Problems of modern society: what will be the consequences?

Characteristics of modern society

Sociologists studying the problems of modern society have called it post-industrial, unable to find a more suitable word to describe the existing model of relations. The post-industrial form of unification of people was preceded by the agricultural and industrial systems.

The first existed from the moment when homo sapiens began to cultivate the land, trying to provide themselves with food and minimal means of subsistence. The second appeared with the development of production, when agriculture faded into the background, and industry moved to the forefront.

The transition to a service society marked the emergence of a post-industrial formation in which informatization and technological innovation come first.

Characteristic features of modern society are the globalization of the economy and the predominance of the service sector over industry and agriculture. When we talk about the service sector, we mean, first of all, informatization. In other words, in modern society the main source of income is not production, but information resources.

Problems of modern society

“Society is a yoke of scales that cannot raise some without lowering others” (J. Vanier). Now society is developing dynamically, and it has its advantages and disadvantages. The problems of modern society are closely related to the situation in the country, its policies and much more. After reading this article to the end, you will understand what problems haunt us in the modern world. Modern society is plagued by many vices. Here they are: Confrontation between social groups. Nowadays the gap between rich and poor is very large. The masses hate the so-called elite. Lack of correct guidelines and ideals. Youth idols are billionaires and pop stars. And the pursuit of wealth is the main meaning of life. Cruelty and indifference. Remember how much violence is shown to us on television. These are not only action and horror films, but also real footage of torture broadcast on many television channels. It’s hard to believe, but it’s true - footage of Muammar Gaddafi being abused was shown all over the world. This is what the media is presenting to us. In addition, crime rates have increased over the past few years. And the cruelty with which many crimes are committed is simply amazing. Many problems of modern society arise precisely because of aggression and false values. Negative attitude towards national minorities. Corruption - abuse of official powers, bribery. Alcoholism, drug addiction, AIDS - these problems have become a real scourge of our society. They kill several million people every year. And it’s very sad that more and more of them are minors. In fact, these are still children who will never grow up. Insecurity of the population. Small pensions, a feeling of uselessness - all this pushes pensioners to despair. Increasingly, they began to commit suicide. The benefits that are paid for children are often not enough for parents even to buy a pack of diapers. Modern children are the “generation of electronics.” They have a lot of free time, which they fill with computer games, TV and the Internet. They live in an imaginary reality, where all sorts of technical innovations are more valuable than friends, and often even relatives. The desire to get a laptop, tablet, or smartphone takes on painful forms. An addiction appears that is difficult to get rid of. These children will grow up. Soon they will form our society. What to expect from them? Unknown. At the same time, a policy is being pursued aimed at supporting young families and state employees; innovative projects are developing; laws are passed to severely punish bribe-takers. There are positive trends, the main thing is that they bear fruit.

Global problems of modern society

It would seem that progress and a shift in emphasis towards information technology should have had a positive impact on the state of society. However, the result was ambiguous.

Information is not able to feed and meet the basic needs of a person - this is the prerogative of the agricultural sector and industry, and they have not gone away, they have simply moved from one country to another.

Have you noticed that there are practically no goods produced in the USA on sale, but a lot of products imported from China? Developed countries, pursuing the goal of reducing the cost of their products through inexpensive labor and reducing the environmental load on their territories, have transferred most of their production to the countries of the “second” and “third” world.

Ecological threat

However, this did not solve the environmental problem: states do not exist in isolation from each other, and the greenhouse effect has the same negative impact on all countries.

Where is the exit? Switch to environmentally friendly modes of transport - electric cars and bicycles, switch to natural sources of energy, generating it from the power of wind and solar heat.

There are developments in this direction, but transnational corporations are slowing down the implementation of environmental technologies, since they receive huge profits from the sale of oil used in the production of gasoline and diesel fuel.

Overpopulation

Another problem of modern society is overpopulation.

Scientists warn that exceeding the population of 12 billion will lead to the destruction of the planet's ecosystem, as a result of which about 5 billion people will be on the verge of death due to heat and hunger.

Today there are more than 7 billion people living on the planet, according to UN forecasts, at the current rate of population growth in 2100 the number of inhabitants of the Earth will reach 11 billion.

Both fantastic (relocation to other planets) and shockingly cruel (the third world war) are mentioned as ways to solve this problem.

However, the most optimal way to regulate the population is called birth control. The ethical side of this issue may cause indignation among some. However, here humanity will have to choose the lesser of evils: prevent the birth of a child or let him be born in order to die in agony.

Lack of energy resources

A shortage of energy resources can cause the collapse of civilization. The reserves of oil, coal and gas in the bowels of the planet will last humanity for about 170 years.

Without these minerals, power plants will shut down, production will stop, virtual exchange of information will become impossible; humanity, deprived of the benefits of civilization, will be on the verge of extinction and degradation.

How to avoid this? Develop alternative energy sources. But research in this direction is moving slowly for the reasons we mentioned above.

Specifics of modern society

Modern society is a unique product of the history of human development, qualitatively different from known societies of the past. Its emergence is dictated by the entire logic of human development and originates in the second half of the twentieth century, determined by the processes of globalization and integration of individual societies into the world community. Even at the beginning of the twentieth century, social philosophers, considering humanity, talk about local civilizations - isolated from each other and relatively independent entities, each of which goes through its own life cycle subject to a certain logic. The influences of these civilizations on each other are either insignificant or do not exceed in their influence the influence of other natural and social factors.

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However, technological progress has irrevocably changed the face of humanity. The development of communication technologies has connected all countries and continents into a single network community - a “global village”, in the apt expression of the Canadian philosopher H.M. McLuhan. The development of transport has united humanity physically - a journey to any point on the globe takes hours instead of days and months in other eras. Close ties allowed the formation of not only a global market, but also a global system of division of labor and specialization in which individual countries are so tightly integrated into the world market that they are no longer able to exist independently from it (for example, some countries in West Africa are completely specialized in the production of flowers and are not even able to feed their population on their own).

The emergence of close communication and economic ties also entailed processes of cultural exchange and unification. Cultures that have developed independently of each other for thousands of years have turned out to be open and accessible not only to ethnographic researchers, but also to any interested person. On the one hand, this leads to the enrichment of world culture, on the other hand, it creates the basis for unification - the imposition of common values, standards, patterns of behavior, common consumer products (from food to art products) throughout the world. At the same time, despite powerful integration trends, modern society remains extremely heterogeneous. The state and national entities included in it are extremely heterogeneous in a variety of ways, from the type of government system to the way of farming and worldview. The post-industrial states of the West find themselves in sync with the traditional states of the Middle East and Africa, and even the tribal formations of the aborigines.

Finished works on a similar topic

Course work Modern society: problems, contradictions, prospects 440 ₽ Essay Modern society: problems, contradictions, prospects 230 ₽ Examination Modern society: problems, contradictions, prospects 230 ₽

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Note 1

Of course, the combination of powerful differentiation with no less strong integration processes poses qualitatively new problems for modern humanity, which are usually referred to as global.

Social problems of modern society

The development of society has led to a shift in priorities and the replacement of moral values ​​with material ones.

The desire to provide themselves and their loved ones with comfortable living conditions has grown into a thirst for profit, status and position in society are valued above moral qualities, and developed countries largely survive at the expense of third world countries, using their labor and natural resources.

Changing the value scale

Arguing their actions with the human right to freedom of choice, some states have legalized prostitution and drugs, thereby forming a new value system in the minds of the younger generation, where the sale of one’s own body is equated with the work of a doctor and teacher, and smoking marijuana becomes the norm of life.

High crime rate

The world still has a high crime rate. According to this indicator, Honduras is the absolute leader, where there are 90 intentional murders per 100 thousand people. There is a pattern: the lower the level of spirituality in a society and the degree of development of this society, the higher the crime there.

The functions of forming spirituality in society have always been assigned to the family, church and art. If modern parents begin to instill in their children the principles of honesty and humanity, spiritual fathers become an example for their flock, and writers begin to prioritize not circulation and income, but the high artistry of their works, we will have a chance to revive spirituality and fight crime.

Essay. Global problems

Essay. Global problems of our time

In the modern world, people face a huge number of problems, the solution of which determines the fate of humanity. These are the so-called global problems of our time, that is, a set of socio-natural problems, the solution of which determines the social progress of mankind and the preservation of civilization. In my opinion, global problems that put all of humanity at risk are a consequence of the confrontation between nature and human activity. It was man, with all the diversity of his activities, that provoked the emergence of many global problems.

Today the following global problems are identified:

• the North-South problem - the development gap between rich and poor countries, poverty, hunger and illiteracy;
• the threat of thermonuclear war and ensuring peace for all nations, preventing the world community from unauthorized proliferation of nuclear technologies and radioactive pollution of the environment;
• catastrophic environmental pollution;
• providing humanity with resources, depletion of oil, natural gas, coal, fresh water, wood, non-ferrous metals;
• global warming;
• ozone holes;
• terrorism;
• violence and organized crime.
• Greenhouse effect;
• acid rain;
• pollution of seas and oceans;
• air pollution and many other problems.

These problems are characterized by dynamism, arise as an objective factor in the development of society and require the united efforts of all humanity to be solved. Global problems are interconnected, cover all aspects of people's lives and affect all countries. In my opinion, one of the most dangerous problems is the possibility of the destruction of humanity in a third world thermonuclear war - a hypothetical military conflict between states or military-political blocs possessing nuclear and thermonuclear weapons. Measures to prevent war and hostilities were already developed by I. Kant at the end of the 18th century. The measures he proposed: non-financing of military operations; rejection of hostile relationships, respect; concluding relevant international treaties and creating an international union seeking to implement a policy of peace, etc.

Another serious problem is terrorism. In modern conditions, terrorists have at their disposal a huge number of lethal means or weapons capable of destroying a huge number of innocent people. Terrorism is a phenomenon, a form of crime, directed directly against a person, threatening his life and thereby seeking to achieve its goals. Terrorism is absolutely unacceptable from a humanistic point of view, and from a legal point of view it is a grave crime.

Environmental problems are another type of global problem. It includes: lithosphere pollution; hydrosphere pollution; air pollution.

Thus, today a real threat hangs over the world. Humanity must take measures as quickly as possible to resolve existing problems and prevent the emergence of new problems.