Are Social Taboos Really Necessary?

Discuss

Published on June 10, 2005 By stutefish In Life

Taboos. Do we really need them?

Does society really benefit from prohibiting things, even when there's no clear reasoning to support the prohibition?

Are there certain activities which society should simply refuse to accept, regardless of the rational arguments for allowing them? Or would we all be better off if every form of behavior was permitted, leaving it up to each individual to decide for himself whether or not certain behaviors were constructive to himself and to his community?

Does it matter that some things that are taboo in one society (e.g., public urination in America) aren't taboo in another society (e.g., public urination in Japan)? In such cases, does this mean that one society has a correct attitude towards the behavior, while the other society has an incorrect attitude towards the behavior?

How important is it, if a society has an "incorrect" attitude, making something taboo that you don't believe should be taboo? Is there a general argument against "incorrect" taboos, or are some "incorrect" taboos more harmful to society than others?

Given that most societies place a taboo on things that society considers harmful, what argument would you make, to convince a society that the taboo itself is more harmful than the activity the taboo prohibits?

Can you think of a taboo you support and approve of?

Can you justify that taboo?

Can you think of a taboo you don't support or approve of?

Have you ever successfully convinced someone else to drop their approval of that taboo?

Can you think of a taboo which, when lifted, caused problems for the society that lifted it?

Would you say that the problems were justified by the overall value to the society of lifting the taboo? Why or why not?

Comments

Danny Bassette

on Jun 10, 2005

I generally consider taboos useful. Yes, there are silly ones as well, and maybe those should go. But at the absolute least taboos will give the group of people something in common. I'll take public smoking as an example. I think it should be taboo because the person sitting next to you is smoking as well, whether they want to or not. Sure, they could get up and walk away, at least in theory, but if your both out in a public place any one persons actions shouldn't encourage others to leave that much. As for the idea that every form of behavior should be permitted, well that's called anarchy, and I'd consider that a bad thing.

latour999

on Jun 10, 2005

I say the only necessary taboos are those that prevent harm to others. If I go smoke pot now, am I hurting any of you? No

Zoomba

on Jun 10, 2005

If I go smoke pot now, am I hurting any of you? No

It all depends on where you do it, or what you do immediately following it. There are a few pot smokers in my appartment building that have definitely inconenienced me by waking me up at all odd hours because they pulled the building fire alarm while high.

Any solitary activity in itself is fine, the problem is what happens when you inflict the results on others.

MasonM

on Jun 10, 2005

In any social group, there has to be some form of rules of behavior to establish order. These rules may change from one group to another, but each has it's rules, either formal or informal. Without such rules, a social group would be nearly impossible to maintain for any length of time.
Even the social animals, wolves for example, have clearly defined social rules within their groups in order to establish order and foster working together for the common good. A single wolf is a very ineffective hunter, but a pack of wolves are very deadly predators.
People are much the same. Without some rules of behavior, it's highly unlikely we could have accomplished more than a crude semblence of civilization.

stutefish

on Jun 10, 2005

Thank you, latour999.

Can you give any examples of activities which are legal, harmful to others, and prohibited by a taboo?

stutefish

on Jun 10, 2005

Mason, can you think of any specific taboos that help to strengthen a community and make it more productive? Do any of these taboos make rational sense, aside from their usefulness for holding a society together and focusing its energies?

bakerstreet

on Jun 10, 2005

Well, there's all levels of taboo. Child molestation, or incest, would be considered a taboo. The last 100 years has been about rejecting taboos, but the big ones seem to stick. Sure, things like not showing your teeth when you smile seem silly to other cultures, but to some people marital fidelity seems silly.

Some, like discouraging infidelity, now show that there was a good reason for them. We are awash in financial horrors and broken homes because breaking that particular taboo has been glamourized. Drug use is a taboo in our society, and again we suffer because of our slow rejection of it.

I think NAMBLA is a good example of what happens when you too hastily start rejecting taboos just because you don't like the idea of taboos. People in the 60's and 70's liked the idea of an 'anything goes' morality, but I think in the last few decades they've decided they had a different definition of 'anything'.

MasonM

on Jun 10, 2005

The taboo against murdering one another strengthens the community. That's one of many and it does make rational sense.

The taboo we have here against defecating in the streets is another. It makes perfect sense as it reduces the spread of disease, not to mention odor control.

One social taboo is that of not using the restroom without washing your hands afterwards. This is very practical for reducing the spread of disease.

Taboos which we may judge to be silly or useless may not seem to be so to someone else. For the Islamic world, it's taboo for a woman to be seen uncovered. To use this may seem quite silly, but to them it's not only a sign of respect for the women, but was originally intended to reduce rapes.

ParaTed2k

on Jun 11, 2005

I think the whole idea of "Taboos" has become "Taboo". It seems that many in our society consider taboos nothing but backward thinking, and the only way to be "progressive" is to break them down. However, even the "progressive" ones have their sacred cows that of course, aren't "taboo" but "common sense".

I think societies do themselves a disservice by breaking down taboos just for the sake of percieved "progress". All too often, even taboos that should be cast into the abyss of history are done without any thought to what happens when we get what we want. Slavery was a taboo that was abolished, and done far too late. However, once it was banned, few people seemed to have any idea how to handle the new situation.

Nowadays we have a "war on drugs" that is supposed to be dealing with the "taboo" of drug use. The problem is, while drug use is a cultural taboo, it is also widely practiced. Instead of fixing the problem, the "fixes" become little more than weapons to be used against political enemies.

Like most things in and of themselves, Taboos are both (or neither) good and bad. However, all too often we don't figure out the benefit until it's too late.

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