Social Disintegration
The result of trying too hard to be accepting, toward non-interference, to believe that a balance will be achieved naturally, sometimes has tragic consequences. In a liberal-minded atmosphere of child-rearing when parents sometimes feel they have as much to learn from their children as their children can learn from them, we can sometimes forget the real purpose of discipline.
It is not necessarily to impose our will upon recalcitrant young minds, but rather to instill a sense of personal obligation, self-reliance and purpose in the young, to help create character, to learn to practise compassion toward others, to become an integral part of society.
Our attitudes are occasionally too relaxed about our own obligations and purpose as parents.
Our children's intelligence, resilience and quest for knowledge intrigues and impresses us, and we feel they are capable of observing and drawing conclusions exclusive of our assistance. That, if we create an atmosphere of comfort for them, and live our own lives in a manner we would like them to emulate, they will naturally gravitate to that way of living their own lives.
They will adopt our values. They will learn to adapt themselves to society around them applying the lessons in ethics and morals they will have picked up from us. That is, if we demonstrate those social mores that are so integral to producing well-balanced human beings.
If, as parents, we not only neglect to ourselves behave civilly and exhibit ethical tendencies, but fail to teach them to our children as well, because we cannot see the value in it, we've failed.
Examples abound; one need look no further than the dysfunction of female head of single-parent families living in assisted housing projects in Toronto whose male offspring have gravitated, without the steady guiding hand of a male parent, toward the easy pickings of drug trafficking and the comfort of joining street gangs.
Excluded from the larger society, their inclusion in a street gang gives them public credibility and personal satisfaction in that particular community.
And they're a scourge on their community and on society at large. Common street crimes like car thefts are now perpetrated by young men between the ages of 12 and 17. It's estimated that fully 85% of young men in Canadian prisons are members of street gangs. Gun violence is a stunning and growing problem, with no end in sight.
The incidence of common-law partnerships is steadily growing in Canada; said to be at 13% in the country, but in the Province of Quebec a full 35%. Which on the face of it, seems fine between consenting adults, but in common-law relationships it's fairly easy for partners to simply walk away from one another. Complicated somewhat when children are involved, particularly with a proven more-frequent incidence of break-up.
As far as role-modelling is concerned, that too is yet another concern. Society sees massive increases in violent crime and divorce rates generally, as values are relaxed and acceptance of casual relationships with little thought given to consequences of lack of commitment. It's a severe social dysfunction, a decomposition of traditional societal mores and values.
In any society that values the place of children, this is all inimical to that fragile demographic.
The result is that 26% of families with children are led by a single parent - usually female. Out-of-wedlock births reached 37% back in 2005; one can only assume it has since grown. It's true that there is no longer social stigma attached to children born out of wedlock. But there is the undeniable truth that such children are being short-changed as far as stability of lifestyle and prospects is concerned.
Critics point to the presence of hip-hop music, with its underworld and misogynistic messages as integral to the rapid deterioration of social cohesion, leading to anti-social pathologies of non-inclusiveness, male domination, of rejection of traditional social mores, of growing casualness in ethical and moral behaviour.
Individuals no longer become involved in community. Self-actualization, one's own interests are first and foremost, and that's one of the reasons why people seem incapable of forming long-lasting personal bonds with one another in traditional relationships. Moderation is passe, fidelity a virtual unknown, and personal responsibility fading from the scene.
We're all so busy entitling ourselves, seeking quick gratification, looking for validation from others rather than expecting it from our own sense of obligation to ourselves, to those around us. If society collapses any further, then surely we'll see a rebound in social decency and social obligations. Won't we?
It is not necessarily to impose our will upon recalcitrant young minds, but rather to instill a sense of personal obligation, self-reliance and purpose in the young, to help create character, to learn to practise compassion toward others, to become an integral part of society.
Our attitudes are occasionally too relaxed about our own obligations and purpose as parents.
Our children's intelligence, resilience and quest for knowledge intrigues and impresses us, and we feel they are capable of observing and drawing conclusions exclusive of our assistance. That, if we create an atmosphere of comfort for them, and live our own lives in a manner we would like them to emulate, they will naturally gravitate to that way of living their own lives.
They will adopt our values. They will learn to adapt themselves to society around them applying the lessons in ethics and morals they will have picked up from us. That is, if we demonstrate those social mores that are so integral to producing well-balanced human beings.
If, as parents, we not only neglect to ourselves behave civilly and exhibit ethical tendencies, but fail to teach them to our children as well, because we cannot see the value in it, we've failed.
Examples abound; one need look no further than the dysfunction of female head of single-parent families living in assisted housing projects in Toronto whose male offspring have gravitated, without the steady guiding hand of a male parent, toward the easy pickings of drug trafficking and the comfort of joining street gangs.
Excluded from the larger society, their inclusion in a street gang gives them public credibility and personal satisfaction in that particular community.
And they're a scourge on their community and on society at large. Common street crimes like car thefts are now perpetrated by young men between the ages of 12 and 17. It's estimated that fully 85% of young men in Canadian prisons are members of street gangs. Gun violence is a stunning and growing problem, with no end in sight.
The incidence of common-law partnerships is steadily growing in Canada; said to be at 13% in the country, but in the Province of Quebec a full 35%. Which on the face of it, seems fine between consenting adults, but in common-law relationships it's fairly easy for partners to simply walk away from one another. Complicated somewhat when children are involved, particularly with a proven more-frequent incidence of break-up.
As far as role-modelling is concerned, that too is yet another concern. Society sees massive increases in violent crime and divorce rates generally, as values are relaxed and acceptance of casual relationships with little thought given to consequences of lack of commitment. It's a severe social dysfunction, a decomposition of traditional societal mores and values.
In any society that values the place of children, this is all inimical to that fragile demographic.
The result is that 26% of families with children are led by a single parent - usually female. Out-of-wedlock births reached 37% back in 2005; one can only assume it has since grown. It's true that there is no longer social stigma attached to children born out of wedlock. But there is the undeniable truth that such children are being short-changed as far as stability of lifestyle and prospects is concerned.
Critics point to the presence of hip-hop music, with its underworld and misogynistic messages as integral to the rapid deterioration of social cohesion, leading to anti-social pathologies of non-inclusiveness, male domination, of rejection of traditional social mores, of growing casualness in ethical and moral behaviour.
Individuals no longer become involved in community. Self-actualization, one's own interests are first and foremost, and that's one of the reasons why people seem incapable of forming long-lasting personal bonds with one another in traditional relationships. Moderation is passe, fidelity a virtual unknown, and personal responsibility fading from the scene.
We're all so busy entitling ourselves, seeking quick gratification, looking for validation from others rather than expecting it from our own sense of obligation to ourselves, to those around us. If society collapses any further, then surely we'll see a rebound in social decency and social obligations. Won't we?
posted by Pieface | 6:51 PM
2 Comments:
Excellent. I was wondering if you have by any chance read Evelyn Waugh's Handful of Dust. The social and moral disintegration of society is documented very well there.
Thank you. No, I have not.
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