Is it possible to acheive a society which is based on cooperation as opposed to competition?

Question

No glib answers please.

Has it been tried?

Answer 1

Sure, it's been tried. It's called Communism. It's a great idea. But the problem with applying it is that someone has to decide on how everyone should cooperate.

For example, there are multiple kinds of computers. If our society was based on cooperation, we would decide on one type of operating system or processor, and work on making that component the best it can be. But someon has to decide on that operating system or processor type, and it would probably have to be the government to make that decision.

In the United States, our society is based on competition, and we have multiple companies designing chips and software, and they have financial incentive to try to outdo each other. So when a company designs a poor product, people figure out it's no good, and they buy products from another company. And because the other company was making their version of the products at the same time, we can buy the better products right away.

In a society based on cooperation, if the product turns out to be no good, then people will have no choice but to continue buying the bad product. And if we need to change the product we'll have to start from scracth. We won't have the alternative already available for other people to start buying right away.

So if you have a society based on competition (capitalism), then any time any thing is bad, people can stop buying or using it, and the bad thing will stop being made. All of the people like you and me that buy and use things are called "the market". Because we compete to make different things and make choices about what we buy and do, the market "adjusts" to encourage people to produce better goods and services and discourages people from making bad goods and services.

If the society is based on cooperation, we don't have all those choices. So everything moves more slowly. We have to count on a central planner (government) to predict what goods or services will be best. And that's just impossible to do as well as the free "market" can do it.

Answer 2

Not with capitalism, never. May be in a socialist state; but definitely in Communism. But that ain't gonna happen!!
Mao Tse Tong of communist China and Mussolini and others of the USSR tried it but it's just gets too depressing to work for the betterment of the group, knowing you're not expected to be better than anyone else.
Plus America'll condemn you if you as much as imply that communism could work in any shape or form. And trust me, you don't wanna be their enemy. They're the police of the world!

Answer 3

All non-anarchic societies are based on cooperation to one extent or another. Members of society work together by following the laws of the land. By this I mean only if I agree to respect your right to live and own property, and you respect mine. Sure, the law might enforce those rights, but society had to agree on those rules in the first place. This is a form of cooperation.

Societies also cooperate by paying taxes, which in addition to providing services to all redistributes wealth to others. They also cooperate more directly in things like neighborhood watches, church fundraisers for charity, and stuff like that.

Other societies may cooperate more or less, but all do. A hunter gatherer society may have everyone pitch in to build a house, or something for example, while in the US the community will set up a disaster shelter in case of a storm. If we didn't cooperate in these ways and many others, it would be simple anarchy, with the strongest getting all the resources.

Competition also exists in every society, and this is probably a good thing overall. Competition brings out the most in many people, and gives us incentives to make things better. It takes someone to be disatisfied to agitate for change, and it (usually)takes someone trying to do better than someone else to build a better mousetrap, or bring in more crops, or whatever.

So is it possible? I would say maaaayybe, but it wouldn't be a very vibrant or healthy society if you eliminated all competition.

Answer 4

It's been tried but it never works.

I was reading about the early colonies in America and how Thanksgiving was their way of thanking God for their prosperity, but it didn't start that way. They first tried a society where everyone just produced what was needed and they didn't own their own land or crops. The society owned everything and everything was divided equally amongst everyone. It didn't take long for productivity to fall completely flat. No one worked to their capacity because they would get the same no matter how much they toiled. Then the mayor (or whatever he was) let each person have their own plot of land and buy and sell goods as they produced them. Almost immediately everyone was becoming prosperous. So much so that the people paid back the debts to England and were profiting beyond their wildest dreams.

To summarize, a society based on cooperation tends to be more like socialism or Marxism or even communism and these forms of society have been tried a million times and they always fail. If people don't have the incentive to work harder for the prosperity of themselves and their families they won't.

Must be human nature to want to achieve.

To be fair, socialism works for bees and ants, but not humans.

Answer 5

Yes it is possible but for a society to truly work on cooperation and not competition. In order for that society to work there has to be a true understanding that we all are on a very deep level connected to each other and the planet that we live on on a spiritual, intellectual, and emotional level. Also in order for a society to be based on cooperation and not competition, the belief that the "survival of the fittest" has to be reconsider greatly, and that every single sentient being has certain rights for equal oppurtunity (not neccessarily equality).

In order for a society to be based on cooperation, the idea of visibility also has to be in the picture, being that governments, businesses and etc. that keep secrets and lies from people is not cooperating in this society. Every single bussiness would have to be open and honest about every single bussiness dealing and figures (imagine knowing how much a pair of Nike is truly worth instead of the market price). Imagine a government that tells you why its truly passing the policies it is not just what it is telling you.

There had been a lot of societies in which were based on cooperation. Most of these societies were hunting and gathering groups that were based on extremely close kinship ties. But unfortunately these are the societies are what we usually called primitive and native.

Answer 6

It has been tried, as you have been answered, and it failed miserably. That is because, first; there is no dichotomy between competition and cooperation. Where there is one, there is the other. Second; all humans are variants, not types, so the behavioral traits vary too. I am going to assume that you are more cooperative than otherwise. I, on the other hand, am more competitive, than otherwise. Traits are on a scale of degree difference. That is why our institutions are there to balance human traits, so one does not overcome the others. This is how it works, though not perfectly, in our society. The failures, were the societies that thought they could order human behavior to their liking.

Answer 7

I would think that society is already based on cooperation , in a very big way. Competition is also in our nature and a necessary function, not only for people but in most living things.
How much we are willing to cooperate or tolerate. Give or sacrifice is another story. We have an ability to reason and this is not always healthy and functioning. Our perception and importance of issues vary according to where we are and where we have been individually.Mankinds basic drive is to be in control and to have pleasure and basic needs are to eat and find safe shelter and connect to others for safety, being in control of the basic requirements is the bottom line and we've grown from there and in all of this pleasure is a result of control
and doing what comes natural or feels good. There fore cooperation and competition are both means of survival

Answer 8

sure it's been tried, it used to be cooperation when the immigrants came over from other countries 1800 to like 1910 and the grouped together and made America the great land it is. But now that we've grown and find the world is bigger than just the USA, and there are huge populations out there the world has become competitive for few dollars and resources. But it will continue in competition and even worsen as more environmental problems surface. So plan ahead for any circumstance.

Answer 9

As nice as it seems, I don't believe it is possible. There are just too many distasteful jobs in any society, and someone has to do them. Competition allows people to rise above these jobs. Humans by nature are always striving for the best, and that means beating out others for positions. Cooperation will only get a society so far.

Answer 10

I saw a documentary on just such a society years ago. This was a tribe that had no outside contact with the rest of the world. Competition was an unknown concept.

Unfortunately I'm at a complete loss as to the name of this tribe or their location. I've done some searching and still haven't found it.

Anybody out there that saw it? I believe it was on PBS.