Social Insignificance Versus Linked Fate
There’s a fascinating concept called social significance. Social significance is related to the status and influence of the social group you belong to—your ingroup. This status and sense of belonging can become part of people’s identities, and threats to this status can feel very personal. For example, picture the varsity football players who enjoy an elevated social status at their high school. Maybe they get some special privileges at school. Maybe being a cool jock is part of their identity. But if the marching band suddenly becomes really popular too, then maybe the football team won’t feel as special anymore. They might even take it out on the band kids to try to maintain their elevated status! The football players didn’t actually lose anything, but they feel like they did relative to others.
We can apply this same concept to changes in social status for men, white people, straight people, and other groups who have typically benefitted from an elevated social status in America. Consider the ways some white Americans rejected the Black Lives Matter movement and pushed back against teachers talking about racism and discrimination in schools. Consider the abuse suffragettes faced from some men. Consider some straight Americans’ decades-long opposition to equal rights for LGBTQ+ people. How might this be related to the perceived loss of social status?
When people quip that “rights aren’t pie, more for me doesn’t mean less for you,” this is what they mean. They’re talking about social significance, and they’re pointing out that allowing women to vote doesn’t take the vote away from men. And legalizing gay marriage doesn’t nullify any straight marriages, just like a popular band kid doesn’t suddenly render the quarterback unpopular.
Feelings of social insignificance kick in automatically—they’re learned through culture. So what’s the antidote? A sense of linked fate. An expansion of the “us” in our mental “us versus them.” A recognition that we’re all cheering for the same team, and that when some of us do better, we all do better together. Besides, solving the problems vulnerable communities face can very often help everyone. A curb cut for people using wheelchairs makes life better for those pushing strollers and shopping carts. Captions make videos better for hearing people too. Effective public transit for the carless reduces traffic for drivers. A rising tide lifts all boats, as long as we aren’t trying to capsize our neighbor’s boat out of fear their mast will be the tallest!
Just like the football players and the marching band, Americans are all cheering for the same team in the end. Equal rights for all are as American as pie—but they’re NOT pie. There’s enough to go around.
