Modernity, the Sociocultural Complex of Industrial Societies

Work, Life, and Value: Economic Anthropology ANTH 2301 Modernity, the Sociocultural Complex of Industrial Societies What is the outcome of a nation's industrialization? The development of industrialism in nonEuropean cultures, such as India, China, Brazil, and Mexico, has piqued the curiosity of anthropologists. Some additional sociocultural variables often follow whenever this transition takes place. Modernity is the term used by social scientists to describe the complex of characteristics that follow industrialization. Modernity, although based on a shared set of principles, manifests itself differently depending on the situation. A wide range of modernities that emerge as nations industrialise in various ways make up modernity rather than a singular modernity. Some countries, like Mexico and China, concentrate on vital industrial zones. Some, like Ghana, aim to distribute factories equally around the nation. Furthermore, civilizations use their own cultural institutions, customs, and belief systems—all shaped by their own historical experiences—to adapt to the changes brought about by industrialism. Certain interpretations of modernity place a strong emphasis on individualism and permit extreme disparity between members of various social groups. Alternative forms of modernity prioritise equality and the welfare of the community. Alternative modernity is a concept used by certain academics to refer to modernities that originated outside of Europe. However, industrialism does bring with it a set of sociocultural influences that interplay with regional cultural characteristics to create these unique modernities. Urbanisation is the first of these factors. When industries are constructed, individuals are forced or dragged into urban centres in search of employment, much like the evicted peasants in 18th-century Britain. Unpredictable elements like the weather and shifting market pricing for their products are what rural farmers have to rely on. Furthermore, those who raise cash crops typically discover that they must sell an increasing amount in order to maintain their way of life. Many young people have found farming unappealing as a result of these difficulties, leading many to seek out better living in metropolitan regions. Trading towns develop into industrial cities, which expand into metropolitan regions, as societies become more industrialised and more drawn to urban places. An other noteworthy aspect of industrial society is wage labour that is regulated. People who use the other modes of subsistence must work in order to survive, but they have control over the terms of that labour, including the start and end times of their workdays, the times of their breaks, the tasks they complete each day, how they complete those tasks, and the amount of output they generate in a given day. Work in a manufacturing context is very different from other settings. Workers at factories are expected to report for duty at a set hour and work through the official conclusion of the workday. A lot of them are designed to "clock in" and "clock out" by placing a card into a device that keeps track of their beginning and finishing timings. Rather than the variety of employment found in other subsistence types, the work done in factories frequently entails repetitive motions and procedures. Managers overseeing regimented labour set the terms of employment, enforce set productivity targets, and decide on protocols. A worker may face termination if they fail to meet these standards. The bulk of shop and office workers in many industrialised cultures still operate under the rigid framework of wage labour, despite the fact that services now make up a larger portion of their economy. It is amazing that most individuals must labour in such totalitarian environments in governments that claim to promote individual "freedom." The division of society into social classes is the third characteristic of industrialism. Society is largely organised by age groups, gender groupings, family groups, and geographical affiliations in various ways of survival. Extended families face increasing challenges in industrial cultures, and more mobile nuclear families may eventually take their place. Occupation is becoming a more important factor in social identity. In nonWestern settings, class frequently coexists alongside ethnic and religious identities to produce intricately nuanced forms of conflict and inequity. Social Inequalities discusses inequality between social classes. An rise in the consumption of commodities is a fourth characteristic of industrial civilizations. In industrial civilizations, individuals from all social strata purchase, use, and accumulate an astounding quantity of goods. Naturally, the sheer amount of goods produced by industrialised capitalist economies makes this necessary. Every year, food sellers discard almost 45 billion tonnes of unsold food items. Many apparel businesses burn or shred the items of clothing they are unable to sell. Advertising and marketing have developed to give commodities meanings in order to encourage more consumption. Advertisements frequently present products like automobiles or fragrances as magical tools that may change their owners. Commodity fetishism is the term used to describe this belief that certain goods have magical abilities. Individuals are influenced to believe that consuming or having particular goods elevates them to a higher social level or makes them more attractive or desirable. Commodities actually don't have the ability to change people. Materials are inert. Instead, it is individuals who own power—the ability to turn raw resources into finished goods. Furthermore, being a powerful person is not the same as just eating the same things that powerful people do. However, individuals in industrial and postindustrial cultures frequently feel in control and have a sense of power when they shop, maybe because they aren't allowed to have similar experiences at work. People in consumerism-dominated countries are urged to see the world as an infinite variety of exotic and powerful items on offer to the contemporary citizen, rather than considering the negative effects of industrialism, such as work discipline, inequality, and environmental harm. Finally, people in industrial cultures tend to value individuality highly, as seen by their patterns of commodity consumption. People in industrial and postindustrial cultures are increasingly creating identities based on their own preferences, characteristics, experiences, and aspirations, as opposed to those of their immediate families or other social groupings. In US society, a large number of people live alone for years or even decades instead of with family. On the one hand, technological advancement gives people the chance to choose their own routes in life and experiment with different identities and lifestyles. Conversely, people are urged to rely less and less on others and more on themselves, as opposed to developing mutually beneficial relationships. People in communities that value independence frequently experience both financial and psychological hardship on their own. Many people feel alienated when they are cut off from social interactions and feel alone.