Human nature is the common basis for human existence, which impacts theirbeliefs,community arrangement and behaviors which remains unchanged over time and across cultural, ethnic, and racial contexts. Several enlightened thinkers and religions have different views which explain the nature of human, including the doctrine of noble savage, the view of angry savage, and dual human nature.
The noble savage is a doctrine on human nature which argues that people in their natural nature are peaceful, generous, and devoid of social ills. This view presumes that human beings partake in behaviors aimed at helping others. It also blames socially unacceptable behaviors and thoughts on civilization. This view assumes that bad people in society result from bad social arrangements. The noble savage view is evident among most indigenous people. These communities still hold on to their cultural practices and ancestral land. Despite being among the poor communities, indigenous people are united, selfless, and always ready to help. They demonstrate how the rest of the world was before civilization and how the social arrangements adopted affected humans’ natural nature—these social arrangements brought about social ills driven by jealousy and greed.
The angry savage view of human nature asserts that human beings in their natural state are selfish and hostile due to the overwhelming fear of death. This view considers that feeling and logic drive human behavior, shaped by their fear of death. In this view, social order is necessary to control human behavior and bring out the best in humanity. It also regards social behavior and survival instincts are rooted in the material cause. For example, wars begin if a group or a country feels threatened by the other group. The First World War was between the central powers and the allies, and it began after the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand. The war continued for years until they formed a uniting party to help end the war by signing the Treaty of Versailles (Keene, 2021)
The view of Dual human nature assumes that humans have an ethereal soul in their body, where the soul chooses while the body demands. The conflict between the soul and the body shapes human behavior. Social ills develop due to the soul giving in to the body’s demand. In this view, human nature is inherently good since the soul chooses to act against selfish acts and inherently bad since the body causes humans to act selfishly. An instance where dual human nature is evident is during the slavery era in America. Back then, slavery was acceptable, and almost every white household enslaved people. Slavery continued for years until society decided against it (Berlin, 2015). The soul finally chooses to do what’s right by others and discard society’s selfish and inhumane acts.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The strength of the noble savage view in explaining the social behavior in human nature is that it sets out a predetermined positive nature. An example of this nature is evident among the indigenous people who have not been corrupted by civilization hence portraying a better view of natural human nature. Indigenous people live united and in harmony among themselves. They believe in sharing, and their generous nature is evident in their actions and behaviors. However, this view is weak in explaining social behavior and social outcomes where civilization is not the source of evil. The indigenous people live differently than people in modern society since they still hold on to their traditional ways of life. Despite not aligning their behaviors with modern society, indigenous people still engage in tribal wars; therefore, this view does not explain social ills unrelated to civilization.
The angry savage view helps sociologists understand social behaviors and social outcomes since it bases violent human acts on survival instincts. For the first world war example, the fear of death after the assassination of one of the central power leaders led to the war. Countries resulted in violence and hostility as a survival tactic. The formation of a peace union helped control the countries’ actions and subsequently end the war. However, this view is weak because social groups still indulge in violent actions despite having governing bodies and laws.
The dual human nature view strength in explaining human social behaviors and social outcomes since it regards humans as being good. For example, in the eighteenth century, child labor and abuse was legal action. Children would work in farms and factories for long hours and little pay and did not experience the ideal childhood. After a while, child labor and abuse were banned to ensure that children could attend school and be protected from physically and socially harmful acts. One weakness of this view is that human’s ability to be evil is just as strong as their ability to be good. This view implies that until humans decide to do good, they will be evil unprovoked with no guilt or shame.
Nature (Biology) vs. Nurture (Culture)
Nurture or the blank state views human nature due to environmental input. Human behavior, feelings, and action are not predetermined, but the social environment influences them. This view is more important in explaining social behaviors and emergent outcomes. The maternal environment determines the behavior and actions of society and racial or ethnic groups. For instance, the geographical area of a society determines the activities of its people. Eskimos who inhabit artic and the northern Bering Sea coasts of Alaska in the United States carry out favorable activities in those parts of the world. They rely on hunting marine mammals, fish, and land animals for food. The geographical location of their area limits their activities since ice covers the place (DeLapp, 2020).
Tradition and culture are other environmental inputs determining a society’s shared behavior and actions. For instance, on the Fourth of July, Americans take a public holiday to celebrate the day they gained independence. In America, the frequently spoken language is English, and despite having many immigrants residing in the country, most of them talk about the language. The environment where these immigrants live influences them to learn the language and other cultural practices. Americans also prefer the white dress for the bride at weddings. In the cases where Americans intermarry, they might decide to have two celebrations in honor of both traditions, and they occur in their respective country.
Another example of the environment determining society’s shared actions and behaviors is evident in the slavery era. During this period, black people were enslaved, and their actions revolved around working for the white man. Their immediate environment was oppressive, and their behavior was meek and non-confrontational since they were at the mercy of their masters. Their behaviors soon changed after the abolition of slavery. Black communities gained their freedom and could partake in education and voting. They gained new knowledge and sought respectable jobs. They joined movements that fought for other rights for their community, such as access to better services (Berlin, 2015).
Understanding Social Reality
Despite the nature vs. nurture debate, it is essential to incorporate both of these views when studying human social behavior, social structure, and social outcomes. Social behavior results when an individual’s activity influences the acts of another person, and it occurs through interaction. Nature helps us understand the impact of shared biology on social behavior, while nurture explains how the environment influences it. For instance, shared biology influences communication among the community in terms of modes of communication such as verbal or sign language. On the other hand, nurture determines the shared language in the community, including slang they might adopt.
The social structure involves distinguishing social arrangements in society. Nature explains shared biology among a group, while nurture describes how the environment influences that group’s action. Nature controls the activities of society members belonging to the same age group since their level of comprehension is shared by developing their brains. The environment influences their actions by dictating the age group’s expectations.
Social outcomes result from human interactions with each other. Shared biology and the environment influence these social outcomes. For instance, nature determines gender roles in a society whereby women give birth and male contribute to it through reproduction. Nurture also influences these gender roles where it expects women to be soft and emotionally expressive and expects men to be strong and bold (Crash Course, 2017). Crime rates can also be explained by nature depending on the group’s understanding of criminal acts, where young teens do it for fun since they don’t understand the impacts of their actions. Nurture explains crime rates as a result of the environment where a social group indulges in crime to survive or fulfill basic needs.
Conclusion
The study of nature vs. nurture in sociology has expanded my understanding of human behavior and actions. This study has helped me recognize that what might seem bizarre to me is the natural state of a particular society. The nature perspective has helped me acknowledge how much of our behavior is predetermined by genetics and biology. I have recognized how impactful our environment is to our actions and behaviors through nurture. For instance, in the saving and investment culture, a particular group might opt for stable, low-risk investments while others might opt for high-risk and return stocks. The nature and nurture of each group can explain these decisions better. The low-risk investment group might have experienced an environment of uncertainty in their life; therefore, fear and their need for stability and fear guide their choices. The high-risk and return group might have experienced a stable environment where they don’t have to worry about basic needs and afford life luxuries. Their environment influences their decisions, where they have the autonomy to take risks. This is an illustration of how our basic day to day activities are influenced by the forces of nature and nurture and until we study them we may not be able to understand their impact. This study got me curious to explore which other aspects of our live are influenced by nature and nurture that we often overlook.
References
Berlin, I. (2015). The long emancipation: The demise of slavery in the United States. Harvard University Press.
CrashCourse. (2017). Social Development: Crash Course Sociology #13. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbBm_YLwowc
Keene, J. D. (2021). The United States and the First World War. Routledge.
Pinker, S. (2003). The blank slate: The modern denial of human nature. Penguin UK.
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