Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Park Ye Jee/Time keeping writing / TUE 9 AM

<Living alone or with smaller family>

 

One day I saw news happening in Japan. The news was about "lonely death". Specifically, many people were dying and not being discovered for a long time. The reason was that as they were living alone, they began to have fewer social contacts. I think this phenomenon is a dark side of modern society in which there are many people who are living alone or with smaller members of family. As the society change from traditional to modern lifestyles, more people choose to live alone or with much smaller families. Then, what are the causes of these trends?

I think 2 main causes: Industrialization and extension of women's rights.

 

First, industrialization can be one of the causes. In the past, most people lived in an agriculture community. To cultivate fields or farms, many people had to work together by which, a large numbers of family developed and they lived closely to help the work each other. However, as the economic structure began to change from agriculture to other industries, more and more people moved to cities from country to get a new job. As a result, people didn't need to live together any more. The job was mostly done individually. It caused people to live separately or with smaller members.

 

Second, the extension of women's rights can be another factor. As the value or belief of the society changes, the chance for women to get education has also increased. It results in higher participation of women in the industry. It means that women considered marriage and birth as an option, not as necessary things. It has accelerated for the society to have much more nuclear families.

 

Due to these causes, the society is changing. Is it good or bad? I think this situation is like mixed blessing. It has both advantage and disadvantage.

As an advantage, the nuclear family structure is well matched to fast-paced world. So living alone or with smaller family can help to adapt to the world.

On the other hand, the social problems like egoism or an extreme individualism can be disadvantages.

 

I think this trend will continue. What we have to do is to try keep this structure in good way and to take care of people around us.

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