Modern Society’s Fluidity

Sep 10
09:17

2012

Janet Jhon

Janet Jhon

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Now, before any anthropologists get excited, the stagnation of humanity is also relatively recent if we examine the long history of the species and it spent much more time as a nomadic species of hunter gatherers. It can be staggering to realize just how many small and big changes we take for granted.

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People move more than they ever did. There are generational swings,Modern Society’s Fluidity Articles supposedly this generation is moving out less than the previous ones. That will have to shake out over time as there are a lot of competing pressures, between the economy and extended length of education. However, even in bigger towns like Fort Meyers people are leaving the town or city they lived in at a higher rate than before. This happens so often that there are entire industries of rental trucks and more than one moving company in Fort Meyers. Now, before any anthropologists get excited, the stagnation of humanity is also relatively recent if we examine the long history of the species and it spent much more time as a nomadic species of hunter gatherers.

Not that long ago in human history, people never left their homes. The only times they would were either for a religious pilgrimage or due to war of some sort. People rarely travelled, they’d spend their entire lives with the same people only. This universal seclusion led to a great deal of linguistic diversity. Regional differences were much more pronounced at the time than they are now, and anyone who’s ever had to move from one end of the country to another. It’s no doubt Fort Meyers is regionally different from even other parts of Florida, the point is though that these differences used to be vast. While there are still shreds of difference modern society is so fundamentally different it’s staggering.

The industrial revolution changed things a lot. It wasn’t simply that people had a reason to move to the city or other industrial centers, but as consumer goods became cheaper people started owning enough stuff that they had to hire a professional mover. A few hundred years ago, the concept that enough people would be moving often enough to support a moving company in Fort Meyers, let alone multiple companies, would have been laughable.

We tend to not realize some of the ways our lives have changed. The reason more than one moving company in a city like Fort Meyers exist is because the demand is so high in the area as people move in and out of the city, or even just within the city. Modern life is more fluid than it’s ever been. While we’ve lost some cultural diversity, we have gained much more from the change to fluid societies. These changes though are easy to forget. It seems to be a part of the human condition to imagine that things have always been as they are now. As such we assume that people have always travelled and moved to follow work, love or other dreams. It can be staggering to realize just how many small and big changes we take for granted.