From 16 centuries ago St Augustine has a solution to the modern dilemma: You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it rests in thee

Western Society: Reinforcing our Selfishness?

by Marcus Roberts

Here is something from the sociologists to think about today: we are born fairly well altruistic and big hearted until consumerism, the 24 hour news cycle and western standards of living turn us into nasty, mean, selfish, worried individuals. What do you think about that?

This is the claim being made by child and adolescent psychotherapist Graham Music who is doing a bit of a publicity push in the Guardian newspaper before releasing his new book at the end of this month called: The Good Life: Wellbeing and the New Science of Altruism, Selfishness and Immorality. Here it is on Amazon for those interested in pre-ordering.

Music’s argument is this:

"We're losing empathy and compassion in dealing with other people in our society…There is a lot of evidence that the speed of life and the resultant anxiety have an enormous impact on how we deal with other people. We all know it anecdotally. You live in a dog-eat-dog world and it makes sense to be highly stressed and vigilant to cope with it. From that stress come some really fundamental shifts in behaviour, along with pretty poor outcomes in everything from health to life expectancy and happiness."

Not only is the result of work-stresses and the constant push to buy more and to compare yourself to others but the shallow meanness in our culture seeps in through more insidious means. For example, a study last year by Michegan University suggested that young people were more socially aggressive thanks to their exposure to the cruelties of reality television. Graham Music argues that the casual meanness on shows like X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent is also an example of how cold-hearted we can be. And how acceptable this cold heartedness can be.

..............


Read more: www.mercatornet.com