The Imperative of Education in Building Social Cohesion in the Society: How Education Underpins a Stable and Dynamic Society

By William Tim Monybuny, Juba, South Sudan

Abstract.

This article examines the imperative of education in building social cohesion in a society. The article looks at different scholarly perspectives on the role of education in building social cohesion in light of the existing theory and practice and most importantly illustrate how education underpins the building of a stable, dynamic, and coherent society. In a nutshell, the role of education is very critical in the development of human faculties in terms of making the right choices that determine the functionality of community and institutions in terms of social capital, trust, and tolerance which are key elements of harnessing stability in a society.  Thus, social capital, trust, and tolerance underpin individual, community, and institutional cohesion in society. 

1. Introduction

Thursday, April 21, 2022 (PW) — This article is a reflection on the imperative of education in building social cohesion in a society. From a personal perspective, education can be defined as the process of transmitting social, cultural, political, economic, religious, and moral heritage from one generation to the next through the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, morals, beliefs, and habits to augment personal development for the individual and common good.

 The article looks at different scholarly perspectives on the imperative of education in building social cohesion in light of the existing theory and practice and most importantly illustrate how education underpins the building of a stable, dynamic, and coherent society.

Korsgaard (1996) contends that human society is exclusively different from others in that human beings always think of ways how things could be made better, more perfect, and different, from the status quo. 

In human society there is no political and economic stability without social stability, concomitantly there is no social stability if citizens of a given society are less informed about the morals values, and norms that define their behavior. Henceforth, education is the key determinant of stable, dynamic, coherent, and meaningful human existence at a given time and space.

 From the moral philosophy perspective, morality is a concept that refers to making judgments, about how human beings ought to live their lives in society within the confined golden universal principles of doing good and avoiding evil.

 The morals depend on the values which act as the fulcrum of the human moral life because values give reasons and rationale to everyday life. For instance, values such as peace, harmony, honesty, humanity, and well-being are universally valid, and they appeal to humanity notwithstanding any context. Conversely, some values such as freedom, dignity, autonomy, gender equality, and democracy are entrenched in political cultures and societal orders (Korsgaard, 1996).

Having morals and values does not suffice, hence society should have norms for sanctioning the behavior of individuals in the society.  According to Brennan & Southwood( 2010) norms which are also referred to as standards are rules that sanction human behavior. Norms act as regulative mechanisms for comprehending human values. This implies that without norms humanity could not attain values.

 In that sense, it has to be underscored that in society norms provide unobjectionable grounds for self-assessment and self-correction. Consequently, norms constitute the social norms which are about treatment and preservation of orderliness in the behavior of individuals and a group of people in a given context.

Pettit, (1990) opines that the establishment of social norms suggests that there is conformity among the group members that they all agree to compliant with the orderliness and censure of conflicting from it. Logically speaking, if a  society has well-established morals, values, and norms, why is there constant conflict in society then! 

Weil (2019) points out that some social scientists argue that humans are innately aggressive, violent, and competitive, cooperating only for personal gain, while others believe that humans are innately compassionate, peaceful, and loving, acting aggressively and violently only in particular circumstances or when terrified.

In that sense, it has to be underscored that human being has two natures aggressive and peaceful. However, the author out that the essence of education is then to nurture, strengthen, and tame humans to a more peaceful nature. So, education is a process of acquiring and developing morals, values, and norms to ensure peaceful coexistence in society.

Having examined the nature of human nature of being aggressive and peaceful at birth, it is critical to examine further how society works and why the role of education is imperative.

 Emile Durkheim and Spencer suggested three popular theories which explain the same phenomena and a varied range of diverse social systems and problems as follows:

The interactionist Perspective also known as the symbolic interactionist perspective states that human behavior is profoundly inclined by definitions and symbolic meanings. In that sense, it is different people’s interaction with members of other communities that creates morals, values, and norms, which I refer to in this article as the rules of engagement.

 So, the way human beings relate in society is inclined by social interaction and is similarly inclined by the way others choose to label them. The way other subjectively classify others give them a sense of a new view of themselves.  This sort of classification could lead to the conflictual nature of human beings because humans react to their perceived definition of their circumstances, as opposed to what you might call an objective evaluation.

The functionalist perspective theory states that human behavior is inclined by the interconnected relationships between various systems within society. This is related to how individual behavior could influence the whole society. Consequently, human beings should be defined within the confine of the society in which individuals have to cooperate and work together with other members of the society to preserve society in a state of balance.

In that sense family values, education, knowledge, and culture play a vital role in transmitting values to the new cohort of generations over time. Within this perspective, all the various elements of society are regraded efficient if they support social stability.

Although functionalism illustrates a cooperative picture of society, the conflict perspective states that a society is comprised of collections of people with discrete interests. This theory emanates from Karl Marx, who viewed human society as enduring a sequence of diverse phases of economic growth.

The conflict theory is not restricted to ideas of class as a society could be defined in different ways such as along with religious, gender, or political spectrum. In each circumstance, the members of mentioned groups will tend to pursue what is in the interests of their group. And in each case, conflict theory explores which groups have power currently, and who is profiting from the existing social arrangements.

In this sense, the essence of social cohesion is fundamentally determined by the morals, values, and norms that determine the rules of engagement. Education should therefore enhance the transfer of morals, values, and norms defined by the society from one generation to the next generation in a coherent manner so that no one is left out of social, cultural, political, and economic arrangements in the long run.  

By and large, a child ought to be natured and nurtured right from birth to death to synthesize innate and environmental factors to understand how society operates in social, political, economic, judicial, religious, and moral spheres for the attainment of the personal and common good.

• Theoretical underpinning on the role of education in building a cohesive society. 

Education build social cohesion at three levels as follows as cited by Xavier. et al (2018)

2.1 Social cohesion at the individual level:  this is about the personal friendly interpersonal communication, task competence, extent of like-dislike, creativity, personal behavior,  sense of belonging, inclusion, personal active contribution, acknowledgment, and legitimacy in society. Freud (1921) observed that personal identification with the group focuses more on the motives of the individual to be part of a group. Similarly, Festinger et al, (1950) contend that social cohesion is about the personal reward to belonging and maintaining membership with a group generally on the quantity of personal reward.

2.2 Social cohesion at the community level:- This is about the common allegiances, shared moral support, social capital, strong social bonds, trust, social environment, the intersection of community relationship networks, pressures for conformism and caring, civic society, give-and-take allegiance, and solidarity, the strength of social relations, shared values, common goals, moral behavior and norms, values of rewards in groups, and process performance and goal attainment(Xavier. et al (2018)

2.3 Social cohesion at the institutional level:- this is about social organization, mitigating social conflict, life satisfaction, voting, social behavior, civic society, trust and multiculturalism, and reduction of inequalities and exclusion. Researchers such as Durkheim and Lockwood state that factors such as impartial law enforcement, civic society, and responsive democracy underline the importance of social contexts and different styles of governance in variables such as wealth, ethnicity, and gender.

In light of these frameworks OECD-CERI (2006), observes that the political discourses and educational policy advanced by the political government of the day are all about the development of long-term educational plans that are geared toward building a functioning and cohesive society.

The future of a country is shaped through education and the government of the day is expected to make massive investments in resources to entrench competencies such as morals, values, and norms among other cognitive and psychomotor knowledge and skills.

 Henceforth, the longer a society invests in the education of its citizens, the greater the likelihood of fostering strong and trusting relationships and taking decisions on matters that affect their lives.

 This linkage illustrates that there is no social cohesion in the society if citizens communities and institutions have no better grasp of fundamental principles that underpin cohesion because the principles define the basic rule of engagement in social, economic, political, religious, and moral milieus.

 Education as a process of facilitating learning in agreed forms brings forth a common understanding of the universal principles that define human values, norms, and morals. These principles provide the basis upon which one makes a judgment about the good and bad.

 There are different scholarly views about what social cohesion entails and why it is foundational in constructing the social, political, and economic stability in a society.

 Durkheim (1897) contend there are two sides of the coin to social cohesion firstly,  the absence of covert social conflicts such as any sort of conflict-related to wealth, ethnicity, race, and gender, and secondly the presence of strong social bonds such as civic society, responsive democracy, and impartial law enforcement.

Judith Maxwell(1996) states that social cohesion is the process that entails the building of shared values and people of interpretation, reducing disparities in wealth and income, and generally enabling people to have a sense that they are engaged in a common initiative, fronting shared challenges, and acknowledge the fact of being members of the human community.

Dick Stanley(2003) states that social cohesion is the inclination of members of society to collaborate to endure and flourish.

The OECD(2006) underscores that a cohesive society works toward the welfare of its entire members, fights segregation and relegation, generates a sense of belonging, enhances confidence, and offers its members the opportunity of rising progressively.

The World Bank(2018) describes social cohesion as the glue that binds society together, promoting harmony, a sense of community, and a degree of commitment to promoting the common good. Beyond the social relations that bridge ethnic and religious groups, vertical linkages in which state and market institutions interact with communities and peoples can further cement the cohesiveness of society if they are inclusive, transparent, and accountable.

According to the World Bank social cohesion infers a set of accepted norms and rules around inclusion and equity, social and general connection, and access to livelihoods and basic services.  The World Bank further highlights that the interplay between these vertical and horizontal bonds is a critical element of conflict management.

The Council of Europe(2011) defines social cohesion as a society’s capacity to ensure the well-being of all its members by lessening disparities and avoiding side-lining, managing differences, and divisions, and ensuring the means of attaining welfare for all. It is considered essential for attaining social justice, democratic security, and sustainable development.

 Search for Common Ground defines social cohesion as the glue that binds society together, essential for attaining peace, democracy, and development. This glue is made up of four key elements such as (1) social relationships, (2) connectedness, (3) orientation towards the common good, and (4) equality. These elements in turn require good governance, respect for human rights, and individual responsibility which is fundamental for stability in a society. 

In the pragmatic sense, social cohesion is not restful, but somewhat an attainable objective needing the dynamic and relentless obligation of all levels of society and is critical to the process of building a peaceful society and nation.

Therefore, social cohesion infers that societies should hold together through well-ordered and dynamic systems whereby its members ought to acquire certain qualities, attitudes, and dispositions essential to existing in harmony and developing behaviors that foster solidarity in the society.

The assumption underscores every individual member of the society should be enthusiastically involved in networks of associations that would enable them to be integrated into social groups that institute substantial resources of a society.

Knowing the principles of social cohesion is one thing but acquiring, developing, and applying them in daily life is another thing under normal circumstances.

 Therefore, the framework supports that social cohesion is acquired and developed when the beliefs and values are attained through education, shared by individuals, and thought to play a key role in social dynamism, and political and economic development.

Inglehart (1977, 1993), observes that the values adhered to by individuals in modern societies entail a whole range of attitudes toward social relations, family, inequalities, politics, religion, and work, among others that have been found to shape social cohesion.

Consequently, the parameter of social cohesion is defined by the social relationships which serve as the foundation of unity of social life, while self-confidence and trust in others and institutions are considered to be cardinal virtues.

Putnam (1993) contends that confidence and trust increase associations, civic-mindedness, and community life since they also foster social capital, which is generally defined as one of the key factors of economic development.

To demonstrate the aspect of social cohesion in society, this article illustrates the fundamentals of social cohesion(Putnam, 1993) as follows

Social capital entails the intensity of horizontal collaboration between players, the importance of community life, and the strength of ties of social cohesion.

According to World Values Surveys OECD (1999- 2002) and Inglehart R. et al (2004), the social capital of any given society could be assessed in terms of % of people claiming active membership of the cultural bonds,% of people claiming active membership of a political or union affiliation as a political party, trade union, ethnic groups just to highlight a few.

Trust entails a set of beliefs and attitudes attributed to individuals or institutions. According to World Values Surveys (1981-2004), the level of trust is assessed in society by the % of people who trusted most people versus those who never be too cautious when dealing with them and the % of people employing ‘substantial trust’ or ‘some trust’ in the key government institutions such as the army, the police, the justice system, the Parliament, the trade unions, and the administration.

Tolerance is a tendency of accepting other people’s opinions and preferences, even when they live in a way that you don’t agree with. It helps people to live together peacefully. Education is the one focus area that helps develop empathy and tolerance in people.

An education policy that cultivates empathy in children is critically needed in our society today because such a policy nurtures a strong sense of fairness and justice in children, ultimately leading to the development of a tolerant and harmonious society.

Therefore, tolerance should be positioned within the moral domain of our education undertaking and should be acknowledged as a moral virtue. Some philosophers have linked tolerance with respect, equality, and liberty.

3.0  The implication of the role of education in the building of a cohesive society.

By and large, the chief aim of education is to enlighten individuals within society, to prepare, to make them suitable through the acquisition and development of knowledge and skills that could be applied to earn living, integrate individuals into society, and teach them the morals, values and values, social norms. Precisely, the role of education is to socialize individuals to become well-grounded to keep society smooth and remain stable.

Conversely, social cohesion is the expression of that tradition of open-mindedness in all social, cultural, religious, political, and economic affairs that are the basis of peace and progress. Open-mindedness and clemency have always been and in all cultures of establishing principles that guide human conduct.

In a context such as South Sudan which is on the path of defining and shaping its destiny, investing in education to enhance social cohesion challenges is imperative.  It is the  sole responsibility of the stakeholders to respond to the challenges  to achieve the goals of a democratic state (Nisa Zebun Khan, 2016)

Education is very important because it provides individuals with knowledge and skills which enable them to become better citizens, get self-employment and show the difference between good and bad.

 Nyerere summarises the essence of well-grounded education in his educational philosophy with “Ujamaa” which means brotherhood that confines education for self-reliance. Self-reliance is depicted in economics, politics, and social cultures. A self-reliant person does not exploit other people and at the same time, they are not exploitable because he has been brought in the spirit of community that foster cohesion, love, and service.

  This should be the essence of education that our government needs to invest resources. Self-reliant education is a weapon for fighting dependency syndrome because it enables an individual to create self-employment. The self-reliant and empowered individual will have a true judgment on how society work, and thus cannot be used for cheap cost by any person in the society.

This is the trend that the third world such as South Sudan needs to create a stable society. Youth needs to be given alternative and technical education that will earn them a hands-on job in their settings, thus avoiding the tendency of migrating to town chasing a life in which they will end up in criminal activities. The SPLM slogan of taking the town to the people falls under this assumption. With the acquisition of knowledge and development of relevant skills youths who are the engineer of society would become productive.

 In this way the villages would subsequently turn into towns through the provision of schools, hospitals, and home-grown economic models, the building of roads, rural electrification, improvised agriculture model to supply established urban centers with food, just to mention a few!

 In that sense, education inculcates the importance of hard work and, at the same time, aids individuals’ growth and development to their full potential. Education enables humanity to shape a better society to live in by knowing and respecting rights, laws, and regulations, which are key for stability.

On the contrary, research has shown that education opens up one’s mind, improves consciousness, knowledge of rights, etc, and therefore promotes conflicts. For example, some communities believe that sending girls to schools creates better awareness of women’s rights hence schools are detrimental to those that believe that women are commodities ready to be exchanged for dowry hence sending girls to school counter-productive?  This school of thought such as  Boko Harum, Taliban believes that the education of women is against patriarchal, religious dictates of the status quo

A socially cohesive society works towards the well-being of all its members, fights segregation and relegation, creates a sense of belonging, promotes trust, and bids its members the opportunity for upward agility (Nisa Zebun Khan, 2016)

The sociologist Emile Durkheim opines that social cohesion is key because it is an ordering feature of a society. Easterly, et. al. (2006) further point out that social cohesion is the capacity of a society to ensure the well-being of all its members, abating discrepancies and circumventing relegation. In other words, social cohesion is the foundation of human existence and co-existence. Green, A. et.al. (2006) elaborate that social cohesion is universal, indivisible, and interdependent and is the principle by which we create the sacred home for human dignity.

In that sense, education and cohesion are regarded as the most influential players of ‘social capital” in our society( Green, A. et.al. (2001). Putnam, R. D. (2004) states that education is believed to act as a conduit for linking social capital to individuals. Vasiliki, K. (2011) observes education as a vital establishment that contributes to cohesion by socializing the new members of the society, providing them with knowledge and skills to facilitate their social participation.

(Berkeley, R. (2008) observes that social cohesion attempts to promote unity have often centered on young people, either because young people are perceived as part of the problem as well as part of the solution, or both. In effect, schools are often emphasized as key sites where the substantial potential for social cohesion could be enhanced and harnessed.

 However, with the advent of technology education also takes place online when facilities are available. For instance, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the mode of teaching and learning was shifted to remote mode. The degree of effectiveness left a lot to be desired particularly for countries like South Sudan which has limited technological infrastructure. 

 So, the essence of education is to create a cohesive society which could be identified through the following features as postulated by Ipsos-MORI (2007) as one where: (1) there is a common vision of social/economic progress,( 2)  all citizens share a sense of belonging founded on a common identity and resting on a wide-ranging sense of intelligibility (Laurence, J. and Heath, A. 2008), where diversity is understood but commonalities between communities are recognized too, (3) people from different backgrounds have comparable life opportunities (al( LGA, et al (2002), (4) strong, positive associations are developed between people from different backgrounds, in workplaces, schools, and neighborhoods, and (5) widespread knowledge of each citizen’s rights and responsibilities.

3. Conclusion.

With education, citizens attain a certain level of how individuals, communities, and institutions operate in harmony. In that sense, social cohesion is a central element of a peaceful, democratic, and prosperous nation as observed by the Research for Common Ground in that it creates stronger bonds within and across different groups and fosters greater trust in the individual, community, and institutions of government.

Social cohesion both in theory and practice underpins the government policy and civil society engagement where diverse groups share social and physical geographic space.

In that sense, individuals, communities, and institutions should invest resources in education and peacebuilding Education and Advocacy with a focus on three elements for gauging social cohesion such as (1) belonging and inclusion;( 2) respect and trust, and (3) participation( UNICEF)

Education is vitally important because it awakens the citizen’s consciousness in terms of individuals’ intimate interpersonal communication, task competence, level of preference, resourcefulness, individual behavior, quality of relationships, shared values, sense of belonging, inclusion, and personal contribution, acknowledgment, and legitimacy in society. This would subsequently inform the social, economic, and political awareness to strengthen the individual, community, and institutional cohesion to enhance active participation across the different spectrum of life to establish and maintain a functioning society in different ways:

1. On the social dimension, the education knowledge, skills, and attitude acquired and developed should enable a citizen to build a level of trust within the diverse  groups, members of the same ethnicity and other groups such as strangers, other ethnic, religious groups, build a level of engagement and volunteerism, and enhance social interface such as intermarriages to provide social cohesion that would lead to stability in a country
2.  On the cultural dimension, education should enable the citizen to tackle issues related to stereotyping of others, preconceptions, and prejudices about others, recognition of one’s identity group, cultural diversity, religions, ethnicities, the establishment of mechanisms for resolving conflicts between groups, just to mention a few.
3. On the economic dimension, education should enable a citizen to set social mobility where every person would ensure that his/her children would be better off than him or her in the future attained through economic satisfaction of living standards, developing attitudes towards the future, and build a level of access to basic services and livelihood, employment opportunities in terms of affordability and quality of service, empower a citizen to tackle economic inequality through the progress of development and economic opportunities.
4. On the political dimension the citizen should take holistic education so that they will be able to contribute to the political process, such as making independent political decisions devoid of transactional tendency, making informed choices on whom to vote for, being able to influence the government institutions in terms of basic services delivery, the justice system, police, and military, civil society, and non-state actors

References:

1. Berkeley, R. (2008). Right to Divide? Faith Schools and Community Cohesion. UK: Runnymede Trust
2. Brennan, M. B. G., Southwood, R. E (2010). Norms and values: The role of social norms as instruments of value realization. Baden-Baden: Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft.
3. Dick Stanley. (2003). Social Cohesion: The Research Perspective of the Federal Government’s Social Cohesion Research Network. The Canadian Journal of Sociology / Cahiers canadiens de sociology Vol. 28, No. 1, Special Issue on Social Cohesion in Canada
4. Durkheim, Emile. (1897). Le suicide: étude de sociologie. New York, NY: F. Alcan
5. Easterly, et. al. (2006): Social Cohesion, Institutions, and  Growth: Center for Global Development, 18(2), 103 – 120.  www. code. org.
6. ECD-CERI (2006) Measuring the Effects of Education on Health and Civic Engagement, (Proceeding of the Copenhagen Symposium).
7. Festinger, Leon, Kurt W. Back, and Stanley Schachter. 1950. Social Pressures in Informal Groups: A Study of Human Factors in Housing. Lincoln: Stanford University Press. 
8. Festinger, Leon, Kurt W. Back, and Stanley Schachter.(1950). Social Pressures in Informal Groups: A Study of Human Factors in Housing. Lincoln: Stanford University Press.
9. Freud, Sigmund. (1921). Massenpsychologie undIchAnalyse. Wien: Internationale Psychoanalytischer Verlag. 
10. Green, A. et.al. (2001): Education and Social Cohesion:  Recentering and Debate. Peabody Journal of Education, 76(3 – 4), 274–284
11. Green, A. et.al. (2006): Education, Equality and Social  Cohesion. A Comparative Analysis. Palgrave Macmillan  Publications UK. ISBN: 9781–4039–87976.
12. Herbert Spencer and Emile Durkheim on Sociological theory
13. http://www.integrationandcohesion.org.uk/ (accessed 28.9.16)
14. Inglehart, R. (1977) The Silent Revolution, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
15. Ipsos-MORI. (2007). Public attitudes towards integration and cohesion. Available online at:
16. Judith Maxwell (1996) on Social Cohesion
17. Korsgaard, C. M. (1996). The sources of normativity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
18. Laurence, J. and Heath, A. (2008). Predictors of Community Cohesion: Multi-level Modelling of the 2005 Citizenship Survey. London: Department of Communities and Local Government
19. LGA, Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Home Office, Commission for Racial Equality. (2002). Guidance on Community Cohesion. London: Local Government Association
20. Lockwood, David.(1999) “Civic Integration and Social Cohesion.” In Capitalism and Social Cohesion, edited by Ian Gough, and Gunnar Olofsson, 63–84. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
21. Nisa Zebun Khan(2016).Role of Education in Building Social Cohesion
22. Pettit, P. (1990). Virtus is normative: Rational choice perspectives. Ethics, 100(4), 725–755.
23. Putnam R. D. (2000).Bowling Alone. The Collapse and Revival of American Community, New York: Simon & Schuster.
24. Putnam R. D. (2007) “E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century – The 2006 Johan Skytte Lecture”, Scandinavian Political Studies, 30. 2, 137-174
25. Putnam R. D. with Leonardi R., Nenetti R. Y. (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
26. Putnam, R. D. (2004): Education, Diversity, Social Cohesion and Social Capital: Note for Discussion in Meeting of OECD Education Ministers, Raising the Quality of Learning for all, 18th – 19th March, Dublin.
27. Ruskin, John (1979): Quotes of John Ruskin on the Meaning of Education.  www.goal4success.com/educationquotes/index.thml.
28. Social Cohesion in the 21st century
29. The Council of Europe. ( 2011). Shared social responsibility: securing trust and sustainable social cohesion in a context of transition, Brussels: Report of the High-Level Task Force on
30. Weil Zoe( 2019). Are Human beings naturally peaceful or Violent?
31. World Bank. (2018). Social Cohesion and Forced Displacement Desk Review to inform Programming and Project Design
32. Xavier Fonseca, Stephan Lukosch and Frances Brazier.( 2018) .Social cohesion revisited: a new definition and how to characterize it.

About the author: Monybuny is a Ph.D. candidate in Education at UNICAF University. He has been working in South Sudan for the Government, International organizations, and UN agencies in the education in various capacities in the areas of strategic planning, policy, monitoring, research, and evaluation since 2006. He can be reached through his email address at monybuny.dengalek@gmail.com.

If you want to submit an opinion article, commentary, or news analysis, please email it to the editor: info@paanluelwel.com or paanluel2011@gmail.com. PaanLuel Wël Media (PW) website does reserve the right to edit or reject material before publication. Please include your full name, a short biography, email address, city, and the country you are writing from.

About Post Author