All social cooperation on a larger scale than the most intimate social group requires a measure of coercion.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- Large-scale social cooperation needs some force to ensure compliance.
- In plain terms
- Big groups need rules enforced by pressure.
- What can you take from it?
- Recognize coercion is part of order.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Is force ever necessary for good?
- Who enforces your rules?
Another view
Voluntary cooperation exists in small groups.
More from Reinhold Niebuhr
Human beings are endowed by nature with both selfish and unselfish impulses.
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Permalink to quote #13 The society in which each man lives is at once the basis for, and the nemesis of, that fulness of life which each man seeks.
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