The role of economic crisis for social change in contemporary society - Essay Example

Why Do Sociologists Place So Much Importance On Economic Crisis For Social Change In Contemporary Society? al Affiliation:Date: Why do sociologists place so much importance on economic crisis for social change in contemporary society? Social is the study of human social behavior, its origin, development organization, and institutions. It deals social welfare, policy, and well-being. It focuses on understanding how the humans work and how the activities in their life affect them socially, physically and psychologically (Kathrin et al., 2014). Analysis on why sociologists place so much importance on economic crisis for social change in contemporary society. Economics and sociology greatly complement each other, it is said that economy affects the social health and activities of a human while sociology affects the social relationship and welfare in relationship to the economic stand of a human. The connection between this two revolves around human behavior in all kinds of environments. It assists in making decisions that are reasonable and can be able to have a positive impact on all people. Some of the effects that come about with the crisis are long term, and some are irreversible. The sociologists through their study try to come up with material that might be of importance to deal with the negative effects mostly the irreversible. Though the analysis they are able to shape the societal view on the crisis, people are able to plan and make efforts in learning to get past the low labor market so that the impact by the economy does not displace them in the society. The consequences of the economic crisis are brought to light, and those in a position to help will be able to be in a position to assist and put measures in place. Social movements are also interfered with once crisis arises. Social conflicts in the neighborhood increases the ages where economic relations were more frequent and reason for meetings. The sociologists are able to know how people’s lives are affected and how most people manage to go through each day even when the crisis is at hand. They are also able to find out if there are people in the society who are positively affected by the economic crisis and how they manage to pull that. This is likely to affect people in the rural planning compared to those in urban settlements. The society can be able to come up with development planning to cover them mostly in the settlements that interaction between the people is wide and very common. The sociologists’ analysis aims at finding and identifying the impact of the crisis on inequality, poverty, crime, financial institutions and other institutions. They are able to find answers analyze, track and make known of the effects they have and how policy change comes in (Kathrin et .al, 2014). They act as informatics that might assist in future in the management of the crises in the present time. The information they gather can be organized, shared and tracked to be able to deal with the challenges that arise. The analysis assists in knowing how people have created strategies to cope and how the society has come up with developments and projects that are able to cover everyone to control the negative impacts in the society. The sociologists have been able to find out how the people in the society are leaning to wives in case they are faced with a crisis anytime. The analysis aims to provide a reason for the change in human behavior, and how the economic systems create a bridge in the society and how exploitation leads to struggles during the crisis being a major reason for the change. E.g. how workers can come together at this time, unite and change to a socialist environment, this way they are able to fight employers’ exploitations during crises (Durkeheim, 1982). They are able to find out how people progress before, during and after the economic crisis and how the society is generally affected. It also aims at finding out what the government does to help the most hit communities in case of a potentially long-term crisis. The changing nature of the living levels is also studied by the sociologist; they try to find out who is mostly affected, how and why. Together with other departments they can be able to create information to reach everyone to avoid the crisis building up to become a disaster. Proposals can be made so as to focus on such, and volunteers can be found to help deal and cover affected areas to offer whatever kind of support, mostly psychological help. The rise of sociology impacts has been observed over the years, since the time of Marx. They are able to share a vision with the community that opens their eyes and clear the arrogance and ignorance in most of them. The sociologists try to find ways in which peoples social behavior can stop depending on the economical gap that arises during a crisis. Materialism leads to the disruptions yet they can use it to find solutions (Durkeheim, 1982). The crisis disrupts most of the people’s lives, most families end up changing cities and running away from debts, the analysis can be able to find ways to deal with this or find a way to avoid the effects completely changing people’s lives. Finding out how the economic crisis affects the activities of people in their social activities and how their culture and religion in the society are interfered with. Some societies mostly the blacks and Hispanic have come up with community schemes e.g. farms, centers, homes and schools. Through analyzing, the communities were able to come up with permanent solutions that means the sociologists over the years have been able to assist people get a wider outlook and be able to create something positive, through that, the children’s lives remain the same at least (Durkeheim, 1982). What are the social changes? These are the alterations that are significantly affected by the difference in social structure and patterns. Social changes can be progressive or non-progressive. Durkheim at some point also argued that anomy could result from a sudden disturbance, crisis or rapid change of social and economic forces. In such conditions, the society became unable to exercise a regulating influence on expectations and behavior (1951:277). Some of the social changes brought about by economic crisis are; There is a rise in class conflict. Social integration changes and people are bound to get stuck in their various institutions. Some of the changes are inevitable considering lifestyle and how some of them have built themselves and how social their lives are. The changes have to happen to reduce instability (Scott, 2003). Progress Most people’s lifestyle becomes constant. They find it hard to progress since the crisis always affects every sector. They cannot develop at that time and end up stuck in an unprogressive state of life. There is nothing they can do at that point. Social discrimination The people in wealthy neighborhoods are likely to increase security, in fear that they might be attacked by the poor in the society. This can also cause a rift between the employer and employees who come from such neighborhoods. This can lead greater oppression, depression, and struggle (Scott, 2003). Political influence During this time most politicians take advantage of the people affected, they quickly take the position making false promises, some make them dependent on them only to use them later. Technological change Interaction with other people is reduced from physical to just getting in touch over the phone and social networks. Traveling to meet family becomes rare and most end up being worlds apart causing a strain in family relationships due to financial strains. The interaction between friends who you used to meet from far areas also reduces to just phone calls, most end up falling apart. Job loss At this point, most are laid off, and they have to spend most of the time doing extra chores and time to make ends meet. In most of the cases, individuals will search for new jobs opportunities and eventually enter the job market again. However, the economic crisis reduces the jobs that are available, which means that the labor market becomes too small to accommodate all job seekers who are really searching for work. Some end up in unemployment for a short period while some permanently lose contact with the labor market (Scott, 2003). Marx’s theory Marx vision claimed that a complete misunderstanding on industrial cycles caused by capitalism progress never ceased growing troubles of industries. The high-tech materials affected working rates, the machines end up using more capital for maintenance and repair than what casual laborers would have asked for (Weber, 1968). Education Some of the students depend on casual labor to learn and manage their studies, once there is an economic crisis, most end up dropping out of school to be able to survive and pay for their basic needs. This pushes them a step further in the society, making it hard for them to come even close to accessing the better job market (Chalari, 2013) Career change For some the economic crisis opens their eyes, they can join with others and be able to find something that can benefit others too. Some go into small scale farming, supply. Most people start from small self- employment to something better just through savings (Chalari, 2013) Attitude change Due to the strenuous atmosphere, a majority of people’s mental health is affected, stress and depression causes some to be rough, angry and with a very bad temper while some become very vulnerable, weak and lack concentration. Time factor Most parents become distant with their kids, odd working hours, and busy schedules derive most families, interactive time, and time to catch up. Most teenagers at this time end u influencing each other in bad ways leading to drug abuse, early pregnancies, and truancy. High cost of living Economic crisis comes with a rise in most of the commodities. Life becomes unbearable for most families since affording meals and other basic needs becomes a task. Most have to make huge sacrifices in order to pull through the crisis (Chalari, 2013) Morality The cases of immorality in some areas increases while in some it decreases depending on demand and supply. Prostitution increases and drug markets widen. People decide to create means to generate income however necessary. Use example about economic crisis for social changes in contemporary society Prolonged crisis causes very sluggish growth in the society up to the justice system. The distribution of wealth, health and family formation becomes biased. The start of long-term projects to analyze over the years will likely create a stability that will reduce the negative impact on change. Most families will be able to find a way to avoid exhaustion of resources since most deal with uncertain housing and job opportunities. Most of the security benefits that come after job loss have not been clearly set for everyone’s availability, through this the rate of instability after an economic crisis will be reduced, most people will be able to access the pension plan. Unfortunately, most people assume or rather are not well informed on the benefits that come with schemes, therefore, end up hitting rock bottom. The high rates of unemployment make life unbearable and most end up in shelters, the society lacks value on those people, and they end up feeling discriminated, when a crisis hits, some of the shelters lack support, and more people end up in the streets. Mental problems may arise leading to sudden deaths, suicide, and abandonment. Severe budget reductions have been met in public institutions, the state budgets are interfered with, and every cost is reduced so that they can sustain most of the major projects and duties. The pressure on school boards becomes too much causing institutions to close early and give unnecessary breaks to manage. There is also a destruction of rural areas to build up cheaper facilities to accommodate those in the low labor market and try creating ways to solve the matters in place. This leads to the destruction of the environment and the domestic set-up. Once a rural place is made urban, the lifestyle is completely affected. Urban-rural migration is always in the rise during the time of crisis, mostly if one spouse is the one being depended on. The rest of the family has to move back. Life in the rural area is more affordable compared to the life in urban centers. This distracts and affects the life of children in a very negative way. There is a gap between the wealthy and the poor which increases widely. The rich do not get affected by the crisis since they have a certain amount to spare. The poor end up living below the set living standards. This causes division in the society and social views. Consumption rates in most households reduce significantly, some end up being affected health wise and mentally. The children are likely to face emotional distress and end up depending on others to survive; some may start to avoid their friends while they notice the changes. The products are likely to get stale meaning even the marketers get affected by the changes. The relationship between economic crisis and social changes Concepts on the changes are caused by psychological differences, relations, independence and their role in the society. An economic crisis is mostly followed by a fall in life expectancy. Most of the humans end up focusing on fixing their lives to be able to sustain their lifestyle. Regions mostly affected are the urban set-ups. Life in the urban regions is expensive compared to the rural region. Once an economic crisis hits a region the social behavior around people changes, rates of crime cases reported increases, most marriages and relationships get hit by the change in finances, most of the people end up losing their source of income, mostly those on the low casual labor market. Most people in the ages between 30 and 60 are affected by lifestyle change, obesity kicks in since they are looking for cheaper options and are busy in the offices, high blood pressure and other illnesses brought by psychological problems and stress are likely to cause their death, reducing life expectancy. Alcohol consumption increases in most households causing a greater risk to health and their image to the society. Drug abuse is also at a rise in this time, people use it as a ‘consolation to their problems. A negative effect by the crisis led to a strain in most marriages. The rate of happiness, satisfaction, child bearing and communication reduced. From the book Journal of marriage and family, by Theodore N. Greenstein; the research was done on 76 couples, it was found that the wife’s income was negatively related to change while the working hours was positively related. Divorce at this time and separation become rampant since most people cannot even stand each other during the struggle. The social behavior of people also changes when there is an economic crisis, most people need to create a budget control thus limiting their social interactions and friends around. The capital spent on miscellaneous material is also reduced to meet the cost of important goods. In the high-end society, the economic crisis does not affect them much since they have extra capital to develop and use. The negative impact on the economy does not change anything around them; they do not feel the pinch as much as the people from the low labor market. The employee and employer relationship is also affected, the employer worries about their employers asking for an increment in their salaries to be able to meet their needs while the employee worries that the company might not be able to sustain all of them and might have to cut the number of those employed on contracts. Once an economic crisis hits, the rate of unemployment increases, for most of the people working, working hours are reduced, meaning people work less than they could have hoped for. During this time, most people are forced to move out of their houses since they end up facing foreclosure. Houses become expensive, and most people are faced with difficulties paying. Most people with bank loans are forced to give up things they signed loans with as collateral. Self-help institutions that have people on the low-income level face a difficult time too, most people do not have money to save, so they end up closing their accounts and withdrawing all the cash. Finding ways to cover this might help the youth to be able to avoid social inequalities in future. Bibliography Chalari, A. 2014. ‘The Subjective Experiences of Three Generations during the Greek Economic Crisis.’ World Journal of Social Science Research, Vol 1 No1, pp89-109. Durkheim, E. 1982 ‘The Rules of Sociological Method’, W.D. Halls. NY, NY: The Free Press. Kathrink, K. et al. 2014. In the wake of the economic crisis Social change and welfare state reforms. Department of Sociology. Sweden Press Scott J. S 2003, ‘Economy and Society in Marx, Durkheim, and Webe’ Weber, M . 1968. ‘Economy and Society: Part I and II.’ CA: The University of California Press. Read More