Is it possible to live a good life in a corrupt society?

Before answering this question, it is important to define two of the concepts it presents: “good” and corrupt. “Good,” in a philosophical sense, may have two differing meanings. The first one, supported by moral philosophers such as Plato and Epictetus, describes good as being just, or living a life based on justice and moral correctness. Another definition, however, is that “good” is whatever will bring someone closer to achieving her final goal of happiness. A corrupt society, in any case, is one that is controlled by dishonest or immoral people.

If your society is corrupt, can you still act morally? If we follow the first definition of good, then the obvious answer would be no.  A society is made up of people living together with some sort of organization. For it to be corrupt, it necessarily follows that the individuals in it are causing such corruption by leading a life that is immoral and unjust. That doesn’t mean, though, that every single member of the society is corrupt and not capable of living a good life. In fact, people would still be able to act morally correct. The problem arises when you consider the fact that moral might not come from human nature, but from social institutions—in that case, the church, the government, or whoever is telling the people what is “right” and “wrong” can be the same body that is causing the society to be corrupt. Furthermore, when you are immersed in a group where most of the people are doing something a certain way, you are less likely to do it differently. In the 1950s, for example, Solomon Asch conducted a series of experiments to demonstrate the influence a majority group could exert on individual opinion. In one of those experiments, a man enters an elevator where other people are standing. After he goes in, everyone turns and faces the side opposite to the door. The experiment found that, when everybody is facing the other way, the person who came in is very likely to face that way too, showing the power of a majority group. Now, going back to our question. A person can lead a good life even when a society is corrupt—there’s no doubt about that. However, when everyone else around that person is not acting morally, then the person is much more likely to be influenced to be corrupt. Therefore, it is not impossible to live a good, morally correct life in a corrupt society, but it is very unlikely. But for me, a Brazilian teenager, born and raised in a country where stories about corruption make the newspapers headlines every week, I have to believe it is possible for us to live a good life, in the sense that it is based on justice and moral acts, even though our government and the people governing us may be corrupt. Otherwise, there would be no hope that one day we will be able to fix the many problems Brazil now faces. It is difficult to stay morally correct in a corrupt society? Yes. Is it impossible? No.

Based on the second definition of good, that it is whatever brings you happiness, it is clear that the answer to our question is yes. Even though society as a whole may be corrupt, you can still do whatever is best for you as an individual, and whatever will generate the most personal gratification. Epicurus, an ancient Greek philosopher, claimed that pleasurable things were “good” and painful things were “bad.” According to his philosophy, therefore, anyone can lead a good life, one that generates pleasure, even if society is corrupt—that is, unless corruption brings you pain, in which case it would be considered bad. Also, we have to recognize humans tend to feel empathy, and here mirror neurons may come into place. For example, when you see suffering, you are able to recognize the person is suffering and empathize with her. Following the same pattern, when you see injustice and immoral actions, which may lead another person to suffer, it may not bring you happiness, in which case it would cause your life not to be as good. On the other side, Epictetus, a Stoic philosopher from ancient Greece, claims that through self-control we can manage to avoid feeling destructive emotions, such as sadness. If that is so, then we are able to ignore everything that is happening around us (external events), and concentrate on what we are actually able to control (our actions) and therefore be happy even when everything around us is corrupt. By this definition, therefore, it is actually possible to live a good life in a society that is corrupt.

In more general terms, however, is it possible to live a good life in a corrupt society? Both yes and no. First, as we have seen, it depends on your own definition of “good.” Nonetheless, it also depends on our own interpretations of moral philosophy. Whether we would be able to live a good life, no matter in what sense, depends solely on how we choose to see it. There are too many variables and possible interpretation for a definite solution to be given, but it seems that the answer is yes—it is possible to live a good life in a corrupt society, although that may be challenging and very unlikely sometimes.