Society benefits from such competition, whether it is among individuals, teams, companies, groups or political parties. The pressure that accompanies competition as well as the fear of being emulated can incite and motivate one to study or work harder and bring his potential to the maximum extent in his pursuit to success, no matter he is in a college, an enterprise or an institution. Thus the society, which is the aggregation of individuals, will work and function more efficiently and effectively, and its productivity will be significantly enhanced. China's "Reform and Opening up Policy" has substantially proven the benefits brought about by the introduction of competition mechanism.
Competitions can also impetus the advance of technology. The increasingly fierce international competition has led to the unprecedented prosperity of science and technology. The rapid development of astronautics, for instance, is the direct outcome of the astronautical competition between the United States and the former Soviet Union. It is hard to imagine those common things and their great benefits to us, satellite, astronaut, space shuttle, Apollo Program, GPS etc., without the competition between the two super powers in the last century.
Furthermore, in competition for dominance, political parties may offer beneficial and appealing policies to their public. If companies contend for customers, they may produce higher-quality products or services. The general public receives the direct benefits of such competition. This is, to some extent, how the society progress.
Competition, however, may bring adverse and even detrimental effects to the society. The ultimate purpose of competition is to win rather than to defeat. Although sometimes a win-win complexion is not likely to happen, we should not set our goal to undermining or even supplanting our rivals. The employment of vicious methods and negative campaigning can only lead to a harmful, downward social trend. Therefore people should avoid baleful competition and the government as well as the legislature should induct and standardize social competition by legislation and administration.
In sum, from what has been discussed above, we may finally draw the conclusion that competition is ultimately more beneficial than detrimental to society. Thus a salutary social mechanism of encouraging positive competitions and eliminating negative ones is needed for the healthy, sustainable development of society and the happiness of its citizens.
While most deal with some form of competition almost daily, it is impossible for one to become immune to the effects competition can have on a society, this includes a vast array of different opinions and thoughts on controversial subjects.
