Social Cohesion in the Western World - Georgi Dragolov

This book published in 2016 fills a gap in social research about social cohesion. The Bertelsmann Stiftung's Social Cohesion Radar create a wide data report with many collaborators in Germany and OECD nations report. The methodology provides many surveys, expert ratings, and indicators in the last 30 years; the ranks are formed by the grouping of nations emerging such as Nordic/Scandinavian, English Speaking, Northwestern European Countries, Mediterranean, and Eastern Europe, Levantine, Southeastern Europe. The economic indicators are decisive but also health, culture, values, inequalities, and openness of societies are important factors. Macro categories are social relations, connectedness, focus on the common good. Subcategories are social networks, trust in people, acceptance of diversity; identification, trust in institutions, perception of fairness, solidarity and helpfulness, respect for social rules, civic partecipation. The Nordic model is first, but the Western Countries and English Speaking in others forms show strong cohesion and it helps more the poor people; the Southern Europe and Eastern Countries contrary are facing growing difficulties with more people in poor conditions, these societies denote growing poor social cohesion and more problems with the economy. Within Germany the comparison from West more cohesive than East replace the old political divisions. In summary, more social cohesion give a more inclusive society and this is an important lens through which values emerge; the respect of the Rule of Law is a determinant all in all. 

Fragment of an anarchist anthropology - David Graeber

A little book of humankind. The author experience and his criticisms are centered on the bias of modernity, the capitalism. Starting from the differences between marxism and anarchy, capitalism and anarchy already conscious that the anarchy was never existed in form of structural organization, but present in many forms of being, one collective and individual one. The cases are well explained around the world, but as critics point out, are on small community scale, but Graeber through the book reach a conclusion that the fragmentation is almost ever present, from history to contemporary and equality in many old society is still present.

Well Graeber has stated the diversity of values and as a consequence political institutions, but nonetheless even a conceptual-symbolic vision, in one world where the rule of law isn't universal, one maybe can think it is true for western countries, but once more the author put in evidence various problem also linked: the meaning of freedom is always discussed here, the series of violations are extreme and the first and most important is the power of one man, the state over the individuality, through the mechanism of vote that cut out the diversities and imposed this rule of law of the majorities in a world dominated from capitalism.

I will conclude with this excerpt:

The rhetoric of "creatice consumption" in particular could be considere the very ideology of the new global market ..and consumption becomes a way to establish one's particular identity. We're all the same on the trading floor; it's what we do with the stuff when we get home that make us different.. The perspective of the anthropologist and the global marketing executive have become almost indistinguishable.