On The Necessity of Rebuilding Social Structure
While the plethora of problems besetting our modern world is fairly well understood, there is little discussion of the source of these problems, let alone actionable solutions for solving them. There are many who would point to corrupt politicians, greedy merchants, or self obsessed social activists, but the simple fact that people like this are allowed to operate is cause for reflection. How did society become so weak that evil like this has been allowed to thrive?
The answer can be found in the breakdown of the American social structure. We have effectively become little more than individual consumers floating through a world of economic convenience with little connection to our neighbors and sometimes even our immediate family. If we want to have any hope of building a better future for ourselves and future generations of Americans, it is essential that we rebuild the social structure necessary to work cohesively.
This article is meant to impart a comprehensive understanding of the value of social structure, how it fell apart, but most importantly, the common issues faced with rebuilding it and how those can be addressed. The reason for such an article is that while I have seen many people starting to realize the necessity of rebuilding social structure, they are prone to making common mistakes, such as trying to build too big too quickly, or trying to be too exclusive, which could easily be avoided if understood. I also wish to provide those working on the rebuilding of social structure with a common understanding that highlights all the necessary elements to facilitate the more nuanced conversations they will inevitably need to have in their own efforts.
Finally, if you find this article compelling, feel free to reach out to me on Substack or X as I am happy to connect with others who wish to be a part of the rebuilding of social structure and possibly make connections for them with others who are interested in similar solutions. Also, any support to my work through subscriptions and donations is also greatly appreciated as it gives me the ability to put out more work like this.
Social Structure and Its Collapse
How Social Structure Functions
Social structure can be most simply understood as an effective strategy for group collaboration around the shared interest of flourishing. Humans who worked collaboratively with each other were far more successful than those who didn’t and culture, society, and religion codified collaborative behaviors so they could be maintained.
What is important is that the value of social structure and how it functioned was not something that was consciously understood, nor did it really need to be. People might understand at some level that having a strong family and circle of friends and community members was important to their success, but they did so largely for immediate and obvious reasons or instinct. There are many ways in which social structure helped support a flourishing community and nation that were indirect and therefore invisible. As long as people maintained healthy social structure, they would continue to enjoy the invisible benefits with no need to understand them.
Take romantic relationships for example. In the modern world we think of romantic relationships as individual endeavors where a guy meets a girl, they hit it off, and slowly grow their relationship towards marriage and a family. But in healthy societies with strong social structure, romantic relationships were not only about the interest of the partners in each other, but also supported by the friends and family around them. Families and friends, either directly or indirectly support or oppose a relationship based on the reputations of the partner and their family, ultimately facilitating good pairing and dissuading bad ones. In a modern world without healthy social structure, dating is a much more difficult endeavor because we no longer benefit from the collective wisdom and support of the community when finding and building a relationship.
Hyper Capitalism and Its Consequences
The obvious question is if social structures were such a powerful positive force for human flourishing, why have they fallen apart in the world today. The simple answer is that we have been slowly trading away the long term and invisible benefits of healthy social structure for short term gain, largely in the form of economic prosperity and convenience.
Because people did not understand the role healthy social structure played in a flourishing society, when they had the choice between staying in the town they grew up in or moving to pursue an education and lucrative white collar career, they chose what had the most obvious and immediate upside. This worked at first because the older generations could stay local and continue to maintain the healthy social structure and any of the immediate functions social structure served that were lost could be replaced with economic alternatives.
If you didn’t have your own parents around to help with child raising, you could pay a babysitter or daycare. If you didn’t know anyone in your new community, you could go to the bar or local social hangout and find people with similar interests. With the advent of the internet, it is even easier to feel like part of a community even if it is largely superficial and could never provide the real world benefits a local community could.
Simply put, many of the healthy social structures have been slowly lost in the pursuit of monetary success and whatever functions those social structures served that were most acutely missed have been satisfied with inferior economic services. I have talked about in my article Refuting Techno-Transhumanism how artificial systems are always inferior to natural systems as there is always a trade off for whatever benefit is being optimized for, and we rarely appreciate what were are trading away until we are suffering the consequence for it and the same can be said of natural social systems and their replacement with economic alternatives.
Most concerning is that many of the invisible functions that natural social systems provided have been lost without notice. Take hospice care for example. It used to be that younger generations would take care of the older members of their family, but now most seniors opt to live in retirement communities or pay for hospice services. And while this solves the problem on its face, by no longer needing the younger generation for care later in life, older generations are not reliant and therefore have less incentive to ensure their children are successful enough to take care of them. Being able to pay for economic alternatives is exactly why the boomer generation seems so apathetic to the economic plights of the younger generation.
I think it is valuable to take the time to illustrate how detrimental replacing natural social structure with economic alternatives has been such that we both understand the necessity of rebuilding healthy social structure and that social structure is much more than just a feeling of belonging or the benefits of cooperative work. The many invisible functions of social structure are rarely appreciated, let alone understood, and if we are to be successful in rebuilding them, it is essential to understand how deeply necessary they are to a healthy society.
How Hyper Individualism Blinds Us
One of the primary reasons we are blind to the fallout from the destruction of healthy social structure is that we have been inundated from every angle of society to adopt the modern frame of Hyper Individualism. We have been taught to view the world as a single player game where the highest goals are personal progression and achievement. We focus on getting a good education, to then get a good job, to then make money, and finally to use that money to enjoy the benefits of our capitalist system. This is the answer you will get from Americans when asked what a good life looks like.
In the mind of the Hyper Individualist, all power is derived from the individual and there is even the delusion that any modern issue can be overcome with enough willpower and determination. I call this The John Wick fallacy, the belief that an individual can be just as powerful as a group as long as he is motivated enough, when in reality, this is a fantasy that allows us to accept the weakened state of the individual.
The Need for Conscientious Communitarianism
Real power is derived from cohesive groups, working together towards common goals. These groups operate best when they have not only shared purpose, but also strong trust born from shared experience and challenge. If we are to achieve the strength needed to reform this country such that it serves the American people, the only path to do so requires not only the rebuilding of community, but a new mindset where people conscientiously understand and appreciate the necessity of strong social structure.
This means waking people up to their unconscious perspective of Hyper Individualism and replacing it with Conscientious Communitarianism. This can can in many forms, but the reason I choose to go into such comprehensive detail on social structure in the first part of this article was to drive home how fundamental social structure is to reclaiming a healthy society, many of which are not immediately apparent, and that is not simply a matter of rebuilding social structure, but cultivating an active appreciation for it.
Rebuilding Social Structure
The second half of this article is meant to be a practical overview for those who are working to rebuild social structure, highlighting the common issues and my proposed solutions. As is often the case with my writing, this is not meant to be prescriptive as much as it is meant to highlight the meta problems and strategies for dealing with them.
Planning - The Common Issues
Only One Right Solution
The first hangup often encountered in the counter culture space is the perennial arguing of what is the correct solution to solve the problems before us. Unfortunately, this argument is mistakenly predicated on the assumption that there is only one correct solution. While there certainly might be solutions that are better than others, it will quickly become clear that the issues surrounding enacting solutions does not hinge on choosing “the correct” one.
Unnecessary Exclusivity
The other problem the counter culture community often has when approaching what to build is the assumption that whatever it is must be exclusive to anyone who is not on the same level of understanding. Basically, it is believed that anyone not aware of the problems in modern society to the same extent and onboard with the same brand of counter culture activity is at best a liability and at worst an enemy to whatever they are trying to build. However, denying yourself collaborators for unnecessary reasons only makes it harder to reach the critical mass necessary for successful change.
Failure to Launch
The final problem inherent to the never ending discussion of what to build is that it often serves as an excuse, consciously or not, for inaction. People do not want to make the effort unless they feel certain they have found the right solution and often, the right people to build that solution with. However, it should be immediately obvious that while choosing the wrong path can lead to failure, you guarantee failure if you do nothing.
Planning - The Solutions
Solve Across Multiple Dimensions
The first thing to realize is that the rebuilding of social structure is an effort that must exist across many dimensions of society. From white collar to blue collar work, across different geographic locations, and even domains such as education, religion, and medicine. In this way, there is no one correct answer of what the solution should be as there is need for many solutions. This is not to say that there aren’t solutions that are more fundamental or effective than others, but, as we will talk about, it is less important to rally everyone behind one solution than it is to get people working on the solution they see value in.
Master of Both Worlds
It is a common mistake of those who find themselves breaking from mainstream culture to see those who are still unaware of the problems of our time as undeserving of respect. However, we still rely on society for many essential things from food and shelter to medicine and employment. To cut ourselves off from society would be at worst a fatal mistake and at best a severe handicap. This does not mean everything you do must be universally inclusive, far from it. But it is my contention that the best solutions will not impose unnecessarily limitations. There are many people who will be helpful if not necessary to the rebuilding of healthy social structure who might not understand the problems or let alone the solutions to nearly the same degree as others. As such, any optimal solution requires being a master of both the parallel movement and the mainstream.
Action Over Theory
More important than landing on the perfect solution is taking action to put one’s proposed solutions into practice. Not only does inaction guarantee failure, but the possibility of landing on the correct solution from the start is realistically zero. Finding a workable solution will require trial and error and so it is far more important that people are trying to put their theories into practice instead of busying themselves with endless arguments online.
Additionally, action is by far the best indicator of someone’s true conviction and worth. There are endless numbers of people online talking about the problems and sometimes even solutions, but it is a rare few who put their proposed solutions into practice themselves.
Branding - Common Issues
Edgy Aesthetics
The most egregious mistake that people in the counter culture movement make is the adoption of edgy aesthetics. While I understand that it often stems from a desire to reclaim a sense of self worth and to take revenge upon the mainstream system by breaking taboos, it rarely if ever serves any real benefit. In fact, edgy aesthetics often end up making people a pariah of mainstream society and an easy target for their ideological enemies.
More importantly, if you wish your proposed solution to gain more momentum, you will need people with resources, whether that is money, expertise, or influence, and those people do not want to risk association with groups that could jeopardize their personal success. Adopting edgy aesthetics effectively dooms your efforts to never grow beyond extremely small and niche groups.
Intentionally Exclusive Jargon
Similar to the mistake of unnecessarily excluding from your proposed solution those who don’t see the world exactly as you do, talking about the problems and solutions in a way that inherently excludes people who could otherwise collaborate or support your efforts is unnecessarily counterproductive. Any real solution to rebuilding social structure is something that sooner or later, will be publicly visible and it is much better to adopt a way of talking about your solution in a way that is understandable and even agreeable.
Branding - Solutions
Focus on The Universal
Probably one of the most important points I will make in this entire article (and something that is a perennial thread through my content) is that what we are fundamentally striving for is universal. Family, community, and fraternity is something every human being wants because it is both inherently advantageous and meaningful.
This means that if you want to create a brand that is both appealing to the right people and impossible for your ideological enemies to attack, adopting the universal values of family, fraternity, and community should be the obvious best strategy. It is not only a smart and appealing approach to branding, but it is a completely honest and accurate representation of what this movement is fundamentally about.
Creating Something Uniquely American
The other point that should be considered is that what is forming right now in the American (and broadly Western) counter culture movement is its own unique thing and must be understood and represented as such. We might feel like we are dealing with problems that civilization has encountered before, and while that is probably true, these problems are manifesting in a unique way and will require unique solutions. Trying to adopt the trappings of past counter culture movements does not serve what the American counter culture movement if it is to have the freedom to become what is needed. It will be much more effective to cultivate a fresh aesthetic and brand, centered on the universality of family, fraternity, and community, that will appeal to those who can contribute to this cause.
Building - Common Issues
Over Ambitious
It is a common sentiment in the counter culture discussion that society is on the verge of collapse and that any solution will need to be drastic if it is to actually work. This leads to only considering solutions that are not only far too big, but far too rushed to be remotely practical. While it might sound compelling to start entire communities from scratch, independent of the corruptive influences of modern society, in practice, these efforts tend to be composed of people whose only interaction up to that point has been entirely online. And while they might be ideologically aligned, this is far from the only dimension necessary for success.
Overprioritization of Achievements
The second key mistake made when undertaking the effort to rebuild healthy social structure is to judge the success of the effort by the achievements. What good is the accomplishment of a project if the group who built it immediately falls apart afterwards, or burns so much trust in the process as to never want to work together again?
Building - Solutions
Practical Means Small, Local, and Long Term
While the grand solutions of independent and self-sufficient communities or decentralized network states are exciting, those undertaking these projects often completely overlook if not outright ignore the practicality of their goals and methods. Solutions are meaningless if they are not practical.
The more you rush to big solutions, the more you are setting yourself up for failure. The most practical approach is to start small, local, and think long term. Prove you can get a few guys together to go camping over a weekend. You will quickly realize that even getting a few local guys to agree on a weekend, come fully prepared, and not have some disagreement is a tall order. But once you do that, you will have a much better idea how to run larger events, who is really bought in, and what is reasonable to expect.
Additionally, understanding that any successful rebuilding of social structure is an effort that will most likely be measured in decades and generations allows projects not to feel obligated to rush and take the time to scale in a way that is practical.
Group Cohesion Over Achievement
It is essential to understand that the metric of success for a social structure is not what is achieved but the cohesion of the group itself, especially in the early stages. You can do relatively small projects and if they are building strong trust and buy-in between the group members, this is far more of a success than even achieving larger projects only to create friction and lose productive members to disagreement or burnout. And often when a group has achieved a certain level of trust and buy-in, the achievement will flow naturally and sustainably.
Trust Through Shared Experience
While it might be an important foundation for a group to have similar perspectives, goals, and ideologies, this is far from sufficient. When things get hard, how can you trust the other members in the group will sacrifice for you? And similarly, how can anyone know you are someone even worth sacrificing for?
You need trust and trust can only be built through shared experience, primarily experiences that require mutual sacrifice towards shared goals and each other. As I pointed out earlier, these sacrifices do not need to be large. Just showing up on time for an event, covering a round of drinks, or actually following up on a recommendation are little sacrifices that show you truly value the person or the group you are making them for. What is important is that people understand the importance of not trying to skip over the need to build trust or rushing to things that require more trust than can reasonably be expected.
Prioritizing Quality of Quantity
Much like valuing achievement over group cohesion, people often make the mistake of valuing the number of people in a group with little consideration to the quality of those people. And this mistake of valuing quantity over quality is not limited to people. There are many situations in which group chats might be very active, but little of actual quality is being said. This not only results in requiring a lot of work to find any important ideas or messages, but often dissuades others who might have something of value to contribute.
It is often best to remove lower quality people or limit lower quality conversation for more productive people and conversations to arise. Meaning that those in charge of social structures need to be ok with sacrificing quantity to maintain quality, as it is not an accurate representation of long term success.
Actionable Strategies
I want to conclude this article by highlighting the five core strategies you can put into practice immediately to start becoming a part of or even building your own social structures.
Find Fraternal Networks
The first place to start for anyone who is serious about becoming part of the parallel movement and the effort to rebuild healthy social structures is finding online fraternal networks to join. While this is not a sufficient solution, it is probably the strongest foundation upon which to build until you have a local fraternal network. This is not only about discussing ideas, but there is a lot to be said for the catharsis of having a group of guys you can relate with.
These online groups are often not hard to find. If you have found this article, you are probably aware of a ton of content creators and groups online who run group chats you can become a part of with little effort. I recommend focusing on the groups who are more or less following some of my earlier suggestions around planning, branding, and building and this will be most represented by what they are actually doing.
Join Local Volunteer Groups
The best way to start building social structures is look to the structures that already exist. The people who are part of these groups are demonstrating their belief in the value of the community by putting in their time and so you will immediately find people who are on the same wavelength when it comes to believing in and building healthy community.
You will also find that the people who are part of one volunteer group also tend to be active in other groups, run businesses, have strong families, and are competent and healthy individuals themselves.
Work Parties
One of the best strategies I have seen for building networks is work parties. The idea is to get a small group of guys together over a weekend to work together on a project. It can be anything from simply picking up trash at a local park to helping a friend build a chicken coop for their home. The idea is that small projects are a great way to filter as it requires people to show up and do work. Action revealing true belief.
They are also a great way to have conversations and build relationships. As I have pointed out before, the only real way to build trust is through shared challenge. Putting people in situations where they can demonstrate through their actions and their sacrifices they are truly worthy of trust. Work parties are a great way to do this with minimal risk. The ideal projects are small and it won’t be a big deal if people don’t show up or work hard, while also providing clear positive signal if they do.
Become “The Guy”
“The Guy” is an archetype we have all encountered before. He is the person in the community who everyone seems to know. He is always helpful, willing to lend a hand or connect you with someone who is well suited to solve your problem. It is not because he is the smartest or the most capable that he holds this position, but through his service.
As I have pointed out before, when people demonstrate responsibility through action, it is the natural response of healthy society to give that person more power with the hope he will use that power for further benefit of those around him. The goal of every person who reads this is to find ways to serve your community and aspire to be “The Guy”.
Meet Your Mutuals
If you are reading this, you are probably online to some degree. You probably have a social media account, listen to podcasts, and are part of a few group chats. And if you have that, it is surprisingly easy to connect with other good people like you online. All you have to do is reach out in the DMs, offer to jump on a call, and have a conversation. Once you get to know people, if anyone lives in your area, offer to grab coffee or a bite.
There are also increasingly more events popping up. Retreats, speaking events, or outdoor outings. Yes, there is always risk to meeting online people and you should always be smart about it, but the risk is more about genuine people being a little stupid and not malicious bad actors. And the benefits of knowing other people in your area you can talk to and network with far outstripe the risks.
