Is Society Real?
Why Read This
What Makes This Article Worth Your Time
Summary
What This Article Is About
Behavioural economist Louis Putterman opens with Margaret Thatcher’s famous 1987 claim that “there is no such thing as society” — only individual men and women. He unpacks its political uses: deflecting accountability claims, denying collective obligations, and casting government as inevitably self-serving. But Putterman then turns this argument on its head, drawing on neuroscience and cognitive science to show that even the individual self is not as unified or real as Thatcher’s logic assumes — making her premise doubly shaky.
Putterman’s central counter-argument draws on the concept of emergence: throughout nature, constituent parts combine to produce wholes with properties that the parts alone do not possess — atoms form molecules, cells form organisms, and individuals form societies. Just as it would be absurd to say a person is “no more than” a collection of organs, denying the reality of society misunderstands how nested hierarchies work. He concludes that recognising mutual obligations between individuals and society is both scientifically grounded and practically necessary for a well-functioning democratic world.
Key Points
Main Takeaways
Thatcher’s Claim Had Political Aims
The “no society” argument served to deny collective obligations, deflect accountability from individuals, and cast government as inherently self-interested.
The Individual Self Is Also Contested
Neuroscience suggests the “unified self” is partly a fiction — the brain operates through shifting coalitions of neurons, not a single executive decision-maker.
Emergence Makes Wholes Real
From atoms to molecules to organisms to societies, parts combine to produce systems with new properties — denying the whole because you can see the parts is a category error.
Societies Have Tangible Effects
The real decisions of California vs. Oklahoma, Denmark vs. Italy — on healthcare, pollution, education — demonstrate that societies produce concretely different outcomes for individuals.
Accountability Beats Denial
Denying society’s existence is less useful for improving governance than strengthening the institutions that make officials responsive and accountable to citizens.
Mutual Obligations Run Both Ways
Healthy societies require individuals to play their constructive parts, while societies must support individuals — a two-way relationship, not a one-way extraction.
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Article Analysis
Breaking Down the Elements
Main Idea
Both Individuals and Societies Are Real
Putterman argues that denying society’s reality is both scientifically untenable and politically counterproductive. Drawing on emergence theory and neuroscience, he shows that individuals and societies are co-constitutive wholes — each real, each shaping the other, and each requiring the other to function well.
Purpose
To Refute a Famous Political Claim with Science
Putterman’s goal is to dismantle Thatcher’s individualist premise using evidence from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, physics, and behavioural economics — and to redirect the reader toward a more nuanced, mutually obligatory view of the individual–society relationship.
Structure
Provocative Claim → Counter-Argument → Synthesis
Opens with Thatcher’s quote and its political uses, then challenges the premise by questioning the coherence of the individual self, builds toward emergence as the philosophical bridge, and closes with a normative call for mutual obligation between individual and society.
Tone
Scholarly, Balanced & Gently Persuasive
The tone is measured and academically grounded — Putterman engages Thatcher’s position fairly before dismantling it. He avoids polemic, letting cross-disciplinary evidence do the argumentative work, before closing with a constructive and optimistic appeal for civic engagement.
Key Terms
Vocabulary from the Article
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Tough Words
Challenging Vocabulary
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Latin for “after the fact”; used in economics and philosophy to describe reasoning or justification that is constructed retrospectively, after a decision has already been made.
“…our pronouncements are more like ex post attempts to make sense of why unconscious substrates reached one decision versus another…”
Present, appearing, or found everywhere; so common that it seems to be everywhere at once — here referring to the universality of emergence across all levels of physical reality.
“The phenomenon of constituent parts comprising aggregates…is ubiquitous.”
An underlying layer or foundation on which processes operate; in neuroscience, the neural substrate refers to the brain structures and circuits that produce a particular thought or behaviour.
“…why unconscious substrates reached one decision versus another…”
Set up or arranged in advance; having a fixed structure or role determined before operation — used to contrast how the brain has specialised parts, while societies have more fluid and evolving roles.
“Societies are less unitarily minded, less composed of preconfigured specialized parts, than are individual people…”
Characterised by the belief that the parts of something cannot be understood except in relation to the whole; treating a system as more than a simple sum of its components.
“…pushing forward towards a more holistic view of the brain and the thinking, feeling person that it makes possible.”
A relationship of shared or reciprocal dependence and obligation — here describing the two-way bond between individuals and society, where each depends on and has duties toward the other.
“Recognizing the mutuality between, and the reality of, both a whole and its parts is sensible and productive.”
Reading Comprehension
Test Your Understanding
5 questions covering different RC question types
1According to the article, current cognitive neuroscience supports the idea that each individual possesses a coherent, unified self that makes decisions as a single executive entity.
2According to the article, what is the primary purpose of Thatcher’s claim that “there is no such thing as society”?
3Which sentence best expresses the author’s practical conclusion about how to improve governance — as opposed to just describing society’s reality?
4Evaluate each statement about the author’s use of scientific analogies in the article.
The author uses the example of atoms forming molecules with distinct properties to support the concept of emergence across nested hierarchies.
The author argues that economics, unlike other social sciences, fully accepts the reality of society and uses it as its primary unit of analysis.
The article claims that societies condition the opportunities of individuals within them, even though societies are less unified in their decision-making than individual people.
Select True or False for all three statements, then click “Check Answers”
5What can be most reasonably inferred about the author’s view of why Putterman introduces the neuroscience argument about the fragmented self early in the article?
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
Nested hierarchies are layered systems where smaller units combine to form larger ones with new properties — subatomic particles form atoms, atoms form molecules, molecules form cells, cells form organisms, organisms form societies. Each level is real and exerts influence both upward and downward. The concept matters because it provides the scientific basis for rejecting the either/or choice between individuals and society: both levels are real and mutually influential.
Drawing on neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux’s work, the author argues that what we experience as a single, deciding “self” is actually a narrative constructed after the fact — a spokesperson for unconscious neural processes. The brain operates through shifting coalitions of neurons, not a unified executive. This doesn’t mean individuals don’t exist; it means the sharp boundary between “real individual” and “unreal society” that Thatcher assumes doesn’t hold under scientific scrutiny.
These comparisons provide concrete, empirical evidence that societies are real in the most practical sense: the collective decisions made in each society over decades produce measurably different outcomes in childcare access, healthcare, pollution levels, and industrial activity. If society were not real, there would be no systematic difference between these places. The fact that living in Denmark versus Italy produces genuinely different life conditions for individuals shows that societal choices have real, lasting effects.
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This article is rated Intermediate. It introduces abstract concepts from multiple disciplines — neuroscience, physics, evolutionary biology, and behavioural economics — and requires readers to track a layered counter-argument rather than a linear narrative. Vocabulary such as “ex post,” “substrate,” “ubiquitous,” and “preconfigured” assumes some academic exposure. The reasoning is dense but the writing remains accessible, making it ideal for readers building analytical and inferential reading skills.
Louis Putterman is a Professor of Economics with a background in behavioural economics — the field that studies how psychological and social factors shape economic decisions. Writing for Psychology Today’s “The Good, The Bad, The Economy” blog, he brings an unusual cross-disciplinary lens: he cites neuroscience (LeDoux), political economy (Acemoglu and Robinson), and evolutionary biology alongside standard economics to address a question that is simultaneously philosophical, political, and scientific.
The Ultimate Reading Course covers 9 RC question types: Multiple Choice, True/False, Multi-Statement T/F, Text Highlight, Fill in the Blanks, Matching, Sequencing, Error Spotting, and Short Answer. This comprehensive coverage prepares you for any reading comprehension format you might encounter.
