Social Change
In the late 1700s the world was becoming more globalized and
countries were forming and dying. Time moves forward no matter how hard we
would like it to slow down or stop. As time moves there is a replacement of
control, social order, and a change to the commonplace every day norms. These
social changes were brought to light by Alexis De Tocqueville, an aristocratic writer
in the dim light of democracy. He writes about the centralization of people during
this time, and about how democracy posed as a starting point for something new.
Being endorsed by various successful governments of his time, his ideas were considered
very reputable. Centralization is the act of consolidating power under a
central control, or of the modern day France, as Tocqueville describes it. These ideas were implemented before the
French Revolution and neglected aristocratic forms of government. Centralization
stood firm throughout the region. After the revolution there was a dramatic
change in how people saw others. The spread of knowledge and wealth did not
bring people together but rather brought out the greed people had, and yielded
a desire for more which did not help the economic problems of the time. The
benefits proved small when being free and having the ability to buy land only
widened the social gap between the haves and the have-nots. The biggest social
change reflected by my generation is the movement towards internet
relationships. The mass of people getting together through match.com and through
random interactions on Facebook, has grown exponentially forming a new and expanding
phenomena completely foreign to previous generations. We are completely changing
how people date and interact with the speed of technology. This can also lead
to heartache and disappointment. A semi-new show on MTV, “Catfish”, tells the
stories of people engaged with internet relationships that remain strictly on
the internet. Having never met before in person, the host brings the two
together for their first encounter proving sometimes good and other times not
so good. With the internet’s advantages and the utilization of these
advantages, a new social norm has been adopted further allowing the widening of
dating, friendships, and possibilities for meeting entirely new people.
Citations
You make a valid point on the whole online dating thing. People in today’s society are much less self-confident than before the technology boom. Do you think that this trend will continue exponentially or do you think it has peaked? I guess only time will tell, but you chose an interesting topic.
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