The Role of Human Rights in Transformation of Social Capital

2.3 The role of equality in construction of the social capital

A. de Tocqueville advanced the idea that equality of conditions (йgalitй des conditions) is dangerous for the social unity. This is partially true (see above 1.3), but considering this question thoroughly we can only partially agree with such notion due to the fact that forms of social capital that could be undermined by this humanistic value are based on a contradiction of the very concept of human rights. Equality has destructive effects mostly for traditional social capital institutions, as well as for communitarian forms of social capital, whereas it is beneficial for wide, national or universal forms of social capital. Indeed, social capital forms and institutions that are endangered by equality are created within communities (racial, gender, sexual orientation) or traditional social capital institutions (family, kin), where it is based on inequality or forced submission - i.e. values contradicting the very idea of human rights - or where it is a form of reaction against inequality (social capital within communities), whereas it is mainly beneficial for a broad, national scale social capital. Now that we establish that equality undermines only the traditional - those that contravene the very idea of human rights - forms of social capital, as well as such negative forms of social capital established mostly as a reaction to inequality, we can admit that the effects of equality on social capital can only be positive if considered on a broad, national or universal level.

Although equality is universal in its positive effects for national social capital, those effects were different throughout history.

On the first stage of historical development of modern human rights, equality was conceived mostly as simple equality of rights of citizens. This concept of equality was explained as a response against the privileges of some strata of the population and especially against the privileges of the clergy and nobles (aristocracy) under the Ancien Regime . The idea of such equality was affirmed during the French revolution (Libertй, йgalitй , fraternitй) and clearly formulated in the Article 1 of the French Declaration, which emphasizes the necessity to put an end to the inequalities based on “social distinctions”: “Men are born and remain free and equal in rights. Social distinctions may be founded only upon the general good”.

Despite the fact the principle of equality was intended to be universal, this humanistic value initially only partly contributed to the national social capital construction. What was accomplished in the name of the liberal ideas on the verge of the modern era is only the imperfect idea of equality, which is limited only to the idea of the equality of rights and only amidst those to whom such equality is guaranteed. As such, some members of society had equal rights de lege , others - not. Moreover, even among those who had equal rights de lege , inequalities de facto - such as differences in wealth - continued to play socially destructive role. The examples of discriminations under formal equality conditions are many: the process of equalization in rights has not changed the poor' conditions of life of the have-nots until the advent of welfare state, deplored by Victor Hugo in his “Miserables”; Jim Crow's era segregationist policy of “equal but separated”, which guaranteed equal protection under the law to all citizens, but de facto only perpetuated profoundly unjust conditions of life of African Americans in US; equality of rights of women and men, which was embodied in main legislative and constitutional acts of the developed countries in the middle of the XX century, created legal (formal) equality between woman and man, but even today, continues passionate claims for equal representation of the women in national parliaments or equal pay for equal work for men and women.

Indeed, this kind of formal (or legal) equality allowed to integrate mainly the white male bourgeoisie into the political decision-making process by stripping the monarch and aristocracy of their privileges, completely neglecting to integrate the oppressed working class, disadvantaged gender and minorities into this process. Thus, according to this concept of equality (despite its apparent universal character), the social capital could not be created universally on the national level since some strata of the population was de facto reduced to condition of economic dependence or was even de facto discriminated against, despite the proclaimed equality.

The conditions necessary for a truly universal social capital on a national level were created only when equality was conceived not as a simple legal (or formal) equality of rights of citizens, but when measures of social justice and welfare state allowed to create conditions of economic equality by creating wealth redistribution system throughout the nation, as well as establish equalization measures that would allow equal access of different categories of population to education, jobs, health services, etc. This second stage evolution of equality, as a human right to have the same opportunities, was conceived not only as a right of every citizen to have equal rights but also as a right to have an amount of resources and social services necessary for a decent subsistence. This redistributionist concept of equality allowed for every citizen to satiate their primary and secondary needs (sufficient economic resources as well as necessary for quality life social services) and consequently, appease social tensions between different strata of the population, thus contribute to the general social capital construction via alleviation of social tensions.

2.4 The role of the welfare rights in social capital construction

One has to keep in mind that cohesive role of welfare state can be observed on a large social (national or universal) level, whereas on a small-scale, interpersonal level (family, kin) welfare state values have the opposite effect (see above 1.4). Here we are talking only about the nationwide (or universal) positive effects of welfare rights.

Welfare human rights redistributed the wealth between the members of society and guaranteed the access of the large strata of the population to main social services, thus satisfying the basic needs of a large stratum of the population. This satisfaction of basic needs abated the necessity of the individual to struggle for them. Material abundance provided for the large strata of the population, brought in by welfare state, abated this necessity on a broad social scale and thus pacified the overall social relations.

R. Inglehart has perfectly demonstrated that material abundance and security of the individual in postindustrial societies reduced the social class conflict. We agree with this position, but it is worth emphasizing the role of the access of the individual to all basic needs provided by welfare state, which abated the sense of necessity to struggle for them, thus reducing the primal instincts in every member of society. This consistent psychological pattern spread amidst the overall population primarily due to the effects of the welfare state, produced a society of individuals with satisfied needs, significantly reducing the number of various social conflicts. In other words, this change has undeniably contributed to the broad social capital reconstruction.

On the contrary, the individual in state of material or physical vulnerability is reduced to the animal-kind of state. In such situation the individual is constantly forced to undertake actions necessary for the alleviation of his/hers socioeconomic conditions or even to struggle for his own survival. Only sociocentric institutions (e.g. religion, state, community) could inhibit this animosity, restrict and pacify interpersonal struggle for subsistence needs and alleviation of the socioeconomic conditions by force or intense moral values. For a long time religion, and Church especially, played this role by imposing for example redistribution of wealth and goodwill actions in favor of the poor or other disadvantaged categories of the population in the name of mercy.

Ingelhart had perfectly explained - although he has also added other factors - that greater satisfaction of one's own basic needs and decent socioeconomic conditions have shifted the order of personal priorities. Without being concerned for one's own socioeconomic needs - delivered by the welfare state - individual's attention has been liberated from necessity to achieve immediate material personal interests . Although, individuals were indeed turned in part to the achievement of non-material personal interest (Ingelhart, 313, 320), post-materialists also give more attention to the achievement of non-personal values (e.g. minorities' rights). Distraction from personal material interests, as well as postwar humanistic values (see 2.4.), developed in individuals a sense of community, compassion towards others, kindness, mercy, which are no longer supported by traditional sociocentric institutions (religion). Thus, social cohesion is a derivative of welfare state, which contributed to pacification of social relations and construction of broad (universal) social capital.

In advanced societies, the objective of a greater social justice was realized at the end of XIX and throughout the XX century, as achievement of social rights and redistribution of wealth via progressive income taxation. The main social conflicts between workforce and the wealth holders prompted governments to undertake measures of redistribution of wealth, as well as to entitle the poor - majority of the population at this time - with the basic social rights and advantages. Thus was archived a middleclass society in which each member's basic needs are satisfied and decent socioeconomic conditions are provided to everyone (or almost everyone). Such redistribution of wealth in society had reduced the poverty, which is clearly a factor of social disruption on a broad (national) level, as well as diminished trust and crime rates, which are in part due to the poverty levels.

Some authors claim that this argument is false, because “Modern societies, despite being richer overall, have become more unequal, or have otherwise experienced economic turbulences and job losses that have led to social dysfunction” (Fukuyama, 65). We can gainsay such ideas by saying that they do not consider the situation globally, which - compared to developing countries - is not changed dramatically even during economic turbulences. The basic needs of every member of society are globally satisfied; the quality of life of the majority of the population is not undermined at such level that the majority of the population losses access to the basic social services (education and minimal health services…). The inequalities of the developed countries that we can observe during the economic turbulences are not such that the majority of the population could be impoverished and placed in the position of the necessity to struggle for subsistence needs or even basic social advantages. Moreover, democratic institutions of the developed countries are still there and will contribute to redistribution of wealth - unequally dispersed during economic crises - and heal such social dysfunctions.

2.5 The role of post WWII humanistic values in construction of universal social capital

By reducing the necessity to fight for one's own subsistence needs, the welfare rights produced such feelings as compassion to the others, kindness and mercy; pacified human relations, and thus contributed to the construction of social capital. There are various forms of social capital that are empowered by welfare rights; they not only gave rise to national social capital, but also largely exceeded this form of social capital by prompting the advent of a larger (universal) form of social capital, which includes mankind or even exceeds human community by including even animals (animal fundamental rights). Nonetheless, the fact that welfare rights had transformed social capital via consolidation of national and contribution to the establishment of a larger - universal - form of social capital, there is another set of fundamental humanistic values that played significant role in the establishment of a universal social capital on the scale of humanity as a whole. We are talking about humanistic values that generated by the atrocities committed under the Nazi regime.

WW and Holocaust experience have changed our moral values; reshaped, renewed the conception of our human rights. New bills of rights have been drafted (Universal Declaration of Human Rights), new supranational institutions been created to enforce these renewed values (Council of Europe and its European court of human rights; International criminal court etc.). Huge changes have also been made on a national level: new (renewed) catalogues of human rights have replenished constitutional acts; constitutional courts have been established, brining the end of legicentrism in European countries.

Those are the direct consequences of infringements on human rights made by democratically elected assemblies of some countries during the WWII. These are the consequences of the distrust towards the modern democratic organization of political power, or the almighty power of democratically elected assemblies of the Nation-state. In other words, as Universal Declaration of Human Rights puts it “…disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind…” brought United Nations to the necessity to “…reaffirm their faith in fundamental human rights…” and proclaim those renewed rights, heralding institutional changes within the nations, as well as on a supranational (international) level. In other words, it is “the end of rights of Man” (Arendt, 267), which we could observe during the WWII, that caused the rebirth and renewal of the conception of the human rights during the postwar era.

Special features of the new human rights were shaped as a direct reaction to the barbarous acts committed during WWII. The essence of the renewed human rights is in their reaffirmed universality, which was denied by barbarous acts carried against ethnic, religious, political and other minorities, is what emphasized the attention on A. Arendt (Arendt, 267-304). Besides the emphasis of the postwar human rights on barbarous acts (slavery, torture, and other inhuman or degrading treatments), which were committed during the WWII on a massive scale, they mainly focused on universality, antiracist and antidiscrimination values, which are the direct reaction against the antiminorities acts committed during the WWII and denied universal character of human rights.

Specific implications of those new values in life are many. We could limit our developments on this point to the quote by Harald E.L. Pins: “As a direct offshoot of the 1948 "Universal Declaration of Human Rights," it sought to dismantle any scientific justification or basis for racism and proclaimed that race was not a biological fact of nature but a dangerous social myth. As a milestone, this critically important declaration contributed to the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court desegregation decision in “Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka”. Thus, the pockets of discrimination - which concerned not only ethnic, religious or political minorities, but were also undoubtedly most unjust to those categories - were the main objective of the new human rights, and all efforts of post WWII era were directed against different sorts of inequality, discrimination and injustice. Moreover, this objective was not confined within the nation; it included all mankind.

As we have pointed out (see 2.2), equalization of conditions - which is attained trough equality of rights and opportunities - contributed to the formation of broad forms of social capital by calming the relations trough equalization of conditions between unequally endowed categories of population. The specificity of the post WWII human rights has changed this paradigm of equalization progress. Indeed, if in previous era equalization measures primarily concerned the inequalities de lege, or de facto inequalities of wealth and contributed to pacify mainly the relations between the aristocracy and bourgeoisie, and then pacify the relations between the bourgeoisie and the working class, the post WWII human rights have replenished the idea of equalization by the values of equalizing conditions not between well-off and have-nots, but also between the majority and different minorities of the population, as well as between nationals and non-nationals, thus further contributing to the overall social cohesion.

The socially cohesive effect of these new values concerned the discriminations of all sorts against different (primarily ethnic) minorities and non-nationals. Those categories are less integrated into society of nationals (majority), social cohesion of which is underpinned by language, religion, cultural traditions... New human rights, without destructing those factors of social cohesion of the ethnic majority of nationals, have created a basis for social cohesion, exceeding this narrow circle by building social unity of mankind, or contributing to the establishment of a universal social capital. This universal social capital is not limited to the national territory, within which the social unity is henceforth created between not only the majority of nationals, but also between them and different ethnic, religious, and other kinds of minorities living within national borders, but largely exceeds national borders and includes the whole humanity. Interestingly enough, such transformation of social capital under the effects of the new human rights also had negative impact for social capital (but only indirectly); tolerance to different minorities and non-nationals contributed to stimulate current waves of massive immigration into developed countries, which raised anti-immigration concerns, and undermined social cohesion between the native populations of developed countries and the newly arrived due to significant differences of culture (S. Huntington).

Conclusion

Different factors have played - and continue to play - a role in depletion and reconstruction of different forms of social capital. Among such we can cite immigration, which currently has significant role in deterioration of social capital in developed world or the development of new communication technologies, which role in reconstruction of interpersonal (as well as broad, universal) social capital is undeniable.

Among different factors of transformation of social capital, human rights play a significant role. In relation to the social capital, human rights play positive and negative roles, thus contributing to depletion and construction of social capital. Such effects of human rights on social capital could differ depending on a form of social capital. To simplify, human rights have undermined intense, interpersonal forms of social capital, mainly existing within the traditional social capital institutions (family, kin), but at the same time, strongly invested into broad (national, universal) forms of social capital.

In what concerns the depletion of social capital within the traditional, interpersonal social capital forms, human rights have undermined them - inter alia - because they contradict the very idea of human rights. Such effect of human rights upon traditional social capital institutions is produced among other things, because the social capital formed within the traditional social institutions (family, kin) was originally imposed, based on hierarchy and submission, i.e. incompatible with such human rights values as equality of rights for example.

The positive role of human rights with regards to social capital is mainly perceptible on a broad, non-interpersonal, mostly national or universal scale. Among other things, such effects can be explained by the very nature of human rights, particularly because of their universal character, which supposes that if such effects are possible, they are produced precisely on a universal scale. Indeed, universality, as one of the distinctive characteristics of human rights supposes that the same rules apply to all members of humanity and that any person has the same opportunities and access to the same minimum of basic goods and services, which - among other things - pacifies social tensions, and thus largely contributes to the broad forms of social capital construction.

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