What are we looking at here?
How did institutions empty us of meaning?
Introduction
In many societies today, distrust, non-belonging and meaninglessness are spreading. People no longer trust official institutions, nor the traditional relationships of the past, nor even the shared concepts and human bonds that once held society up. Some believe that without formal institutions society collapses; others ask:
If these institutions have themselves rotted and lost their meaning, isn’t keeping them just delaying the collapse?
Relying on a triad of social institutions, this text tries to give a clearer picture of today’s situation:
- institutions born out of the people
- institutions formed to provide support
- institutions charged with order and control
and all of them today are exposed to crisis:crisislegitimacy,crisismeaning, andcrisissurvival.
A classification of social institutions
1. Inherent-communal institutions
These are institutions that grow inside the social fabric and the natural relationships of people: thefamily, early education, local socialising and long-standing traditions. They form without any need for a governing structure, out of human bonds. But today we see these institutions weakening. Thefamily is no longer the centre ofmeaning and emotional support. Human relationships have given way to shallow, unstable, interest-driven ties. Husband and wife have been replaced by temporary “partners”, and the sense of belonging the family once created has gradually faded.
2. State-supportive institutions
These are institutions created by thestate to give support andsocial_services, such as the Imam Khomeini Relief Committee, insurance, formal education and health services. In the past, helping others was an individual, moral and religious duty. But once this duty was formalised and handed to state institutions, people gradually forgot their social responsibility. Now helping is assumed to be an institutional responsibility, not a personal duty (read more on this). (Paraphrased from a lecture series by Haj Agha Ghasemian on people-centred governance.1)
3. Order-keeping (or controlling) institutions
Institutions such as thejudiciary, thepolice, official media and organisedreligion are charged with keepingorder and shapingpublic_behaviour. But when these institutions lose their legitimacy, social order is built not ontrust but onfear,habit orcoercion.
The crisis of meaning and theatrical order
If trust and meaning are absent, what we callorder is only an appearance. Instead of welling up from within, order is imposed from outside. Someone who obeys the rules because they fear a fine is loyal not tosocial_order but toinstrumental_order. Here we face a superficial order. Beneath this orderly surface, deep rot and rupture are forming.
Scaffolding or prison?
Perhaps these worn-out institutions are like scaffolding that still holds up part of the social structure. But if the scaffolding takes the place of the real architecture, it becomes a prison for social transformation. The basic question is:
Should worn-out institutions be pulled down? Or kept as temporary scaffolding until new institutions grow out of society?
A philosophical look at order and entropy
Some systems theorists say that without institutions society heads toward entropy and collapse. But from another angle, in nature order is kept not by coercion but by natural cycles. A society too, if it has room for self-regulation, can reach balance and renewal like nature. So perhaps apparent disorder is the start of a deep reconstruction, not a sign of complete collapse.
Paths from the crisis of meaning to social reconstruction
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Recognise the root of the crisis (precise diagnosis): understand that the crisis lies not only in how institutions perform but in meaning, belief and the value system.
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Detach gradually from theatrical institutions (not by denial, but by gradual understanding): identify institutions that keep only the appearance of order.
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Strengthen small, spontaneous, local action: create small grassroots institutions as gradual replacements.
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Create spaces for dialogue, narrative and rethinking: produce meaning through interaction, experience and story.
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Redefine the individual’s role in society: from consumer of order to meaning-giving actor.
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Institutional innovation: design flexible, temporary and local institutions.
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Move from control to meaning: from external order to internalised, valued order.
Solutions
1. Rebuild institutions from the bottom up
Support grassroots institutions that are small, flexible and local.
2. Revive the sense of belonging and individual responsibility
Build a culture in which individuals take an active role in building society again.
3. Grow spaces for dialogue and rethinking
Create independent media, circles and narratives.
4. Redefine technology as a tool of connection
Use digital tools to build real social networks.
| Type of institution | Features | Main function | Current crisis | Basic question |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Inherent-communal | Born of the people, endogenous, informal | Producing bonds, meaning, human responsibility | Weakened relationships, indifference, replacement by shallow ties | Can lost bonds be rebuilt? |
| State-supportive | Formal structure, supports the people, defined duties | Providing services and social support | Public distrust, emptied of meaning | If people’s trust is gone, can grassroots structures replace them? |
| Order-keeping (controlling) | Control, law, legitimacy, order | Social order, deterrence, shaping norms | Crisis of legitimacy, order turned into pretence | Where does order come from when there is no trust? Fear? Habit? Something else? |
Related: A critique of modernity and a civilisational view of systems.
Footnotes
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My summaries and takeaways from this lecture series are on Zeylead, in the lectures section: Haj Agha Ghasemian, people-centred governance. https://razeytoon.github.io/Zeyleada/ ↩