The 'individuals' of moral and political philosophy are not like real people. Real people live
in families, groups and communities; they learn values and ideas from each other.
Opinions, views and preferences may differ, but they are not formed in a vacuum. There
may be a general consensus about certain values. There may be shared interests. White
argues, from a conservative perspective, that
'society is not a collection of 'universalised individuals', nor the sum of individuals
statistically aggregated, but the product of a system of real relationships between
individuals, classes, groups and interests.' (in Buck, 1975, p.176)