up.
Social movements are organizations of men with the precise aim of resolving social questions. They differ enormously from political movements, which tend to change the form of the State or to seize hold of it. It is true that at a given moment social movements, such as workers' or family movements, may deem it necessary to exert pressure on the State or even to claim a political reform, for example, universal suffrage or family suffrage, in order to attain their objectives more easily; but, in themselves, this political aspect constitutes nothing but an accidental episode of social movements, taken in the sense set out above.
Socialism, on the other hand, ties the social movement to the State and wants the State as the principal, if not the sole, agent of social reform. In socialism, therefore, the social movement is in the first place political. As the first objective of the communists, on the other hand, there appears that of seizing power in order to impose by authority the social reforms they deem necessary.
Social action, finally, tends toward social reform, and is characterized by the influence it exerts on institutions and by its structure, which is of a collective nature; it is therefore opposed to individual action, which tends to do good to a person without concerning itself with the reform of society. Almsgiving, for example, by which aid is brought to the poor without thereby influencing institutions—even if precisely such institutions are the total or partial cause of the need in which the poor find themselves—is a fact of an individual nature. The action, on the other hand, by which an attempt is made to introduce a system of insurance against accidents at work falls within social action.
II. SCOPE OF SOCIAL QUESTIONS
1. Agents of the contemporary world that have influenced social movements
Although there has always been a certain interest in social problems, the social agitation of the 19th century appears as a completely new phenomenon, and this is undoubtedly dependent on two singular aspects of the social life of the time.
In the first place, the parliamentary regime opens up a new mentality: that of making citizens participate directly in public life. The parliamentary regime, even if not universal and realized in very different ways, nevertheless spreads throughout the world the idea that all citizens must take an interest in the conditions of collective life, and with this, in all nations, groups or movements come to be formed with the aim of carrying out reforms. This yearning for social reform even comes to engage the totalitarian governments that developed in the 20th century. These governments differ profoundly, in their social concerns, from the old governments. The spirit of social reform is, moreover, linked to the democratic spirit. The privileged classes are always conservative and remain even today attached to the idea that social reforms are impossible or harmful, rather than useful. In countries where the old conservative classes still have a monopoly on public affairs, the social questions are agitated above all by foreigners. The development of the social questions follows immediately upon the general development of contemporary civilization, which extends into every field. Since the end of the 18th century the world has been in evolution. At one time, the social ideal was an ideal of stability, both in technical life and in customs, institutions, and family and social habits. In the contemporary world the continuous changes that succeed one another in all fields have as a consequence that of accustoming the individual to such changes and of weakening in him the systematic opposition proper to the conservative idea. On the other hand, the extension of civilization leads one to believe that progress is possible, indeed that any progress is possible. But if better conditions of life can be created for the community, the duty arises to work for them. Progress or social reform thus becomes a fundamental obligation of men united in society, and matures in the tormented anxiety to reject the social conditions that bear painfully on certain classes, and in the confidence of being able to remedy, through social organization, all ills.
2. Origin of the social question
People often speak of the social question as if it were reduced to only one: the workers' question. In reality the social questions are numerous, but the workers' question was the first to be agitated with great revolutionary apparatus, so that social movements are almost all workers' movements.
It refers not so much to the fact that the condition of workers is always worse than that of the other classes, for example, of peasants, but rather to the fact that the industrial revolution of the beginning of the 19th century rapidly transformed, worsening them, the conditions of the working class, and that, moreover, the first industrialized countries were also the first countries to establish the parliamentary regime. Such countries with an industrial and parliamentary structure were the very ones that were then at the head of the intellectual movement in the world: from them radiated the new ideas, spread by writers of international renown; they, finally, dominated the world politically and in the 19th century constituted the colonial Empires. This complex of reasons explains why the workers' question presented itself as the social question par excellence.
Wherever large-scale industry develops, the same workers' crisis arises, with inadequate wages, with human agglomerations in unhealthy neighborhoods, etc. As soon as a region industrializes, the workers' question is therefore boldly agitated, while the agrarian question, for example, is an old question, reproposed several times over the course of the centuries. This explains the apparent paradox by which in China, where workers employed in industry constitute perhaps 1% of the population, the social question seems to be identified with the workers' question. The same may be said of the countries of South America, in which industrialization is little developed. In Italy, the social question is first of all a workers' question in the north, an agrarian one in the south.
3. Evolution of the social question
The workers' question is therefore the social question raised first. Before the misery and the uncertain future of the workers, the necessity was seen of assuring them better conditions of life. The effort was directed at increasing wages, reducing the duration of work, eliminating certain abuses, such as the work of children and women, etc. To realize all this, it was necessary to claim certain institutional reforms, such as the right of trade unions and universal suffrage. Then, once some progress had been made in the more advanced countries, thought was given to the security of the workers, and thus the questions arose regarding social insurance, provisions against accidents of professional life, insurance against unemployment. At present the third stage, so to speak, of the claims is making headway; that is, the moral conditions of the life of the workers, which demand reforms capable of raising their dignity. From this tendency sprang the systems for interesting the worker in the development of the firm and bringing him into its management. The various forms of works councils and co-management that are being devised aim, beyond a material improvement of the working class, at the raising of its moral prestige.
If in the workers' field this evolution reaches its highest expression, at the same time it has as its result the extension of the social question to other problems very far removed from the workers' question.
4. Diversity of the social question
In many countries the agrarian question, as has been mentioned, is more serious than the workers' one and springs from the misery of the agricultural class. It embraces many particular questions that have peculiar characteristics according to the countries and is connected to most of the other social questions. Since the population of the whole world, even at the present day, is predominantly devoted to agriculture, agrarian reform often comes to coincide with the solution of other questions, indeed its solution presupposes other questions. For this reason, one of the causes of the misery of the workers is due to the misery of the rural people, who feel driven to seek their means of subsistence in the cities, subjecting themselves to the most burdensome conditions. This would not happen if they found less uncomfortable conditions in the countryside. On the other hand, the increase of population that occurs in the countryside makes the migratory phenomenon necessary not only toward the city, but often to foreign countries. And thus a new question of an international order arises, that of emigration. The international social questions have so far been resolved even worse than the social question within individual nations.
Little by little, during the 20th century, the idea then develops of a general organization of society that makes possible for every man his full development. To realize the numerous aspects into which this generic formula can be translated, it is enough to look at titles I and II of the Italian Constitution, which is undoubtedly, both because of the time in which it was issued and because of the sagacity of those who attended to drafting it, the most representative of the present era.
The Constitution proclaims (arts. 23-25) the right of the family and the duty of the State to assure the family the conditions necessary for its formation, its protection and its development. The State must, therefore, take the necessary measures to give everyone the possibility of contracting marriage, of raising children, even if numerous, and of being able to educate them.
It proclaims the right to medical care for all citizens, as well as the right of all children to have access to every level of education "even if they lack financial means" (art. 28). All this, as one immediately sees, goes far beyond the workers' question.
Other social questions are peculiar to other countries. Such is the case, for example, of the Negro question in the United States. In any nation in which several races or nationalities come to find themselves together without amalgamating, their relations give rise to social questions. Likewise, social questions arise in relation to the colonies, with greater or lesser importance according to the character of the dominant people.
5. Profound unity of the social questions
After a rapid examination of the social questions, one comes to the conclusion that they are all bound to the idea of equality among men. Yet the idea of equality is full of equivocations, as are almost all the notions dealt with in social philosophy. Rightly understood, the notion of equality also includes the just inequalities that result from the fact that the same rule, or measure of equality, cannot be applied to every person indiscriminately.
In any case, a social question arises when some members of the community find themselves, through no fault of their own, unable to achieve a full human development. At the beginning of the contemporary age, all attention converged on certain enormous injustices existing above all in the field of labor. Gradually, however, as society underwent the influence of all the transformations directed at creating a more perfect social order, there came about the conception of the duty incumbent upon the community, and upon the State that represents it, to set up social life in such a way that all citizens find in ordinary life the means to achieve their full development. This conception is the same as that of the medieval thinkers, when they taught that the whole body of goods has been placed by God at the disposal of the whole body of men, above all in order to make possible a perfect common life. For this reason, when it is said that the State has the duty to see to it that all children receive a minimum of instruction and that all those capable of undertaking higher studies are enabled to do so, a right is affirmed that is not restricted to the minimum of life. No differently, the old liberal conception, according to which everyone must be recognized as having the right to marry and to educate his children as he wishes, is replaced by the new conception according to which the State must intervene to make that right effective, with appropriate measures so that all citizens are materially able to found a household and to educate their children. Moreover, so that they may be free to have all the children they desire, it is fitting to offer them the means: something that can come about only through social organization, that is, through specific institutions.
The examples adduced concerning the family and education, of which no one would ever have thought a hundred years ago, clearly show that the social questions have widened their range. And the questions of the family and of education have not been limited to the working class or the agricultural class alone, but refer to the whole nation. Nevertheless the workers' or agrarian questions always remain the field in which the social question is most alive and, in most cases, the field in which the greatest difficulties and the most urgent problems are stirred up. It must be added that the various countries of the world are, in social matters, at a very different degree of development. In some, such as France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, the agrarian question does not exist; in others, on the other hand, such as southern Italy and Spain, the agrarian question is deeply felt. In Western Europe, the workers' question has undergone the evolution of which we have spoken and, relatively to the misery of the workers, the most serious question is without doubt that of the lack of work, whose remedy is connected to a complex of questions, and particularly to that of emigration. In South America, in Asia, in Africa, quite different situations are found; alongside countries with a highly advanced social legislation, one sees countries that are barely at the beginnings of social organization, immersed in those abuses that were visible in Europe a century ago.
Lastly, it must be said that the social questions take on different aspects in the new nations, which, strong in the experience of the more evolved countries, can often traverse the various stages of social evolution more rapidly. These nations, if they have a highly developed organization in certain sectors, in others are entirely lacking in it: alongside the most modern cities, backward countrysides stretch out; alongside districts rich in every modern facility, districts lacking everything line up.
Bibliography3 works
Giacomo Leclercq