I completely refute with the issue topic “if a society is to thrive, it must put its own overall success before the well-being of its individual citizens”, because first and foremost one needs to understand vot a society really means. A Society is a group of people sharing a common region, having individual identity, sharing a common goal or thought. A society by itself is nothing. it is the people / citizens collectively contributes to the existence of a society. hence the success of a society reflects the over all being / success of people of that region.
Consider for example, American Cancer Society (ACS), it is a group pf specialists treating cancer patients, social activists who promote the awareness of cancer, its prevention, cure etc in the early stages of the disease amongst the people, researchers who are always on the look out for a better treatment, newer methods and efficient means of treating patients etc… they collectively work towards the betterment of the people who are suffering from the disease cancer. The people of that society-ACS work towards a common goal thats is, improving the living of such affected people… ofcourse they are successful in their attempts to a large extent but imagine they are 100 % successful… imagine a society which is cancer free…
there can be no success as transparent as this… this makes my point clear that it is the well being of people which contribute to the success of a society. Another example, consider a society comprising of two classes of people. One is, largely affected by adversity and another, flooding with affluence… Now we say this society is only half successful. For it to be a completely successful society the underprivileged ones need an uplift ment.
This shows that well-being of each and every individual is very very important. Hence I acclaim that if a society has to thrive then the well-being of individual citizens is important.