Society

This is an experimental page still in development (by MrPedroBraga -- talk).

Society is a construct engaged in by some animals (including humans).

Some of those species' individuals may be hard-wired, neurologically speaking, to participate in it. We call those individuals Allistic.

This hard-wiring exists because in nature those who do not gather together are less likely to survive.

Truths

A social truth is something which must be acknowledged as true for participation in a society. It is also the basis for Roles.

So, certain words, behaviours, concepts, have a specific purpose within a society. This is their 'social meaning.'

Allistic individuals are able to innately absorb social truths and the social meanings of things. Autistic individuals are not and must do so manually with much effort.

Taboos

Taboos are things that shouldn't within the society be mentioned freely. Some examples are sex, mental health and disability.

Roles

A social role is a construct which can be assigned to an individual (or an individual can be assigned to a role).

There exists Truths which dictate how individuals' behaviours correspond to roles. This set of truths is the "social norm."

A person which has proper roles is then called 'normal' (has positive connotation). A deviant individual is 'weird'/'deviant' (has negative connotation, and there's recently also the word 'queer,' reclaimed by some to have neutral connotation).

Not having social roles leads to Ostracism.

There also exists miscellaneous truths about specific roles -- how the individuals in them should be treated, what they can expect of others, etc.

Those role truths can be beneficial to the individual (perks) or neutral/detrimental (duties). An individual may engage on their roles' duties to be eligible for their roles' perks. And, again, to fight Ostracism.

The social norm, requirements for roles, and which roles exist, will change over time. That is because the set of all truths and all roles are 'a social construct,' that is, it exists only on the minds of the social individuals and are not a real property of the universe... even at the same place in the same time, two people will disagree ever so slightly on what roles/truths/social meanings exist.

See Also: Main Page#Autistic survival guide.

Non-behaviourally assigned roles

As the title suggests, some roles may be assigned not by behaviour, but by some unchangeable property of the individual.

Here are some examples of how this works in human societies.

• Gender (which is assigned by the individual's sex).
• Class (spending power).
• Race/Ethnicity
• Place of Origin
• Age
• Attractiveness
• [...]

The Base Role

There are base roles for individuals who participate in society. They are attributed to 'people in general.' Though, in practice, they are not applied towards all individuals, only those who aren't ostracized.

Some example of rules associated with The Base Role are:

• Empathy
• Respect
• Greetings -- a 'Person' must be properly 'greeted,' being shown one of a specific kind of symbols.
  • 'Good morning/afternoon/night' -- a strange greeting which changes with the time of day.
• Apologies -- a 'Person' must say 'I'm sorry' or a variant to someone they did something that wasn't appreciated. Having to apologize is also seen with negative connotation.

---

When used for a social rule, phrases often loose their proper meaning. So when someone tells you 'Good morning' or 'I'm sorry' it is not about actually wishing you a good morning... or actually BEING sorry, it's about playing the role.

Those rules go both ways... but this may not be in effect if there's some sort of hierarchical imbalance between both individuals.

Hierarchy

The perks/duties are not required to be balanced across all roles, leaving some roles to have a relative advantage to another.

This is pointed out by social activists, who would like to alter this fact.

Ostracism

When an individual is devoid of some social role, they are invisible and unaccounted for (at best).

They are devoid of all the 'perks' such as greetings, invitations, acknowledgement of existence and social protection against harmful behaviours of all kinds.

This apathy and disregards is incredibly painful for allistic individuals (see: Shaming) and, in general, is dangerous, since many individuals reserve empathy for individuals who participate in society.

Neurodivergent individuals, who are less likely to be able to engage in social roles properly are much more likely to be ostracized.

This is also true for disabled

Shaming

Shame is a pain-like response of the brain that can arise to incentivize an individual to act according to society's expectations. It's a hard-wired neurological pattern to avoid Ostracism.

In a society, an individual may provoke shame in another (this is called shaming) in order to coerce them to behave according to social norm.

This will be done for a plethora of reasons.

• The shamer may gain something from the shamee behaving according to norm and wants to force them to do so.
• The shamer worries that the shamee will face ostracism and wants to convince them to behave according to norm to avoid that. Ironically, they will often see the word 'shaming' in a bad connotation and be convinced they aren't doing just that.
• The shamer is sadistic.
• The shamer specifically points out the flaw in the shamee's behaviour and the fact they are different from themselves in order to protect their own status (look at how this person sucks -- I'm not like them, I am deserving of a role!). Often, social individuals bond over shaming another.

This can be easily observed on children -- who will often point out other kids' misbehaviour or their own good behaviour to an adult in order to gain validation.

Avoiding shame and ostracism is one big source of Anxiety for individuals.

• [...]

The dangers of trying to fit in too hard

An individual may change their behaviour in order to fit in in some role.

Individuals which have natural ways of behaving must systematically change those 'improper' behaviours in order to fit in. See: Masking.

If an individuals' natural needs are not well balanced for their role's perks/duties, the damage caused by masking will not be compensated.

It will then inevitably lead to Depression.

Social Alteration Movements

There have been movements promoted to alter social truths and roles that are detrimental to certain groups -- notably ones that are assigned by reasons out of the individual's control.

Nowadays we've got:

• Feminism, Gender Equality (against gender-wise social inequality).
• Anti-Racism (against race-wise social inequality).
• LGBTQIA+ Pride (fighting ostracism and shaming of individuals based on their sexual orientation and/or their gender-sex mismatch).
• [...]

Examples of Things Previously Said

Alright, I just said lots of vague things and big words. Let's explore how it all works with one examples in a human society today.

A famous kind of role is gender-wise roles.

As you can see, there are so many details to learn. It's already hard for people who are wired to learn those things naturally; to us, autistics, it's a nightmare that we have to learn all this... as kids...

Man

A 'Man' is a sex-defined role (though it can also be applied based on presentation alone) for human males. It includes requirements such as (non-exhaustive list):

Lots of those role truths are targets of Social Alteration Movements.

• Erect body posture.
• Reduced physical contact with other Men.
• Participating in head communication.
• Handshakes?
• Deep, steady voice.
• Wearing specific kinds of clothing.
• Being serious / avoiding playful things.
• Avoiding the colour pink (deprecated).
• Stoicism.
• Avoiding some things which evoke fragility or delicateness -- anything that contradicts Stoicism.
• Engaging in The Family (a kind of social pattern).
• Being able to provide for The Family.
• [...]

They aren't all required.

I said 'some,' yes, because it's odd. Things like flowery detailing, soft fabric and emotions are prohibited, but men WILL engage in delicate things -- such as fishing, designing machinery, drawing. It's all about "the way you carry yourself" more than the things themselves.

On the matter of emotions, Men CAN display emotions... if they portray it less weepy and more sombre.

If you (who are probably autistic) feel confused as to how you can make sense of all of this, I must assure you that you can not.

There are also associated truths that are looked forward to.

• Control over other members of The Family.
• Being able to participate in environment closed for men.
• Entitlement over Women and what their associated truths/roles are.
• Men can use clothing with plenty of pockets.