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Changes in Our Society: Where are we heading?

Change in societal institutions also changes the character of the control which the institutions exercise on norms of conduct.

ByBramhacharimayum Sadananda Sharma

Updated 12 Jun 2020, 6:10 am

Representational image (PHOTO: Pixabay)
Representational image (PHOTO: Pixabay)

When we discuss social change, it is not specifically the changes in our human behavior. Social change comes with different changes in our societal institutions including family, religion, and education. Individuals maturing in a society internalise institutional patterns and learn to live accordingly. The main factor in the interaction of groups according to institutional patterns is the establishment of basic norms of conduct. If we go deviated from these norms, it is considered as criminal behavior or act against society norms and conducts or morality.

Now, the most important question most of the societies facing today is how to uphold a rational balance in this rapidly increasing social change so that this changes in society are not only the factors or reasons for increase of crime rate. Change in societal institutions also changes the character of the control which the institutions exercise on norms of conduct.

A well-known fact of our human existence is that all the societies tend to move from tight institutional integration to social disintegration, this is an inevitable process and this can be seen particularly in regard to the influence of the family, religion and education upon young people and has led to a termed “permissive society”, where society has a great deal of fewer restrictions on an individual’s social, physical and intellectual mobility, which can weakens the moral and socio-cultural structures necessary for a civilised and valid society.

We live in a society where the internet and social media influences are higher than our traditional family customs and norms; we used to defy our elder's advice and accepted wisdom thinking that their thoughts and advice are not relevant in today’s generation. Right from our upbringing, our intellect and concepts are crammed up with news of crime viz. rape, murder, corruption meaning we grew up bearing in mind and believe that our society is unmanaged and rugged.

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Information on pessimistic ideas and incidents comes each day, so our intelligence started to acknowledge and consider the fact that negative news and information made us feel thrilled and news without crime is not appealing. We often rejoice less about good achievements, this raise in the progression of changing a society, where only misdeed and unwanted things happen every day and we started to take it casually as a normal routine. Yes, this is factual but if this mindset continues, we need to ask ourselves, where are we heading? And what kind of bright future we look forward to?

Most of us cannot accept this reality that we are changing day by day not only in economy, education, science, and technology but also in our social norms and conducts. Slowly generation gap has been paving and creating a society who knows little of who we are? What are principles of our society? You may reflect upon what one can single-handedly do in a society; and find many examples of single man making immense things happen only with a small step with an urge to do something different.

A human existence is not only about being born and engaged in our work for entire life; we are the most superior species in every aspect on this planet. There must be a purpose and a reason for our existence in our society. We need to keep asking the question and should crave on doing something significant for our society. Just like, we pollute our environment in different mediums. Our societal mind too is getting polluted with negative, toxic and poisonous thoughts with each passing day.

That news bulletin of crimes happening far and wide in our society is not to amuse us every morning, it is a clear signal of warning that we need to be conscious and concern about this rapidly changing society and to act upon it. Things take time to mature, just as we are matured in this society feeding with dishonesty, corruption, misdeed, and negativities. It is never too late to redirect our energy to an optimistic and positive approach. Let us extend love, care, and harmony instead of hatred, discrimination, disregard, looking down on one another.

Discipline in a society is the essence of a society. These days’ people pay less consideration and attentions in this topic and gradually the significance of discipline is vanishing from our society. On the contrary, the height of criticising and demoralising one another is also becoming an element of life and nothing good or fruitful is going to come out from this and this is a very big loss to our society, which has always been used as an example of discipline, principles, hard work, honesty and intellect.

Also we never make an effort to recognise someone’s value in our life with this attitude of hypercritical in everything creates an enormous gap in shaping society, many people’s from different communities desires to collectively do something good for the society take the reverse of their decision considering what the society will think.

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Hope is a very powerful thing, when societies are in the verge of losing hope and falling apart many young minds, concern organisations, volunteers stand up functioning day and night to bring together those broken pieces. But we barely appreciate them and never realised their importance and the role that they play in our society.

In a society, we should appreciate more and judge less. Criticising and judging others can cause a massive consequence, this practice or culture won’t take time to broaden and turn into a socially accepted craze. Visualise a potential future where we are dragging down each other’s leg so that no one escapes from this nightmare.

However, only a negligible number of people are practicing and spreading these kinds of negativities and the larger population, though they are full of positivity and dream a dream of a good society, either brushes off such an issue or stay as a mere spectator.

It is time for one and all to act against such negativism and stop neglecting such issues thinking why I should be bothered, and wait for somebody or a hero for that matter, to bring the desired change. As the saying goes “Little drops of water makes a mighty ocean” the issues which we are neglecting today as small and irrelevant, if not taken care of, will surely become a huge problem in future. It might seem like I am making a mountain out of a molehill but I firmly believe that the issues in hand has turned into a mountain which have been neglected as a molehill.

 

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Tags:

social normssocial changesocial disintegration

Bramhacharimayum Sadananda Sharma

Bramhacharimayum Sadananda Sharma

Scholar, M. Sc. IT at NIELIT, Imphal, Manipur

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