Sociology

The two world war act as a turning point in the entire world.
After the world war,

people’s living standard is rising, yet something is losing. World is dominated by
rational and critical thinking. The emptiness in some part of our live makes us
unhappy. According to survey conducted in 2018, 20,000 Americans found fewer
elderly people experienced loneliness than younger generations. Generations are
becoming more and more unhappy. What are they? What is the missing part of the
society? Refer to article The American Paradox Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty,
written by David G. Myers, the vast majority of people are ‘spiritual hunger’ in
nowadays society.
From David’s point of view, the flourish of radical individualism is one major cause
led to prevalence of ‘spiritual hunger’ as people who living in a city is the participant
of these hustle and bustle that must suffer these social problems. In an age advocating
radical individualism, our focus swift from families or society to ourselves. It
advocates challenging the authority, shunning conformity, self-sufficient and
upholding personal rights. Solo spirituality is emphasized rather than communal
religion. This ideology successfully drives equity and free economy which benefit the
globe. Nonetheless, there are several negative impacts on individuals. The descending
index of national civic health meanwhile increasing income per person is a case in
point. Consequently, etiquette and happiness are diminished and social recession is
seen. The detrimental effect of affluent contribute to unhealthy mental health. Indeed,
the present is the most advanced world with extraordinary well-being and a secured
life. Human right and equity are being guaranteed. Buying products from other
countries is no longer a problem in modern world. A comfortable climax in indoor
like plaza, office and home can be controlled which confirm humanity would not
suffer heat stroke and hypothermia. Yet, beyond the glamorous lights of a city, there
are actually tears and sorrowness. The cost is decline of culture and happiness. First,
as education has been universal, investigation and numbers are used to analyzed and
investigated social issues. Facing these numbers, people are becoming more
indifferent and less empathy, especially after the emerge of internet since death
numbers are just numbers and once we scroll through it, it gone. Second, the changing
structure of society contributes to pervasion of ‘spiritual hunger’. To meet social
requirement and earn a living, more time is spent on work and less time is on sleeping
and interpersonal relationship. Also, according to a recent survey, a third in ten
children do not live with their family, which means there are great domestic problems
and it may affect the mental health of next generation. Compared to 1960s, teen
suicide rate has tripled, the prison population has quintupled, cohabitation has
1
increased sevenfold, especially depression has soared to an unprecedentedly high
level. All these shows that material abundant is hindering people’s happiness.
People’s pursuing in spirit is significantly patent. One solid evidence is the revival of
religion in worldwide. The uprising religion groups like ISIS, Muslin and cults is a
case in point. Also, new ages ideas and magick groups are flourishing in social media,
especially in Western society. Starting from the trend in taking LSD and weed in
order to meet the sacred during the ‘trip’ in 1970s, to nowadays flourishing cults and
nature worship like Islam and Muslin attack. ‘As a society gets more technologically
and economically advanced, religiosity naturally fades away and is replaced by a
more secular worldview.’ (Gobry 2016) The reality demonstrate that it is not the fact.
Islam is a case in point. Except from Islam, Muslim, Catholic, Christianity and other
new religion groups are also flourishing in globe. According to the statistic in 2020,
about 85% of the world's people identify with a religion. Christianity is followed by
an estimated 2.38 billion people worldwide. Islam is practiced by more than 1.91
billion people. (World Population Review 2022) Compared that in 1970s, 3700
million has a religion belief. (Statistics and Forecast for World Religions:1800-2025
2022) The more developed a city is, the more spiritual hunger people are. Religion
groups provide community which allow interpersonal interaction and help people by
giving them psychological support. In this way, their empty part is filled up. In
parallel, it is beyond disputes that radical activities related to religion beliefs are
increasing. As mentioned above, cults, ISIS have managed many different horrors
attack in society. From the Tokyo subway sarin attack to the Boston Marathon
bombing, one common lies on their intention to overthrow the government.
According to Psychology of Terrorism, terror will develop an ideology that social
deprivation is not right, it is unfair to see inequality and resentment, and
overgeneralized and demonizing enemy. (Borum 2004) It shows that the origin of
terrorism is social deprivation and inequality, which is common in modern society.
Given that they treat religion as a mean to prevent social injustice and exploitation,
therefore they attack the government as a way to protest the post modernism.
“With the resurgence of religion, some sociologists propose that we are living in a
“post-modern condition,” There are numerous evident prove the statement is true.
Post-modern condition, which refers to postmodern era as one that has lost faith in all
grand, totalizing “metanarratives” (Lyotard 1979) It is an undeniable fact that the
structure of society, government and content of education is turning into more rational
and systematic, which is an unprecedented change in history. Yet, the result of these
new changes is not bringing out a good result. Pollution, psychedelic problem, moral
2
degradation, to name but a few. Happiness is not coming with abundant material.
There are revival of religion since modern life without fancy religious belief is too
simple and sorrow. Another reason is that being irrational is human nature. According
to evolution theory, ‘Rationality is a skill that needs to be learned, not a trait that
everyone’s born with.’ (Cabral 2020) Also, ‘Religion is not coincidental or an
accident but belongs to the essence of humanity. In Schleiermacher's view, the feeling
of absolute dependence or God-consciousness belongs to human nature.’ (Stoker
2013) All these prove that it is not plausible for humanity to believe in supreme value
of secularity and rationality. Doubtlessly, as human are unable to be rational, it is
patently better to live in postmodern condition. According to Maslow’s hierarchy of
needs, religion can provide us belonging and love needs, esteem needs so as to
achieve a higher self. Yet, the detrimental effect of postmodernism outweighs the
advantages. Subjective interpretation will affect problem solving skills and decision
making, which can lead to a great damage no matter to society progression, even to
economic development on the ground that postmodernism will led to nihilistic
tendencies. It hinders the philosophy which explained various aspect of world, like
ethnic, logical thinking. In long term, it harm civilization of the world.
To put it in a nutshell, except for economic development and social stability, an

equilibrium of ‘spirit’ and rationalism is also a crucial part of the society that should
not be neglected. It is the high time for us to not only review ourselves, but also think
deeply beyond ourselves.
Reference
- Statistics and Forecast for World Religions:1800-2025, 2022. Global Stats.

https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/01/27/table-muslim-population-by-
country/
- World Population Review 2022. Relgion by Country 2022.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/religion-by-country
3
-Pascal Emmanuel Gobry, 2016. Why the religion will dominate the 21st century. The
week. https://theweek.com/articles/555371/why-religion-dominate-21st-century
-Jean-Francois Lyotard 1979. The Postmodern Condition. Britannica.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Postmodern-Condition
-Carrie Cabral, 2020. Humans are irrational because it’s in our nature. Shortform.
https://www.shortform.com/humans-are-irrational/
-Randy Borum, 2004. Psychology of Terrorism. University of South Florida.
-Wessel Stoker, 2013. Are Human Beings Religious by Nature? Bijdragen
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/ref/10.1080/00062278.2000.10739746?scroll=top

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The two world war act as a turning point in the entire world.

After the world war,

To put it in a nutshell, except for economic development and social stability, an

- Statistics and Forecast for World Religions:1800-2025, 2022. Global Stats.

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