I have argued that freedom is the root enabler of association. But when we do not want to easily join and leave relationships or communities, equality becomes especially important, too.
I would argue that social equality has increased in terms of the language we use, but has decreased since 1960 in many important ways: we are more likely to have:
Parents and children:
- Helicopter parents
- More supervised time for children
- Less freedom for children to walk to school alone
- Parents managing children’s schedules – sometimes even after they go to college
At the workplace:
- More surveillance and micromanagement at work
- Weaker unions and easier firing
In school:
- More standardized testing
- Less unstructured time (reduced recess)
I argue that these trends have been driven by a general decline of economic equality in America. Children are subordinate to parents and teachers because we must prepare them for college. Workplace norms are also driven by inequality. However, it is also innately difficult to promote equality in these contexts, as our society is set up hierarchically.
It seems likely that voluntary associations, which (I have argued) declined due to the state’s failure to promote them after 1930-1960, would have promoted more economic equality, which in turn would have mitigated these concerns.
Voluntary associations can also create a sense of social equality by:
- Socializing members into shared conduct codes.
- Creating reputation systems
- Screening members (vetting)
- Setting norms and punishing bad behavior
I suggest that words and actions are more important than thoughts here. That is, given that humans have little control over their own thoughts, it’s less important whether we think of each other as equals. Many people think inconsistently, and oscillate between thinking highly or lowly of themselves and others – they’re just random neural firings. Social norms exist, first and foremost, to manage words and actions.
Thus, the hard skill of building egalitarian, power-sharing relationships is relevant to voluntary association.
Voluntary associations, once thick enough, can become the political force that pushes society toward egalitarian economic reforms. This, I would argue, is what happened with the progressive reforms of 1890-1960, leading to increasing economic equality rather than just social equality. People share information that guides them in supporting one policy or another.
June Carbone and Naomi Cahn have written that college-educated people have an easier time with marriage. I would argue that this is because colleges act as these socializing, screening, and norm-setting institutions in a time when such institutions are otherwise scarce. Once social clubs rise in a more collectivist era, college-educated people’s advantage can fade, as it did toward the 1950s.
I would describe American history, then, as divided into two:
1760-1960: A period of increasing social equality as well as increasing voluntary associations such as fraternal orders, benevolent societies, women’s clubs, professional and business associations, and labor unions. This resulted in policies such as a progressive income tax, the New Deal, and so on. A strong state then appeared, which reduced the need for those same voluntary associations.
1960s-2010s: Increasing individualism again, probably due especially to the backlash against racial and sexual equality, particularly Brown vs. Board (required school integration). This prevented the U.S. government from supporting unions, buying space for civic associations to meet, and so on, due to fears of being accused of racial favoritism.
Nexus State Theory 