Can Society In Ultra-West Nations Survive A Breakdown Of The Family Unit?

The nuclear family is the core unit of society in those new nations carved out by European migrants in territories over the seas previously occupied by indigenous tribes. The latter, like the traditional societies of Asia and Europe (or parts thereof), are composed of kin family units.
These migrants would, in the main, have left established nations in Europe or sundry kingdoms or principalities, for religious, economic or official policy reasons (eg. Britain's cultural cleansing of those deemed to be criminal, or otherwise undesirable).
The nation, as a territory-related people, is a socio-political construct (or artificially created entity), arising in Europe no more than five centuries ago. Presumably reflecting the schisms within Christianity, tribes of a coherent people, bonded by a shared religious belief, history, territory, language, other cultural traditions, and consanguinity demarcated the defining boundaries (both geographical and tribo-cultural) to ensure separation from non-congruent or competing tribes.
Purely as an aside, at its height, European colonialism extended the reality of nationhood outside Europe by establishing national borders. These boundaries created new nations, disregarding pre-existing kingdoms or ethnic enclaves, often dividing peoples, just to achieve a balance of power between the European nations. The resultant tribal wars (eg. between India and Pakistan) may, however, have offered economic opportunities to the neo-colonisers of the modern day.
Migrating multitudes mixed peoples from source countries in the new territories in a manner not evidenced before. Without extended family support, necessary self-sufficiency developed. The subsequent eventual development of ethno-religious conglomerates probably resulted in loosely-knit communities.
However, the American scholar Francis Fukuyama has recently written about the great disruption to US society. Could one wonder whether the killing of the indigenes and the despoliation of their cultures has left some kind of debilitating residue in the national psyche? Be rational, obey the law, and look after your self-interest: these were apparently posited as a guide to a life expressing personal initiative in a land of opportunity.
Whatever the relevance of the above, Fukuyama's analysis is shadowed by a casual but extended observation of Australian society.
In Australia, where individualism is somewhat leavened by state welfare, this author's experiences and acute observations over six decades lead him to the following conclusions. The family unit, the fulcrum of society, and the vehicle for the transmission of the youth of the nation to their future, has been fractured. In the absence, or a substantive denial, of available extended family, a breakdown of marriage or cohabitation of duration leaves children in a parlous situation. There is no kin back-up available.
Since up to 40% of marriages are reportedly at risk, and since many, many fathers are allegedly denied continuing close relationships, as dictated by nature, with their children, what happens to the psychological needs of the children in broken families? Only recently has there been any admission that the children are adversely affected. Earlier claims that there is no evidence of damage did not seem credible, when one considers the imperatives of nature.
Yet, only the career needs of mothers, and their success in balancing motherhood and work, fill the media reports. The extended periods spent in professional care by babies and little children, the denial of their right to nestle at length in the arms of the mothers and, when older, to ask a million questions about all those interesting things out there, and to talk about all that, is never the subject of interest in the media. Why not? Fortunately, in low-employment districts, the children are seen to be receiving the entitlements designed by nature.
Then, there is a perceivable diminution of mutual respect, the reported denial by many youngsters of personal responsibility to contribute to the operation of the family unit, the audible spoilt child in the shops, a reported increase in the number of single mothers, and the seemingly escalating exploitation of welfare (especially the disability pension) by able-bodied people.
Fukuyama identifies in his analytical book 'The Great Disruption' other evidence of social alienation (but in the USA). He instances mealtimes, now lacking the 'structured rituals' of yesteryear, when families ate together, with parents thereby enabled to offer information and counsel to their offspring and, reciprocally, for the latter to talk about matters of relevance to them. This reinforces the bonds of the family.
Fukuyama also instances the risks of blending separated part-families, and the deleterious effects of broken homes on school learning.

The Many Benefits Of Culture Study For All

Do you ever wonder why you act differently from those living in the other parts of the world? If this is something that you want to learn in details, then, culture study could be the best option for you. By studying the societies across the globe, you will see the implications of the difference in location and the evolution of various behaviors.
There are some people though who need not travel abroad in order to experience varied traditions as they already exist in the country where they live. United States is a great example of such a country. It is advisable that people residing in here be educated to on how to cope with their condition. People find it more difficult to live in a multi-cultural country than in a country that only has one.
Besides surfing the internet for some information that may help, going to school and getting the appropriate subjects could be more meaningful. For some, they spend months of vacation or work in the country of their interest just to study culture.
There are many benefits that we can get from culture studies. In fact, through it we learn other areas of study besides the society. These are anthropology, archeology, geography, history, economics, civics and political science.
It is interesting to know that all these can show how human behaviors are developed and how they work in the process of interaction among individuals in the different societies. For example, through history societies continue to gain more information that they will need to preserve and promote themselves. This is a great factor that shapes the way people think, act and live in general.
Intertwined with the study of anthropology (the evolution of man), culture study equips learners with the necessary skills in finding a job and interacting with the different people around them. By studying the human body and connecting it with norms and traditions, we get informed about the racial differences that we must avoid in order to work and live in harmony with other people. In fact, you can also connect psychology to this as it sees how different minds work and interact to different situations.
When paired with the economic or political science, knowledge about different cultures help us figure out the importance of laws that govern not only our country but our neighboring countries as well. It helps us answer certain questions like why do we need to follow rules and what impact can our actions make to other people.
Culture study, in general, allows us to understand how the different cultures came about. It also gives an overview of how peoples' behaviors vary from one place to another. With this, we can never judge or delegate which one is inferior or superior to which. Any change in them can impact affect the world we live in some way so we better embrace with them keen understanding. If done right, they can help raise generations of citizens that are responsible and exuding great ethical and moral values.

Elderly Workers in Society

An increasing number of elderly people are opting to spend their retirement years, continuing to work in their family businesses, using their experience from their work life in very profound and adaptive ways. Some are teaching their grandchildren and their peers, others prefer employment in service jobs and giving treasured advice in business and their place of work.
There is an economic argument to this. Tax legislation often has an influence on the labor force and on individual's decisions about joining the labor force. This is especially true of elderly people who may want to spend their time in paid work. Elderly people are often part-time workers due to their utility and leisure compensation from work post retirement. To elaborate on this, work is forthcoming as a result of its compensation, that is the hourly wage or monthly income and off-work time is spent as leisure time. More hours worked means less time spent leisurely and although more hours of work also mean more income, there is a decline in utility that stems from ageing.
As part time work does not often get compensation pay, which is for over time, lower tax rates on incomes or tax exemptions that have become legislation in some Western countries allow more of this labor to be forth coming. However, the other side to this argument is government debt. A lot of governments do not raise this issue of government debts, as a matter of policy avoiding a political debate over a potentially controversial issue. Instead they turn to the argument of lowering the tax rates to reduce withdrawals from household expenditure and the economy.
Elderly workers who come from an age cohort where they believe in government services and public schemes are very supportive of these initiatives taken by the government to bring them within the reach of empowering their vote and hold particular sway over the old age pension benefit schemes and tax policies.
The issues outlined here political and economic, most income benefits schemes and income tax are designed to increase employment especially. In countries with aging populations this has become crucial with the ageing workforce. In South East Asia, the decline in birth rates as a result of the one child policy that a lot of Asian Governments have pursued during their development growth stages is also gradually changing their demographics.
Elderly workers post retirement age depend on pension schemes and other fixed income, retirement funds that are an asset. Why is this labor forth coming? And what do the majority of elderly workers do?
Teaching; working in a particular household industry; as most entrepreneurs work till after post retirement age at 65 years; private tutelage; professors; jobs in tertiary services; small domestic businesses; factory worker in poorer regions although there is legislation on work on the factory floor by elderly people; managing an inspection team based on experience are just a few examples of what elderly workers contribute in employment.
At times the decision to work comes primarily as a decision to not be entirely dependent on their families. The following interviews show how some elderly people work and the hindrances they come across; their disabilities and impediments of rapidly changing technology and their inability to adapt to it.
The first one of these is an elderly entrepreneur, the owner manager of a small restaurant business, that requires little paid up capital.
How long have you had this restaurant?
Thirty years.
Here, in the same place?
No. We have relocated recently. Competition has improved sales and it has been more fruitful to move to a location where other similar restaurants are locating. We serve traditional and western cuisine, so we have done reasonably well.
What changes have you noticed in your business over the years?
It has grown rapidly. People have to eat. Most of our customers come from nearby for their lunch break and people who are in town.
How are you coping with the price rises every year?
Prices are rising, but we have managed to cope.
How has that affected your business?
Prices have been rising gradually,but we have also experienced a steady rise in our walk in customers.
How about the popular food chains that have opened up?
Yes, younger people prefer fast food. Without these fast food chains my business would have been much better off.
How have you adapted your business to the changes in this environment?
Relocating has improved our customer base.
How many assistants do have to help you?
I have 5 assistants to help me. Two men, including my son, manage stores and supplies; I have a shop assistant at the sales counter and a cook with an assistant.
And what do you do?
I manage them. It was a 12 hour work job when I started but nowadays I prefer an early morning start and leave at noon. Supervision is very important in the proper running of a business.
Do you enjoy your work?
Yes, very much so.
Would you want your children to follow in your footsteps?
One of my sons works with me. The other son works for a company.
What are your views of the increasingly technological environment and do you feel you or your peers can adapt to this?
It is a good trend. We have to keep up with the changing technology in this world in order to compete with other countries. I cannot adapt to it. We have a computerized inventory check and sales that does away with a lot of the paper work.
Is it encouraging? And do you feel it has increased productivity in your work?
Yes. It is easier and more efficient to manage. You can keep a record of all transactions too.
Matthew Driscoll is CEO of a wealth advisory and financial consulting company that was founded twenty years ago. With robust health and a fitness regimen that few take time to enjoy, at 78 he has a hands on approach to his work based on his experience of 50 years in a company that boasts a growing clientele. But he says "I would never last in a new high tech firm with a rapidly changing market and sales planning well ahead of time". "I sell personal and corporate advise."
The incidence of elderly women in the workforce depends largely on their economic circumstances. Most women would work part-time for a monthly income of about $1000. The incidence of elderly women in the workforce is also lower than men. More elderly men are found in employment in tertiary sector and businesses although both elderly men and women find greater equality in job opportunity than earlier on in their lives.
A majority of female work is at home, groups of women assembling together to work on hand made products in cottage industry cannot be ruled out. Or simply helping to raise a fund. In western countries this has been a traditional past-time for the elderly that supplements family income in poorer regions in particular during times of economic crisis. It is the effort of these retired workers that produces quaint products that sell very well in the market.
What are some of the difficulties encountered by elderly workers in society? They are not easily adapted to a rapidly changing business environment and therefore are seldom found in work places that do not have a staple business with not more than 4-5 employees working as part of a team. Most elderly workers have simply stayed on post retirement as part-time employees, in jobs where there are opportunities of specialization resulting from their experience.
With the years of experience behind them, they can provide insights and are employed as instructors to train young trainees in shift jobs in a particular industry. Some of these shift patterns, their control and management involves developing communications skills and team work in producing a particular quantity of output. Productivity cannot always be measured precisely, high tech maintenance services for instance, are difficult to quantify in terms of productivity, and may be more fruitfully done through older technical workers with a considerable number of years experience behind them.
An entirely different aspect to this is elderly workers in society do not necessarily work in paid jobs. A distinction has to be made between paid economic work and non-paid work. Some elderly workers however, prefer not to join economic activity and make their contribution to society by working at home, work that full time working employees would simply not have enough time to undertake. Many elderly people work with children. It takes a lot of practice to help children with any work they have been given and having time to spend with children is a void that only grandparents and elderly people around them fill in.
With the increases in life expectancy we see a greater proportion of elderly people in society. Elderly people are often entitled to claims and benefits post retirement and so a legal definition arises for the elderly. Retirement ages are mandatory requirements in government jobs and corporations although most of these are abolished through legislation and elderly workers can work post retirement. Retirement normally has its problems primarily a loss of income and more leisure time and is for some a difficult transition to make. In societies where work economic and otherwise is an important aspect of life, retirement often means a loss of status and a withdrawal of society as a result of breaking contact with other workers.
Society is however, throughout the world becoming increasingly acceptable of elderly people in the work force and old age is not necessarily identified as ill health and ageing. In societies that are more traditional and the elderly have a status within the household, ambivalence to the elderly is certainly not absent.
With the aging populations in OECD countries, elderly people that continue to work is an important economic issue. However, the income differentials are an important indicator of work by the elderly and by younger income earners. Industry and the trends in the work force do largely cater to the younger and middle group income earners. Fixed income investments are all that the elderly age group have apart from their part time labour. Younger workers have expectations, but these expectations of future economic circumstances are uncertain.
The decisions of the elderly to stay in the workforce, where they have been self employed and are not a part of corporate pension schemes is encouraged by the fact that elderly workers are not entitled to unemployment benefits post retirement. Unemployment benefit schemes are largely for the working age group and are designed primarily to maintain their basic living expenses.

What Spiritual Lessons Can We Learn From Australian Aborigine Culture?

It has been suggested that the Australian Aborigine is primitive and uneducated; an animist who uses ritual to win the favour of the spirits controlling food, shelter, and fertility and to ward off malevolent forces.
Despite what sounds to the Western mind as believing in superstition, these semi-nomads have shown enormous intelligence by hunting and foraging for food, and thus surviving, in extreme conditions of the arid bush-land and desert wastes for over 30,000 years.
Like with other indigenous peoples, there is a sense of closeness with, and a deep respect, for the natural world of animals and plants. Full-blooded Aborigines, in their natural state, live in and are influenced by both the physical world and also by what they think of as a spirit world (dreamtime). They are not materialistically orientated like those of European descent. Their spiritual values have been reflected in a rich oral tradition of legend and ritual going back to ancient times, unaffected by the major world's religions.
And so the question arises whether there is anything of value in their way of life which can benefit us all today?
With white settlement of their tribal lands and consequent loss of identity and self-esteem, their culture is being lost. However, there are still some initiated into their legends and rituals who know the traditional meaning of rock and bark paintings, ceremonies and oral teachings.
Cyril Havecker lived close to the Warramunga Tribe and was seen as their blood-brother. He has written an illuminating book Understanding Aboriginal Culture.
All Aborigines, initiated into their tradition regardless of the tribe to which they belong, share a creation myth. Baiame is said to be the supreme intelligent creator spirit who dreamed of a future that he wanted to materialise. In other words there is thought to be a purpose behind the development of the world; all living things being brought into existence with the object of fulfilling a function in the great plan of life.
It is also taught that myriad portions of intelligence were taken from Baiame's supreme intelligence; each of these being a human soul (yowie).
There are said to be three inbuilt drives in each person - drives to survive, reproduce and achieve. These drives were to be the cause of all the trouble and mischief on the earth but also the cause of all that is positive and productive. Each soul was to have the will and freedom to discriminate between positive or negative action, choice being dependent on wisdom-knowledge and level of development. It was decided to give each soul a memory to prevent chaos.
Associated with this creation story is the claim that the physical world is connected to a psychic dimension by character vibrations and that this land of mystery actually exists. It is referred to in their mythology as the dreamtime.
The tradition teaches that the universe is a mental creation projected out of spirit essence. And so traditional healers and magicians (wirinun) who deal with spirits have been operative and are well known for their powers in extra-sensory perception and control of the mind. Induced emotion and directed thought are two powerful 'magical' weapons used by the wirinun. And so as part of training, such a person undergoes a strong personal discipline. This involves long periods of isolation, and restriction in diet.
It is said that when in a heightened state of consciousness, such individuals make contact with the ancestors in the spirit world (dreamtime); this being possible because each individual soul has two bodies - one material and also a spirit body (dowie). It is the latter that is apparently used to communicate with the ancestral spirits. The soul is said to never leave the body of the living except at physical death, when it goes to reside permanently in the dreamtime; this dimension only being continually experienced in a spirit body as it is not somewhere in space: it is all about us and it requires only the proper conditions to be contacted at any given time.
The wirinun, through training in concentration and the environment of the spirit world, use signs, symbols and incantations necessary to call up needed psychic entities. Whilst operating in what is regarded as a sacred area (bora ground) the magician is believed to be protected from demons. Such an individual never calls upon any spiritual entity with which he is not completely familiar for he says he must know their nature and aims. In
fact he often uses prayers (narmingatha) directed to the supreme intelligence (Baiame).
In seeking the aid of benign entities of the spiritual world he uses no words of compulsion, or extravagant terms. He asks earnestly and gives reasons. He does not ask for something that deprives people of what justly belongs to them or which gives an unmerited advantage over someone else.
A lot more could be written about this fascinating tradition. However to sum up, extra-sensory perception, survival after death, and constant contact with a much more knowledgeable spiritual world, are all widely accepted facts in traditional Aboriginal culture; as is the presence of a supreme divine spirit and other spirits who affect life on earth. In fact the whole of their lifestyle is subject to supernatural forces.
Is there anything here for us to learn?
Copyright 2012 Stephen Russell-Lacy

As a clinical psychologist, Stephen Russell-Lacy has specialised in cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy, working for many years with adults suffering distress and disturbance.

Are Humans Afraid of Having Too Much Time on Their Hands - Afraid to Think?

We live in one of the most innovative societies on this planet and for sure the greatest nation ever created in the history of mankind, and yet perhaps we haven't too easy, because it appears to me that most of the folks in this great society have turned their minds off. That's right, and I have observed this throughout our nation, as I have traveled to every single city in the United States, over a seven year period. What I have found while sitting in coffee shops, and talking to regular folks, is that many people have just stopped thinking. Okay so, let's talk about this for second shall we?
You see, I have been to coffee shops adjacent universities, around Washington DC, in Silicon Valley, and many other spots where more intellectually endowed folks tend to hang their hat. Still, I'm amazed at how few people can carry on an intellectual conversation much more than an hour or two. Their minds get tired, and they need to go find something else to do. Sometimes they even say; "I'm worn out, my head hurts." But, I ask why is that - that shouldn't happen in our society, especially not here in the US.
It's as if everyone procrastinates spending time for deep thought and that they are afraid of what they might think. My advice to society; don't make an excuse to go do something else, to post something on Facebook, send someone a text message, check the weather, or go online to look at something. Okay so, I wish to ask a question; are humans afraid of having too much time on their hands, too much time to think?
Since we live in such a productive society with so much abundance, we do have a lot of cognitive surplus, but no one seems to want to use it, rather, they piss away their time, talk about stupid things, and I imagine their thoughts are just a shallow most of the time. But why is that? If we are the most innovative society, and we have this problem, and I fear it is growing worse, then that is a scary thought if we consider humanity across the globe. Where did all the smart people go? When did it become fashionable to be ignorant, stupid, and unable to reason?
Why did everyone turn-off their minds? What are they afraid of, and why am I the only person asking this question? Surely, you've noticed as well. If you'd like to do something about it, or have new ideas and concepts of your own, then please shoot me an e-mail