Analysis of Concerning the Contemporary Australian Rural Home - Report Example

SOCIOLOGY Name Institution Introduction The difference in the rural community from the urban community has necessitated the socio-economic studies to ascertain the actual life aspects in both cases. The analysis of different communal background is a sound study backed up by myriad theories that explain and illustrate the livelihood among the communities. More particular, when the study focuses on the rural community, more aspects of the livelihood, particularly the families and youth suicide in the rural society give major areas of discussion. The key to understanding the rural society in terms of their environment, influential social and economic systems is to learn about how these factors change, and sustain them in the resilience of knowledge of these factors’ dynamism. The purpose of this paper is to analyze and examine the rural communities based on the given sociologic theories to explain the notions of communication, cohesion, as well as the social exclusion, which invites cases like families and youth suicides. The following examination and analysis pays close attention to the issues emerging in the modern rural set ups and relate them to the existing theories. Discussion Many studies have been conducted concerning the contemporary Australian rural home. Rural sociologists have emerged and many scholars have devoted quality time in examining the social aspects of the rural communities. According to Australian Sociological Association Rural Issues thematic Group (n.d.), the basic understanding and many analyses have been based on exploration of the issues affecting the social aspects like isolations, policies (for instance natural resources and disasters, health and education issues), work ethics, as well as the challenges to the family life. It has also been of the general understanding that rural communities in both Australia and globally are the sole producers of food and other important resources, hence their importance. To effectively analyze these rural issues, this study starts with the challenges of the rural communities. According to Sampson, Goodrich, and McManus (2011), the rural New Zealand areas have different kinds of families. As in most case, some of these families have lived in these areas for long while others have not. They have established sufficient networks, as those who have not lived in these areas for long have just little experience in living in these rural areas. However, just like in urban areas, each family has its own problems and challenges, particularly in raising their children. Challenges of securing education opportunities, and communities engagements are prevalent in thee areas. The new members of the communities are accepted through the mentoring acts of the older member of the community thus the community is built through the natural processes of acceptance and inclusion. In their examination, Sampson, Goodrich, and McManus (2011) realized that building on trust and understanding, as well as negotiation of local networks and norms, social capital has empowered the communities. The building of the community through numerous social developments has enabled the rural New Zealand communities to help their families and manage the processes of rural life transitions as the best way of supporting the young families. Communion According to Dr Crichton, the idea of localism is the sense of coexistence of people in the local context. The coexistence in this case may be in terms of the micro-sociological aspects of the communities and engagement that makes members of the community to posses the feeling of well being. This is more evidenced during the time of hardship with the distinct engagement with a common objective within the specified time and space. The theory of communion explains that such engagements distinctively create senses of identity and personal engagement to others as defined by the emerging events (Lawrence, Gray, Stehlik, and Bulis, 1998). This theory also brings people together, and thus bounding a particular group of people who do not need to ordinarily have anything else in common. According to Bell and Newby (1976), communion is built on emotional ties that are critical on binding people together. In the same way, Sampson, Goodrich, and McManus (2011) argues that communion is also emotional ties that are built on common disadvantage and mutual support like in the case of communion in action. In a perfect comparison, the theory of communion is evident in the New Zealand rural community as explained by Sampson, Goodrich, and McManus (2011) since there is the building of the community through numerous social developments which has enabled the rural New Zealand communities to help their families and manage the processes of rural life transitions as the best way of supporting the young families. The social challenges are managed communally and the new members of the community are accepted and mentored through the common practices that alleviate the communal developments. Social Capital between Families and Communities According to Bell and Newby (1976), the intensity of the need and prevalence of the social capital trend in rural shows a strong and significant difference from the urban community. Rural communities have characteristically higher levels of interdependency and participation in the voluntary sectors than urban centers. However, the social capital has been shown to be stronger in rural areas than in urban areas. Woodhouse (2006) acknowledges that relationships in rural areas are based on close and strong ties of the neighborhoods, thus resulting into greater levels of social capital which has been fostered by good community development. Cohesion Just like communion, the theory of cohesion is based on the aspects of communion togetherness through common understanding and approaches of the societal challenges that face the rural communities. However, cohesion is more concerned with the commitment and involvement to one another through a mutual support of every member of the community. In practical sense, and as Sampson, Goodrich, and McManus (2011) illustrate in the case of the rural communities in the New Zealand, the communities there have managed to mobilize social capital through sustainable cohesion. More than that, through cohesion, some families in these areas have come together to use their social capital in order to improve their economic and social positions. This is majorly the case due to the coordinated and collective actions of these families. This is what also is used to illustrate the important of support, trust, and reciprocity, in the process of localism and cohesion. This analysis proves that in the communal analysis of the rural families, one of the most relevant theoretical aspects is cohesion. Rural Youth Suicide Numerous alarms have been raised in the rural Australian communities of the risen suicide among the young people of these communities. According to Bourke (2003), a comparative analysis of suicide among the young members of both urban and rural communities indicates that the vice is higher in the rural communities than in the urban communities in the same analysis, it was also realized that that young women are also at the risk of committing suicide, despite the problem being more prevalent among the young youth. The sociological studies aimed at finding the root course of such issues in these communities found out that there are three main causes of the problem. At individual level, there are psychological issues of disorders and abuse, at the social and devalued youth level, there are high unemployment and underemployment rates in the regional areas as well as the cultural stigma. As Brouke (2003) argues out, the aspects of social confusion and depression and sinister thinking, despite the social support these youths get from the communities, has been part of the reasons why these unfortunate situations occurs in the Australian rural communities. As confirmed by Bourke (2003), through the devaluation of the young members of the Australian rural communities, the young people expected total belief and trust in them from the older members and the authority figures. Conversely, or rather unfortunately, most of them look at the adults and the authority as suggestively expecting them to fail. This makes them resort to suicide. Close analysis also reveals that luck of job and unwarranted source of income has spread the stigma of unemployment and as many youths resort to migrating to urban areas, others suffer from the boredom of the rural societal problems and resort to other alternatives like suicide. Considering the sociological concepts about these situations, the theory of social exclusion can best explain this. Through the breakdown of the community as one, according to Bourke (2003), theories like social exclusion and communion can best explain the vice of the youths committing suicide in the rural communities. Social exclusion Social exclusion is the feeling of the communal neglect on the well being and potentiality of a person. Commonly seen among the young youths of rural communities, young people fail to feel valued in the small communities and are thus experiencing perceptions of exclusion. They feel neglected, unwanted, and suffer from the stigma of no importance (Bourke, 2003). According to Dorling (2010), personal dignity goes beyond satisfaction of the basic human needs alone. It also encompasses the aspects of self actualization, achievement and motivation in life. More than that, it involves the feeling of being productive and welcomed in the society as responsible. The frequent emphasis of a better life away from home and the structures of the social hierarchies in the rural set ups have therefore contributed highly to the effect of social exclusions. The “people talk” by Bourke (2003), is a perfect illustration of the feeling of neglect with many youths wondering where to turn to in the events they don’t fit in the society. More importantly, the teachers in the rural schools do not offer adequate psychological consolations and advices to help the confused young men of the society. The values of appreciation of being responsibly constructive to the community have spread the stigma of social exclusion and thus young men committing suicide more rapidly. Mental illness has also spread the stigma to much great lengths. The Concepts of Natural Disasters Natural disasters are some of the natural occurrences beyond human interventions such as droughts and floods, earthquakes and others. These calamities tend to be associated with the idea that nobody in the world has control over them. Given the existing literature, there are numerous suggestions that government intervention as well as individual planning can at some points alleviate the impacts of these natural calamities. A close examination of the drought case in the rural communities shows that drought conditions affects the way people relate to each other in the rural set ups. All the same, the rural set ups present people who are ready to come together and engage neighbors over natural occurrences like drought. In addition, despite the painful facts that natural calamities like drought and floods dissolve some communities, these communities collect themselves again and strategize on the plan of action on the common problem, and mostly move away from the disaster zone together as noted by Bell and Newby (1976). These acts of communal dependencies on each other best explains the theory of communion and cohesion as demonstrated through the ideology of localism. The two theories may be used conversely si9cnce communion may tend to be more transitory while cohesion tends to be more sustainable. However, tall of them are required by the communities for survival. The protection of natural resources and other important social capital chains are very critical in keeping the rural communities in a cohesive manner. Challenges of Rural Community, Globally and in Australia The rural communities globally, according to Sampson, Goodrich, and McManus (2011), face different sets of challenges, most of which are extraordinary and others are common human challenges. The complexities of the rural challenges are embedded to sparse human population settlement patterns, being isolated geographically, and being neglected from the national economic systems as subordinates to urban communities. The urban-rural system has been substantiated with the technological changes which have resulted from globalization effects thus leading to the interdependence scenarios between the two communities. The local economy, the prevailing conditions among the rural residences, as well as the local environment have contributed much of the existing rural challenges as discussed below. As it will also be found out in the subsequent discussions, it is true also that despite the challenges that are attached to the rural communities, some unique attributes of the rural areas have been cherished by the residence, as well as other tourists that have kept close relationships. Cultural preservations, histories, animals, plants, and other natural resources have been of great treasures in the rural set ups. In discussing the challenges of the rural communities, the positive and the negative aspects of the rural communities are paramount in providing distinctive outcome of the analysis. Some of the challenges in the rural communities include, Poor access to healthcare The fundamental of human survival is built on heath and healthcare. The availability of the facilities that provide better health care as found in the urban centers makes world a better place for everyone. However, in the rural set ups, these facilities are much maligned and scarcely available. The few available ones are very inefficient and are therefore not effective enough for healthcare sustainability cases. Many people have lost their lives out of diseases, both natural and mental, and many are still dying out of the neglect of a proper healthcare. In urban communities on the other hand, the ‘‘an eat man society’’ through technological advancements has improved efficiency and availability of health care. Many people can get proper if not excellent healthcare in the urban set ups as opposed to the rural set ups. Education Relief of ignorance and the foundation of knowledge and skills that can help the survival of humanity are best found in the learning institutions. Just it has been said by many philosophers, sociologists and researchers, that information is light, that light is lucking in the rural set ups. The notion of the backwardness technologically in the rural areas has been attributed to the poor and few learning facilities in the rural communities. Many young men drop out of schools since they loose focus of education and resort to other uneconomically viable practices like alcoholisms and drug abuse. The prevalence in the increase of young youth committing suicide has also been attributed to the poor methods of teaching in the rural schools. The worst scenario in the rural education is the inaccessibility of these learning institutions. Teen pregnancy One of the social discomforts is the dawning reality that young girls drop out of schools due to pregnancy cases. It has become a challenge as the motional and psychological impacts of the effects of such occurrences cause much stigma which is traumatic to the teenagers and their parents, as well as the community. Unemployment Unemployment in the rural communities is prevalent and common among most rural communities in the world due to the exclusion from important resources by the central economy. Policy makers pull more focus on the developments of the urban areas and neglect the rural counterpart, thus leading to unfair distribution of resources in the larger country. Low levels of investments in the rural set ups cause low job creation initiatives and therefore, the young and skilled people fail to secure jobs. They then move to urban areas to sure job opportunity. Lack of job, and therefore lack of income, leads to desperations among the youth in the rural communities and they are prone to suffering from economic desperations. Conclusion In the wake of industrial revolution, sociology has been a more contributing factor in the learning of the cultural, social, political, environmental, as well as economical elements of different communities in the world. The philosophical attributes off sociology and the natural cause of knowledge has enabled sociologist to uncover many important truths about these communities as well. More importantly, being guided by the responses to the people’s interest in understanding the new world, sociology has impacted particularly to the scrutiny of change and conflicts of the wider society. Through the analysis of the relationship of human relationship and adaptability for survival, family issues, communion issues, and the socio-economic aspect of these communities are deeply uncovered. Just as the challenges in the rural set ups, the sociological studies look into the demographic factors, as well as the interrelationships of the human lives like hierarchies, families, work, political and religious issues. It is therefore very critically important for the concerned parties like the policy makers to consider sociological reports and information in the process of ensuring regional balance in terms of development. Just as discussed above, rural communities have suffered at the expense of the urban counterparts because of the neglects of the governments. Despite being the sole sources of resources and agricultural products, many countries in the world still neglect the communities making the rural areas. Through the analysis of the social capital, social structures, community developments, communities of resistance, as well as family relationships and ties, sociologists like Carl Marx have had great impacts to the rationality of learning man and his surrounding. 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