Our Society Reimagined 2021 Session 1: The Social Contract in America Today
Our Society Reimagined is a four-week series that provides an opportunity to explore the domestic issues that have shaped our modern society, as well as a chance to gain perspective on the underlying values and ideas that we hold as individuals and as a society, and how these tenets shape our lives.
The 2021 series will take place virtually from 6:00-7:30 pm MT on Wednesdays, October 20, October 27, November 3, and November 10.
Tom Morrison and Clint Kinney will return to moderate the series.
Session 1: Wednesday, October 20
The Social Contract in America Today
The fundamental question of what individual rights a person will agree to give up or what social responsibilities a person will accept for the common good has become another debate in the culture wars and a fixture of our partisan divide. Perspectives on the “social contract” in America are becoming as diverse as our population and our income inequality. The intensity of the mask/vaccination wars is a powerful manifestation of the challenge in finding the balance between individual rights and common good in American society today. Other examples of the challenge include: should our society focus on simply creating equal opportunity or should we go further to create more equal economic outcomes? What expectations should be a part of the social contract for civic responsibility and voting? Further, as climate change demands answers as to how we allocate the costs of mitigation across society, what new responsibilities will we agree to accept as individuals to benefit the common good? How can we find common ground and come to a new consensus on America’s social contract and personal responsibilities to society?
Registration for Our Society Reimagined is now closed. If you’d like to put your name on the waitlist, please email Zoë Brown at zoe.brown@aspeninstitute.org.