Social Harmony
UNIT 12 SOCIAL HARMONY*
Structure
12.1 Introduction
Aims and Objectives
12.2 True meaning of Harmony
12.3 Harmony in the West
12.4 Classification of Harmony
12.5 The Concept of Social Harmony
12.6 How to understand Social Harmony
12.7 Factors disturbing Social Harmony
12.8 How to reach Social Harmony
12.9 Features of Harmonious Society
12.10 Promotion of Social Harmony
12.11 Gandhi on Social Harmony
12.12 Summary
12.13 Suggested Readings
12.14 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
12.1 INTRODUCTION
India is a society of more than a billion people having different ethnic origins
and divided into a number of castes and communities. People are the most
excellent, skilled what’s more, Intelligent creatures of the God. Our Epics do
firm this conviction that God has made men more like him so they could reach to
anything made by him in this world even him too with a few endeavours. These
qualities of people have empowered them to continually enhance themselves
and their environment. This change has helped them to reach to the more
prominent statures of advancement with each passing day. Be that as it may, alas
to this, is their interminable inclination of self-advancement that has postured
danger to the joined improvement which is for the most part the way to social
amicability. Our general public is broadened into individuals with numerous
positions, hues, races and sexual orientations and so forth. What’s more, individual
and expert objectives do contrast from individual to individual. Societal objectives
additionally take a rearward sitting arrangement for some by and large. In any
case, this broadening should be bound together to offer way to the long haul
improvement.
Aims and Objectives
After studying this Unit, you will be able to understand:
Meaning and Concept of Harmony and Social Harmony.
Classification of Harmony.
* Dr. Ashu PasrichaChairperson, Department of Gandhian and Peace Studies, Panjab University,
Chandigarh 137
Gandhi and Contemporary How social harmony can be promoted
Harmony according to west.
12.2 TRUE MEANING OF HARMONY
Harmony defined differently for various states co-operating and impacting each
other in this manifested and un-manifested universe. It is a harmony accomplished
after exasperates state is calmed down. This is achieved by balance between
Satwa, Rajas and Tamas. Harmony in nature is balance accomplished between
every one of the powers of nature, this state they exist without unsettling influence
to each other. This is difficult to accomplish as many of the forces are
interdependent, this is beyond the control of humans. This is attained only when
the potential of these forces is lost naturally.
Harmony in the public eye is the unbiased remain by individuals to when in
doubt refrain from interfering according to the essence of people without
disturbing others. Producing an aggregate cognizance is the most straightforward
approach to accomplish this. Harmony of the body with its encompassing
condition is a state accomplished by achieving a harmony amongst inward and
outside nature. Reflection, charming personality, solid living propensities and
consistent exercise can influence us to accomplish this.
Harmony is the state of social behaviour where each individual postponements/
controls their own or religious or racial satisfactions for the strengthening of
shared associations with other individuals/creatures (including animals and nature)
in the public arena/condition and admirably maintains a strategic distance from
the circumstances that can raise pointless clashes.
Harmony is unity in variety. Harmony is when many things are reduced to some
unity. For where there is no variety, there is no harmony. Conversely, where
variety is without order, without proportion, there is no harmony. Hence, it is
evident that the greater the variety and the unity in variety, this variety is
harmonious to a higher degree.
Harmony is part of the static foundation of the universe according to a rational
and intelligible plan. It exists for all time and has a universal validity, a
mathematical form which can be recognized by all rational beings. Harmony is
the epitome of clear order, even numerical precision. It is the greatest expression
of the universe’s ultimate intelligibility, order, and inspired creation.
12.3 HARMONY IN THE WEST
In ancient Greek, harmonia (Üñìïíßá) meant the concord of sounds, and came
from the root word for joining or fitting together, as in the way a good boat is put
together. Joining and fitting suggests multiple parts forming a larger whole,
coming together in such a way that shows there is some compatibility among the
parts.
Pythagoras is thought to be the first person to refer to the world as a kosmos,
which meant order in ancient Greek. As every number and numerical relation
has a set place and a logical relationship, likewise everything in the kosmos is
intelligibly arranged. This cosmic arrangement and the relationships within it
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can be understood as logos. Logos, a word with many meanings (including “word” Social Harmony
and “meaning”), can refer to the intelligibility of the relationships between all
the things in the kosmos. All things are arranged so that human intelligence can
understand them, just as we can understand numbers and mathematical necessity.
This belief that hidden numbers structured the kosmos in a perfect intelligible
order gave rise to Pythagoras’ conclusion that the celestial bodies must also move
according to numerical principles. As Aristotle noted, “they supposed… the whole
heaven to be a musical scale (harmonia) and a number.” The concept of “the
harmony of the spheres” was first proposed by Pythagoras. The harmony of the
spheres suggests that the celestial bodies travel around the earth in orbits of the
same ratios that create musical harmonies, and that as they move they produce
divine music, inaudible but mathematically perfect. (Aristotle, Metaphysics, Book
1, Part 5).
The Pythagorean project of personal cultivation was also understood as a process
of harmonizing body and soul. Pythagorean disciplines were meant to bring one’s
own body and soul into the same kind of alignment that was pre-established by
the form of the larger universe. Each person was part of a great hierarchy of
harmonies: musical harmony, harmony of body and soul, social harmony, and
celestial harmony. On all these levels, Pythagoreans found the ordering principle
of harmony throughout the kosmos.
The Pythagorean concept of harmony fits perfectly with a broader picture of a
logical order in which fixed ratios and fixed orbits are perfect and unchanging,
where whole numbers form an intelligible basis for worldly phenomena, and
where the apparent chaos and diversity can be reduced to abstract universal
formulas which provide clarity, unity, and order. Harmony is a mathematical
form that orders the kosmos according to rational logos.
Plato was a great admirer of Pythagoras. Plato claimed the education of a
philosopher must begin with the study of arithmetic and geometry and even
harmonics, a la Pythagoras, so that one would begin to turn away from the sensible
world and towards pure intelligibility. He has Socrates say to Glaucon, “It’s
likely that, as the eyes fasten on astronomical motions, so the ears fasten on
harmonic ones, and that the sciences of astronomy and harmonics are closely
akin. This is what the Pythagoreans say, Glaucon, and we agree, don’t we?”
(Plato, Republic) hile Plato didn’t agree with the Pythagoreans on everything,
Plato certainly shared the idea of a logically ordered and intelligible universe,
and his theory of the forms sometimes relies on the analogy of pure numbers in
relation to a number of particular objects. He explicitly associates harmony with
numerical values, saying that we need to, “put an end to the conflicts there are
among opposites, making them commensurate and harmonious by imposing a
definite number on them.” (Philebus 25e.)
Gottfreid Wilhelm Leibniz was a key early modern theorist of harmony. His idea
of the pre- established harmony is well known, and his use of harmony in other
contexts was widespread. Pre-established harmony is the contention that all
individual units, monads, are driven by internal causation and are not affected
by any relationship with forces or objects outside of them, yet they all fit together
perfectly because their harmonious cooperation is pre-established by God’s divine
plan. The apparent interaction of monads is the result of masterful design in
which all events occur simultaneously with the surrounding monads, but do not
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Gandhi and Contemporary actually interact. Pre-established harmony is a strategy for overcoming the mind-
body problem, such that the mind and the body do not have a causal relation but
perform their own actions independently yet with precisely the perfect timing to
seem related. It is that perfect timing set up by God which is the pre-established
harmony. It makes everything seem to be in contact, when actually they are just
in temporal and spatial proximity. This is what makes every monad a mirror for
every other monad: it must take all others into account as it pursues its own
course because it must fit its actions into the pre-planned actions of everything
else. The pre-established harmony is a function of God’s rationality, a perfectly
ordered plan cognizable by divine intelligence.
Dewey speaks specifically of harmony in the context of an individual’s aesthetic
experience, but his social philosophy describes ideal communities in terms very
reminiscent of harmony. He writes, “Society is individuals-in-their relations.
Individuals develop not in a remote entity called ‘society’ at large but in connection
with one another.” (Dewey, The Later Works, 1925-1953, 80.) Here we see distinct
individuals, parts, connected to each other to form society, the larger whole.
Dewey insists that society does not stand apart in abstraction from people, but is
constituted by the relationships of the individuals. As well, these relationships
are mutually beneficial for the individuals and for the larger society: “Society
means association; coming together in joint intercourse and action for the better
realization of any form of experience which is augmented and confirmed by
being shared.” (Dewey, The Middle Works of John Dewey, 1899-1924, 197.)
Individuals connected in relationships associating to better realize a shared society
– Dewey’s idea of a community is very much like familiar definitions of harmony
which emphasize mutually beneficial parts connected in the larger whole.
Harmony cannot remain static nor can it simply be a combination of similar
elements: “For Dewey, harmony is not uniformity, or homogeneity, or instantiation
of universals in particulars…. Harmony is dynamic instead of static; it is ordered
change….In its rhythmic character, harmony requires not only diversity and
contrast but also tension and resistance.” (Tan, Confucian Democracy, 75)
Check Your Progress Exercise 1
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) Write a brief note on the concept of Harmony.
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12.4 CLASSIFICATION OF HARMONY
Harmony and the absence of conflict are valued by Asian families as important
attributes of happy families (Shek, 2001). More traditional Asians may generally
have a collective orientation to life (Triandis, 1995), where family is central
140 (Lee and Mjelde-Mossey, 2004). Asian parents and children are less likely to
mention attributes that are typically valued in Euro-American cultures, such as Social Harmony
emotional expressiveness and communication (Shek, 2001). These attributes
might be valued by cultures with a more individual orientation to life where the
self is central (Triandis, 1995).
There can be many institutions. Broadly we can classify them as:
1) Family: Family is where a man takes birth and is raised. His qualities are to
a great extent molded by his family condition and the qualities inclinations
of his relatives particularly guardians.
2) Nation and Government: Nation is where a man lives in or carry out work
and so on. National convictions and qualities for one’s own country and
those for different countries do impact the social harmony. The capacity of
government is to utilize power to guarantee common peace, equity,
correspondence and freedom. Consequently, a Government ought to be
straightforward, honest to goodness, just and responsible so as to advance
social harmony.
3) Organizations: The individual might be either a specialist, a serviceman or
connected with into a non-productive occupation. Whatever might be the
situation, his idea of having great relations with others are to a great extent
impacted by his work culture and partners.
4) Community and Neighborhoods: ‘A man is known by the company he keeps’
is a typical say. Henceforth the states of mind and propensities for individuals
living in neighborhoods and network do to a great extent impact the people’s
conviction about social harmony and peace.
12.5 THE CONCEPT OF SOCIAL HARMONY
Social harmony is customary idea which suggests perfect society – non-
appearance of contention and individuals collaborating with each other. One of
the parts of social amicability is the “democracy and run of law” and “fairness
and justice”. It mirrors an essential worry in any general public.
Social harmony is innately a social idea, installed in social associations, and can
possibly bolster a more adjusted hypothesis and routine with regards to capable
citizenship in the cutting edge setting where the state is basically in charge of the
welfare of nationals.
The concept of social harmony has a natural measurement moreover. It offers
more noteworthy potential for handling the undeniably critical inquiry of peaceful
co-existence amongst man and nature.
The concept of social harmony goes back to old China, to the time of Confucius.
Thus, the philosophy has likewise been portrayed as a type of New Confucianism
(Guo And Guo, 15 August 2008). In present day times, it formed into a key
element of General Secretary Hu Jinato’s mark philosophy of the Scientific
Development Concept created in the mid-2000s, being re-presented by the Hu-
Wen Administration amid the 2005 National People’s Congress. (Ruiping Fan
(11 March 2010)
The philosophy is perceived as a reaction to the expanding social bad form and
imbalance developing in territory Chinese society because of unchecked monetary
141
Gandhi and Contemporary development, which has prompted social clash. The representing theory was
along these lines moved around financial development to in general societal
balance and harmony (The Washington Post. October 12, 2006). Along with a
modestly prosperous society, it was set to be one of the national objectives for
the decision vanguard Communist party.
The promotion of the “Harmonious Society” demonstrated that Hu Jintao’s ruling
philosophy had departed from that of his predecessors (Zhong, Wu, October 11,
2006). Near the end of his tenure in 2011, Hu appeared to extend the ideology to
an international dimension, with an emphasis on the worldwide peace and
cooperation, which is said to lead to a “harmonious world” whereas the
administration of Hu’s successor, Xi Jinping, has used the philosophy more
sparingly, likely for accentuating his vision of the Chinese Dream.
The term ‘social harmony’ alludes to the development of a harmonious society
within the aspects of a federal or communist republic. Social Harmony is
characterized as a procedure of esteeming, communicating, and advancing
affection, trust, adoration, peace, congruity, regard, liberality and value upon
other individuals in a specific culture paying little heed to their national origin,
weight, conjugal status, ethnicity, colour, gender, race, age and occupation and
so on among different angles. Hence Social harmony is very fundamental for
really being social as being social additionally implies living harmoniously with
each other. For this reason, we should comprehend the distinctive establishments
working in the general public and the social connections existing between them.
Social harmony is the cardinal esteem and the most prized estimation of any
culture. Social congruity is an integrative incentive in a global, information society,
which unites in itself love, peace, justice, freedom, equality, brotherhood,
cooperation, nonviolence, tolerance, humanism and other universal values, and
prioritizes children. Therefore, harmony is a common value for western and
eastern cultures, and can eliminate the clash of civilizations. Social harmony
creates a harmonious and sustainable peace, beyond wars, terror and poverty
Hence, it implies the general population who live around and close to each other
get along and coordinate to improve everything for everybody. Alas, this idea is
still only an idea in the light of the fact that the one thing individuals are great at
is disharmony and not amicability. For this to happen, the majority of the frivolous
quarrels and moment little bothers would need to vanish and individuals would
need to think about everybody’s bliss and solace as though it were their own
particular however this appears not happening at any point in the near future.
12.6 HOW TO UNDERSTAND SOCIAL HARMONY
Social harmony normatively to mean a social state which displays balance,
alignment, mutual support and flourishing. It is a state that is devoid of conflicts,
tensions and discords. Social harmony is not an all or nothing state, but allows
differences in degrees. The degree of harmony a society has is contingent on the
amount of harmony attributes it has in its major dimensions. A society can exhibit
different degrees of harmony over time, contingent on the differential prevalence
of its harmony elements at different times. Thus, a society can be highly
harmonious at time A, and become less harmonious at time B. Furthermore, at a
given time, a society can have one component in good harmony, while others in
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not so harmonious conditions. When major dimensions of a society are in Social Harmony
harmony, the society is experiencing optimal harmony. When the major
components of a society lack harmony, the society is disharmonious. On a
comparative basis, societies are unequal in harmony. Some societies are more
harmonious than other societies because they possess more harmonious elements
than others.
A society is balanced when the forces or interests are countered by other equal
and opposing forces or interest. In a balanced society no single force or interests
becomes dominant to the extent that other forces or interests are disadvantaged
or suppressed. Alignment refers to a condition that the elements and forces of a
society are orderly interconnected and coordinated to realize a function or
objective. A well-aligned society is one where interests, needs, relationships,
activities and processes, rules as well as values and goals, are well coordinated
and integrated for a specific target or a common purpose. A mutually supportive
and flourishing society means that its inhabitants are mutually supportive of
each other, while reciprocating each other with help, good will and trust for
mutual growth and prosperous thriving. Last but not least, a society cannot be
truly harmonious without being harmonious with nature that supports and sustains
it. Thus a human-nature harmony is also a key ingredient of a harmonious society.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) What do you understand by Social harmony? Discuss.
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12.7 HOW TO REACH SOCIAL HARMONY
It would seem to be impossibility, there is just too much negativity between
nations and neighbours, mostly caused by combinations of greed, jealousy,
incompetence and power craving and downright silly politicians. There is no
cure, all an individual can do is to do one’s best to avoid those negatives because
if we all say “ I’m going to grab whatever I can!” then human extinction will be
accelerated. Whether or not that is a good or bad thing it is yet it does seem
unfair to every other life form that we are likely to take the whole planet with us.
All things must pass. The ways to reach to Social Harmony are: Mutual Respect
and Understanding; Communication; Peace; Freedom; Fairness; Justice; Equality;
No Discrimination.
The measure of people’s sense of fairness includes people’s feeling of fairness
about wealth and income distribution, fiscal and taxation policy, employment
opportunities, personal development, higher education entrance examination
system, government official promotion, public medical care, free education,
among others. 143
Gandhi and Contemporary
12.8 FACTORS DISTURBING SOCIAL HARMONY
The question that naturally arises: What are the factors that were responsible for
the disruption of social harmony? The answer lies in a deep analysis of the societal
systems that exist today. Today’s society, unlike its predecessors, is a multi-
faceted, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic and a complexly diversified one.
Social disharmony stems from the inequalities based on the intangibles like
religion, caste, creed and language. Though prevalent throughout the global
stretch, they are a common phenomenon of the developing countries. Even
development in several developing societies of the world has been hampered
due to such conflicts. The historical backdrop of such societies, their cultural
past often contributes to such inequalities. They result in denigration of basic
human dignity and self-respect. In fact, these are the basic forces of destruction
of social harmony. There are also economic inequalities as a consequence of
unequal access to opportunities. Differences in the economic condition of the
people in the society have created two different section – the haves and the haves-
not. History points out that such a class demarcation results in the exploitation of
the weak poor by the dominant rich. This creates tensions in the societal fabric
and results in the breakdown of relationships eventually leading to disharmony.
12.9 Features of Harmonious Society
A harmonious society, by virtue of its attributes, would provide its inhabitants
with a sustained sense of safety, protection and freedom producing in them
satisfying emotions and other positive effects. The interactions and relationships
among inhabitants would be buttressed by a climate of mutual respect, trust and
sharing, and lubricated by reciprocal helpfulness and beneficial cooperation. The
inhabitants would possess the sentiments and virtues to initiate and sustain
mutually gainful cooperation and interactions. These sentiments and virtues
include empathy, tolerance, public-spiritedness, reciprocity, sense of fairness,
moral awareness, reasonableness, considerateness, sharing, caring, among others.
The systems and institutions of the harmonious society not only would protect
and develop the rights and freedoms of its inhabitants, but also nurture these
sentiments and virtues. Apart from endorsing other reasonable values, the
inhabitants would also take social harmony as a supreme value to be protected
and practiced. Being an ideal type, this normative concept of social harmony
may not be fully realized in the real world. Provided that its major attributes are
realizable in principle, it is premature to view it as utopian or wishful thinking.
The extent to which this concept is realizable can be examined by empirical
means, albeit indirectly.
Therefore, social harmony has both positive and negative senses that are broadly
in line with many current usages of the term as well as the meanings employed
in the surveys examined. When negatively conceived, social harmony signifies
a state where there are little or no conflicts and strife, confrontations, tensions
and contradictions. In its more positive sense, social harmony represents a
condition of mutual support, accommodation and flourishing undergirded by
mutual trust, respect and sharing. When a society possesses only the negatively
conceived attributes, it is said to have basic harmony. When a society has
positively conceived attributes, it is has optimal harmony. Having either basic or
optimal harmony is highly desirable. The concept of social harmony constructed
144 here seems able to broadly capture the basic ideas of harmony.
Check Your Progress Exercise 3 Social Harmony
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) Discuss the features of harmonious society.
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12.10 PROMOTION OF SOCIAL HARMONY
The social harmony can be promoted by making people more social for each
other. It can be done at two levels:
a) Institutional Level: At Institutional Level, the following intermediate goals
can be followed to achieve the final goals of Social Harmony as shown in
below Table 12.1:
Table 12.1: Goals of Social Harmony
Institutions Intermediate goals Final goal/end
Family - Family co-operation and welfare ‘Righteousness’ (tsdq)
provision and Harmony in all
Nations and - Low divorce rates, socially relationships
Government sustainable birth rate - respect for God
- Effective family care for older - love/empathy
Organizations members. - justice, fairness,
- Gender co-operation inside and parity
Community and outside the family etc. - faithfulness
Neighborhood - Civil peace - truth
- Economic and political liberty - forgiveness
- Criminal justice - hope
- Equality - generosity
- Protection of human rights compassion
- Transparency in administration and
execution etc.
- Broad distribution of property assets
- Integration of business and
community life
- Absence of persistent indebtedness
- High levels of family business/self-
employment
- Incentives for risk-sharing and
direct financial relationships
- A weekly shared day off etc.
- Community courts and other forms
of local justice-Widespread/
universal knowledge of what the
law says
- Offender reintegration into society
after punishment.
- Understanding others problems and
try to sort out etc. 145
Gandhi and Contemporary b) Personal Level: At personal levels, it can be done by following certain simple
suggestions as discussed below:
Developing Empathy: Empathy denotes a deep emotional understanding of
another’s feelings or problems. Emotions or feelings drive the man for right or
wrong things. Hence while taking decisions for others’ rights and wrongs, one
should try to understand others’ emotions also. If it could happen, there will be
no rapes and rapists, no poor and snatchers, no pendency and corruption etc. In
such a society only, Social harmony can prosper.
Social Grouping for Friendship: A group consists of two or more persons having
more or less same aim. Any group may be chosen by a person according to his
own interest like Men’s and Women club, Child Fun Centres, Social Activists
Center, Neighborhood clean-up committee or friends of local business associations
etc. But the aim should be to talk to others to know them better, sharing mutual
goals, work for each other, understanding each other and making connections
which could be counted in the times of crisis of any kind.
Strengthening mutually: We all have specific talents, skills and abilities. This
specificity is our strength as well as weakness too as we are good for certain
things only. A group of people working together, sharing their knowledge and
expertise can be a formidable force, for what fulfilling other’s weaknesses.
Strength lies in being together. This belief may lead to harmonious relationships
for longer.
Acquiring Allies: People who show trust and care for each other and use
knowledge-based awareness to progress, do not need to fear. It is so because in
their efforts to support the group, their own needs are ultimately met. Smaller
groups may merge to become larger groups and thereby help to survive and
grow each other. If we won’t do so, we will be faced with threats from desperate
people in near future. The people who don’t have enough to survive will turn
into allies for those who have more than enough to waste. These allies have to be
sorted out with harmonious and righteous relationships.
Bridging the Gap: The whole universe is split into duality. It is just like the
choice between two opposing spirals, one ascending towards creation, and the
other descending towards destruction. But the need is to bridge this gap and
move people to the direction of creation only. Generally, when we consciously
choose to serve others and at the same time, respect their free will to choose also,
we favor the spirit of creation and the universe will also respond in harmony.
Check Your Progress Exercise 3
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) Discuss the different ways in which Social Harmony can be promoted.
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Social Harmony
12.11 GANDHI ON SOCIAL HARMONY
In the life and works of Mahatma Gandhi promotion of social harmony was akin
to achieving Swaraj. Throughout his life Gandhi battled against the cult of
communal violence and war. Gandhi opposed communalism in all its variants:
Hindu, Muslim or Sikh. As he wrote in January 1942: “I hold it to be utterly
wrong thus to divide man from man by reason of religion....” He also refuted the
basic communal assumption that the political economic interests of Hindus and
Muslims were different because of their following different religions.
Gandhi’s religious vision emphasised the equality of religions. In his Constructive
Programme, Gandhi made equal respect for all religions the first step towards
national reconstruction. Gandhi strongly believes that no religion is inferior or
superior to other religion. Gandhi studied the scriptures of all major religions for
his spiritual development. He was influenced by the teachings of Bhagavad Gita
the Quran, and the New Testament especially the Sermon on the Mount. Buddhism
and Jainsim also shaped his religious and moral vision considerably.
The great religions of the world, according to Gandhi, should strive in promoting
a life of self control, sacrifice, harmony, peace and understanding amongst its
followers so as to create a heaven on earth. Gandhi emphasized the goodness of
all religions and the capacity of their followers to resolve diverse religious issues,
which led to conflict, by awakening the true spirit and unifying power of all
religions and by developing mutual toleration and trust and respect and a ‘union
of hearts.
Gandhi firmly believed that communal harmony and inter-faith dialogue was
essential for the freedom and growth of India. To solve the communal problem
and bring about Hindu-Muslim unity, Gandhi made a serious effort for Hindu-
Muslim unity by supporting the Khilafat Movement during 1920’s. During 1946
and 1947 Gandhi waged an incessant campaign against communalism and for
Hindu-Muslim unity. His work in communal healing during intense period of
riots in Noakhali, Bihar, Calcutta and Delhi has now become a legend.
Check Your Progress Exercise 4
Note: i) Use the space given below for your answer.
ii) See the end of the unit for tips for your answer.
1) Highlight the Gandhi’s ideas on social harmony.
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12.12 SUMMARY
Social harmony requires diversity in tension as people come together to solve
social problems. Working through those problems is the preparatory phase, while
the successful implementation is the consummatory phase of harmonious 147
Gandhi and Contemporary community. This suggests that harmonious communities are not constantly
harmonious, but they have structures and procedures that consistently promote
repeated realizations of harmony. Tan identifies some of these important features,
including communication, shared meaning, inclusiveness, and growth: In
harmony, diverse constituents are ordered in a focus achieved through previously
developed organized responses…. Social harmony is the quality that pervades a
social situation when shared meanings and values achieved through
communication and participation focus the associative experience with sufficient
intensity. In social harmony, each participant contributes to the preparatory phase
and enjoys the consummatory phase to the best of her abilities.…. Social harmony
in Dewey’s philosophy must contribute to personal-communal growth if
community is to be a regulative ideal. (Ibid)
Harmony is not only realized in the cosmos and in oneself, but also in human
relationships. Members of a family, partners on a project, workers in an office,
and citizens in a state can all be described as harmonious when their individual
contributions all support the other members and the larger dynamic. Harmony
among people has a longstanding pedigree as a way of conceptualizing social
conditions. The contribution of Gandhi towards building an inclusive society by
his invocation of religious tolerance, respect and love for all human kinds is
indispensable and much required to be emulated in the current scenario.
12.13 SUGGESTED READINGS
Dewey, J. (2008). The middle works of John Dewey, 1899-1924. New York:
Southern Illinois University Press, 197.
Kumar Hajira (1995). Theories in social work practice. Delhi: Friends Publishers.
Dewey, J. (1988). John Dewey: The later works, 1925-1953. 1938-1939, Volume
13. New York: Southern Illinois University Press, 80.
Johnsons L.C. (1992). Social work practice: A generalist approach, USA: Allyn
and Becon.
Aristotle (1989). Aristotle in 23 Volumes, Vols. 17, 18, translated by Hugh
Tredennick. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William
Heinemann Ltd.
Plato (1925). Plato in Twelve Volumes, Vol. 9 (Philebus 25e.) translated by Harold
N. Fowler. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press
Gottfreid Wilhelm Leibniz (1989, first published 1716). Philosophical essays.
London: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc.
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Web Links
[Link]/news-impact/2013/09/educat ions-impact-on-social-
harmony
[Link]
[Link]/[Link]
[Link]/[Link]
12.13 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS
EXERCISES
Check Your Progress Exercise 1
1) Your answer should explain the western and Indian idea of harmony.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2
1) Highlight the importance of societal support and mutual sharing in the answer.
Check Your Progress Exercise 3
1) Include in the answer both the support at individual and the institutional
level.
Check Your Progress Exercise 4
1) Your answer should include the idea of religious harmony, respect for
diversity in the answer.
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