Our relationship with our family has been changing through down the era because of social, political, and cultural factors. In modern era the value of relationships with the neighbors is somewhat very indifferent. The people do not even know the name of people living next to their house. Good neighbors and friends are very important to survive. The connection between the social and family is very crucial part in order to live well physically and mentally. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the concept of home, neighbourhood, and relationship in contemporary society.
Home is a place where one has born, and lived there since. With home, comes the concept of family and neighbourhood. The neighbourhood is the area surrounding a home, or several homes. Several homes together constitute the neighbourhood, and the people living in them relate to each other as neighbours. It becomes questionable as to whether contemporary society is befitting the needs of home or family? Or is the contemporary society fulfiling the true sense of place? It assesses the role played by a home and its surrounding neighborhood is of foremost importance during the growing years of an individual. It help an individual in forming its own identity and stay recognized.
The home is where an individual learns about family, respect, love, and care, and the neighborhood is the place where one learns how to maintain an outside relationship for the first time. There are several factors that influence the relationship with our homes and neighborhood (Woodward, 2004). They comprise of compatibility with each other in an ecosystem irrespective of knowing them. Herein, communication plays a pivotal role in any relationships thus could be considered a major factor’; honesty is one of the top listing factors that contribute to a successful and healthy relationship; and commitment to a certain agenda or goal not only nurtures an existing relationship but also paves and strengthens in building new relationships (Power, 2016).
It is important to assess how globalization affects the surrounding and society of an individual. The concept of globalization does not have a single definition but it is known for the inherent changes that have taken place whether it is social, political, economical, or cultural. It has affected every individual regarding income, education and in response to the place where they live. In understanding relationships, globalization has affected the concept of joint family, which has given way to nuclear families. One does not have a single home anymore. People live in different places, owing to work and other professional commitments, and therefore the sense of attachment, both emotionally, and mentally, has almost diminished.
There are many reasons why people relocate from place to place in global world. According to recent statistical data, 15% of Americans move in search of new apartment for the betterment of their lifestyle. 14% of them move in different place in order to find non-expensive and cheaper environment. 10% of the people relocate in order to build their own house and 9% of the people move in search of new job or to find new opportunities (Goryakin et al., 2015).
The perception of home has changed a lot over the years, as effects of globalization have cropped up. Owing to increased migration, relationship complexities, advancement of communication technology and other causes, home is not always the house we used to live in.
Therefore, house and home should be seen from a different perspective. House is a building, a concrete structure whereas home is where we receive love and find a sense of security. At the end of the day, the home is where we find an attachment that no other place can have (Google.com. 2019). In this context, speaking about the 1980s is relevant, when several millions of people who were mostly non-European, took refuge in Australia migrating from War torn Vietnam. These people had to leave their culture, traditions, and mostly the shelter they used to call ‘home’. Most of the children and even little babies were adopted by Australian citizens under ‘Operation Baby lift’. These children and infants who have struggled to find a ‘sense of place’ have now adapted themselves to their new place, while maintaining their culture, customs, and values. They proudly call ‘Australia’ their home, because this is where they have received love, care, security, from the relationships, which have shaped them into what they are at present (Google, 2019). In studying this concept, migration and mobility too comes into question. The concept of mobility pertains to the migration of people from one place to another, thereby forging new relationships, through meeting new people along the way. It is to be also mentioned that sometimes people have difficulty in making relationships in a new place as they have left their closest relations behind, and hence do not know how to adjust themselves accordingly (Hendriks, Ludwigs, & Veenhoven 2016). It can be that someone might share their every pain or sorrow with a completely unknown person yet not say anything to someone related to them by birth. Now, someone might say, why this happens.There has been no specific reason for the same, but psychologists say that there can be instances when a person might feel a connection with someone else. That connection might not always be physical or amorous, it can be mutually psychological or a relationship that is solely based on empathy of each other’s situations (Ferris, 2008). Such a relationship creates a sense of connectedness. One might develop a sense of belonging with their place of living, place of work, or even a place they have spent their childhood with, and with a person who has influenced them while they have grown up. All these together constitute a sense of connected belonging, which is rarely seen, nowadays.
With the advancement of technology and the internet, the world has now shrunk into the palm of our hands. As we scroll, and tap onto our screens, we have forgotten the importance of rendezvous or face-to-face interactions.
Moreover, as interactions have diminished, so have the relationships, and their warmth and bonding (Holland and Bardoel, 2016). Although social media networking sites help people from anywhere in the world to connect and communicate with each other, it can never replace meeting or hangouts with friends, or meeting people in person. Emoticons are not able to express fully what we say or feel about a person when we see them for the first time. The video accounting, Ferris, 2008 focuses on how homemaking happens when we fully understand the values of family and other individuals and value of home in our lives. A person, mostly our mothers or grandmothers contributes a lot to homemaking as they do the task of converting a house to a home (Salami et al., 2019). Homemaking does not mean doing the daily chores of the house. Homemaking pertains to inculcating values, traditions, customs, and maintaining the thread of bonding between the different relationships that live within the house. Proper homemaking can turn even the unknown of places to what we call ‘home’ (Ferris, 2008).
In conclusion it is considered that in the post-industrial society or in the world of globalization, the personal and social relationship have become complex. The industrial and technological revolution has distorted the existence of family due to high population, work pressure, modern technology and so on. The movement of the people to different places disrupted the socialization of the family. One must understand the importance of maintaining good relationships and know the values that a home adds to their lives.
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