07/07/2011
Valentí Puig: “State and society are concepts that interweave, interrelate and grip our present and future. A civil society is comprehended by individuals that interact subject to spontaneous laws and orders in accordance with a common denominator of values”
“The crisis has had a very strong impact on the moral aspect of society. Society is more fragmented, dislocated and disconnected. The loss of confidence has entailed the destruction of human capital”
“We are an increasingly aged society but increasingly less adult. It is far more complicated being an adult today that at other times. Youths, deep in a post-teen narcissism, have been excessively protected and this has made them more vulnerable and unable to confront reality”
“Adjustments, nuances and changes in the social order must be gradual, they cannot be leaps in the dark. Furthermore, they always have to preserve stability as an aim. We have lost the idea of continuity, that memory that links us to the past and enables generations to dialogue between them”
“Values are essential when talking about civil society. New groups’ access to economic capability has not happened in accordance with the values characteristic of the middle classes which promote stability and social cohesion. Zapaterism has tried, not to separate Church and State, which is a great progress of liberalism, but to stop religion from having a presence and influence on civil society”
“With regard to Spanish public opinion, nearly everything fails: general culture, basic curiosity toward knowledge, desire to read, interest toward politics and institutions. Politics is only a part of life, but a part that should stir civic interest”
“General disinterest for culture entails citizens who are unable to shape articulate opinions about problems. The generalist television in Spain is one of our great failures as an open society. There are no great personalities helping us to think and make opinions. There’s nothing more discredited today that elites. What some call creative minorities have completely disappeared, in spite of the fact that never before had so much money been invested on education and culture”