Page 67 - CONSCIENCISM By Kwame Nkrumah_Neat

60 CONSCIENCISM SOCIETY AND IDEOLOGY 61
instruments of social control. It is even possible to look upon it does for means whereby unity might be secured, and, when
'coercion' as a fundamental idea in society. This way oflooking at secured, maintained. Though, in a formal sense, these means are
society readily gives rise to the idea ofa social contract. According means of'coercion', in intent they are means of cohesion. They
to this idea, man lived, during certain dark ages in the dim past, become means ofcohesion by underlining common values, which
outside the ambit of society. During those dark ages, man was themselves generate common interests, and hence common
alleged to have lived a poor, nasty, brutish, short and fearful life. attitudes and common reactions. It is this community, this identity
Life, not surprisingly, soon became intolerable. And so the poor in the range of principles and values, in the range of interests,
men came together, and subtly agreed upon a contract. By means attitudes, and so of reactions, which lies at the bottom of social
ofthis contract they waived certain rights oftheirs in order to invest order. It is also this community which makes social sanction
a representative with legislative and executive powers ofcoercion necessary, which inspires the physical institutions of society, like
Over themselves. the police force, and decides the purposes for which they are called
We know that the social contract is quite unhistorical, for unless into being.
men already lived in a society, they could have no common Indeed, when I spoke at the Law Conference at Accra inJanuary
language, and a common language is already a social fact, which is 1962, I emphasized that law, with its executive arms, must be
incompatible with the social contract. Nevertheless, howsoever inspired at every level by the ideals ofits society. Nevertheless, a
it is that societies arose, the notion of a society implies organized society has a choice ofinstruments. By this, I do not merely mean
obligation.
that different societies could have different instruments. I mean
I have made mention of the way in which ideology requires a society can for example decide that all its instruments of
definite ranges of behaviour. It is difficult, however, to fix the 'coercion' and unity shall be centralized. The logical extreme of
limits ofthese ranges. Still the impression is not to be formed from this is where every permissive right is explicitly backed by an
this difficulty that the ranges are not definite. They are as defmite enactment, and where every social disapprobation is made explicit
as territories, even if, on occasion, border uncertainties arise a prohibitive enactment. This logical extreme ofcentralization
between territories next to each other. Obviously, there are at is, needless to say, impossible of attainment. But any society can
least two senses ofdefiniteness. The one sense is mathematical. In attempt to approxinlate to it as much as it desires. A society, how­
this sense, a range ofconduct is definite if and only ifevery item ever, which approximates too closely to this extreme will engender
of conduct either falls unambiguously inside it or £aIls unam­ such an unwieldy bureaucracy that the intention of bureaucracy
biguously outside it. In the other sense, a range of conduct is will be annulled. Of course, ideally the intention ofbureaucracy
definite if there are items of behaviour unambiguously falling is to achieve impartiality and eschew the arbitrary. But when a
inside it, and items ofbehaviour unambiguously falling outside it. society develops an unwieldy bureaucracy it has allowed this fear
Any ambiguity that there is must only be at the extremes. It is this of the arbitrary to become pathological, and it is itself autocratic.
possible fluidity at the extremes which makes growth and progress And yet, a society must count among its instruments of'coercion'
logically possible in human conduct. and cohesion, prohibitions and permissions which are made explicit
Every society stresses its permissible ranges of conduct, and in a statutory way. In many societies, there is in addition a whole
evolves instruments whereby it seeks to obtain conformity to such gamut ofinstruments which are at once subtle and insidious. The
a range. It evolves these instruments because the unity out of sermon in the pulpit, the pressures of trade unionism, the oppro­
diversity which a society represents is hardly automatic, calling as brium inflicted by the press, the ridicule of friends, the ostracism