SUMMARY of the “Social breakdown,” Mansoor Raza, Zahid Farooq, January 13th, 2024
The article discusses the pervasive impact of inflation beyond economic aspects, shedding light on the multifaceted consequences of the cost of living crisis. Drawing insights from discussions with community activists, educationists, social scientists, and the Urban Resource Centre staff, the article emphasizes the profound effects on human relations, especially within families and neighborhoods. As prices soar, familial support diminishes, leading to increased family feuds and strained relationships. The financial burden prompts distressing trade-offs, such as the sale of homes to settle utility bills, resulting in fragmented family units. The article highlights the diminishing communal support during rituals and grieving periods, exacerbating the challenges faced by low-income communities. The rise in living costs has also led to families consolidating under one roof, presenting new social challenges. In education, inflation forces parents to make choices between sending their children to school, disproportionately affecting girls. The increased cost of schooling pushes some towards madressah education, while others opt for low-quality private schools. In response to inflation, families relocate closer to schools, facing additional challenges. The article further explores the impact on dietary habits, emphasizing the luxury status of certain foods and the general curtailment of essential items. The pervasive consequences of inflation extend to every aspect of life, from household operations to socialization, compromising food quality, and eroding savings. The most critical concern is the profound impact on human relations, making vulnerable segments of society more susceptible to exploitation.
Easy/Short SUMMARY:
The article explores the broad impacts of inflation, going beyond economic aspects to delve into its effects on human relations. It emphasizes strained family relationships, increased feuds, and fragmented family units due to financial constraints. The article highlights the diminishing communal support during rituals and grieving periods, exacerbating challenges for low-income communities. In education, inflation forces difficult choices, disproportionately affecting girls’ schooling. Families relocate closer to schools, facing additional challenges. The pervasive consequences extend to dietary habits, compromising essential items’ accessibility. Inflation’s impact is evident in every aspect of life, compromising food quality, eroding savings, and making vulnerable segments of society more susceptible to exploitation.
SOLUTIONS of The Problem:
Stabilize Prices through Economic Policies
Implement policies to stabilize prices and curb inflation, ensuring essential goods remain affordable for all income groups.
Support Low-Income Families
Introduce targeted financial support programs for low-income families to mitigate the impact of inflation on their daily lives.
Enhance Public Education
Invest in public education, improving the quality of government schools to provide a viable and affordable alternative to private education.
Promote Remote Work Opportunities
Create opportunities for remote work, especially for students, enabling them to freelance and earn income in foreign currencies.
Community-Based Support Systems
Encourage community-based support systems to revive traditions of communal assistance during bereavement and rituals.
Affordable Transport Facilities
Ensure affordable and accessible transport facilities to reduce the burden on parents who relocate for their children’s education.
Diversify Education Options
Promote a diverse range of affordable education options, ensuring accessibility and quality for all income groups.
Social Awareness Campaigns
Launch awareness campaigns on the social impacts of inflation, fostering empathy and community support.
Food Security Initiatives
Implement food security initiatives to ensure the availability and affordability of essential food items for all income groups.
Government Intervention in Housing
Introduce policies for government intervention in housing to address issues related to reduced living space and increased density.
IMPORTANT Facts and Figures Given in the article:
- Inflation is causing a variety of social issues, impacting human relations, family dynamics, and neighborhood interactions.
- Increased prices have led to family feuds, strained relationships, and instances where homes are sold to settle utility bills, resulting in dispersed families.
- Communal support during bereavement and rituals is diminishing due to inflation, affecting low-income neighborhoods significantly.
- Families are consolidating under one roof to collectively face the rising cost of living, leading to new social problems.
- In education, rising costs force parents to make choices, often resulting in girls being disproportionately affected.
- The article mentions the increased demand for madressah education due to the exorbitant increase in school fees.
- Families are relocating closer to schools to reduce transportation costs, facing challenges associated with increased living density.
- The article notes the rise in students opting for the Cambridge system of education, despite challenges in affording fees.
- Inflation has impacted dietary habits, making certain foods a luxury and affecting borrowing traditions in low-income neighborhoods.
- The article emphasizes that the consequences of inflation extend to various aspects of life, including operational timing of household appliances, grocery items, socialization, food quality compromises, and loss of savings.
MCQs from the Article:
1. What is the most significant impact of skyrocketing prices mentioned in the article?
A. Economic downturn
B. Social breakdown
C. Human relations within families and neighborhoods
D. Political instability
2. What is the consequence of increased living density due to families consolidating under one roof?
A. Improved privacy
B. Reduced noise pollution
C. Contested shared kitchen space
D. Decreased demand for parking spaces
3. What is the article’s emphasis on the impact of inflation on education?
A. Increased government school enrollment
B. Disproportionate impact on girls’ schooling
C. Equal opportunities for all income groups
D. Decreased demand for private schools
4. Why do some families relocate closer to schools according to the article?
A. To reduce living space
B. To decrease transportation costs
C. To escape noise pollution
D. To access shared kitchen space
5. What does the article mention about dietary habits in low-income neighborhoods?
A. Increased consumption of luxury foods
B. Growing tradition of borrowing food items
C. Consumption of fruits becoming a luxury
D. Enhanced affordability of mutton
VOCABULARY:
- Pervasive (adjective) (متاثر کن): Present or noticeable in every part; widespread.
- Multifaceted (adjective) (جوہری چہرے): Having many facets or aspects; complex or varied.
- Trade-offs (noun) (تبادلہ): A balance achieved between two desirable but incompatible features; compromises.
- Dwindling (adjective) (گھٹتا ہوا): Gradually diminishing in size, amount, or strength.
- Feuds (noun) (جھگڑے): Prolonged conflicts or quarrels, typically between families or groups.
- Fragmented (adjective) (ٹکڑے ٹکڑے): Broken into pieces; disintegrated.
- Exorbitantly (adverb) (جواں کھانے والے طور پر): To an excessive degree; highly unreasonably.
- Mitigation (noun) (تخفیف): The action of reducing the severity, seriousness, or painfulness of something.
- Consolidating (verb) (اتحاد): Making something physically stronger or more solid.
- Exacerbating (verb) (برا بھڑکانا): Making a problem, bad situation, or negative feeling worse.
- Disproportionately (adverb) (تناسب سے زیادہ): In a way that is too large or too small in relation to something.
- Accessible (adjective) (قابل رسائی): Able to be reached or easily got.
- Robust (adjective) (مضبوط): Strong and healthy; vigorous.
- Luxury (noun) (عیش و آرام): The state of great comfort and extravagant living.
- Curtailed (verb) (مختصر کرنا): Reduce in extent or quantity; impose a restriction on.
- Erosion (noun) (سیلاب): The gradual destruction or diminution of something.
- Intellectually (adverb) (علمی طور پر): In a way that involves the use of the mind.
- Buffeted (verb) (مارنا): Struck repeatedly, especially by adverse conditions.
- Curtailment (noun) (تخفیف): The action or fact of reducing or restricting something.
- Vulnerable (adjective) (نازک): Susceptible to physical or emotional harm or attack.
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dawn.com
Social breakdown
Mansoor Raza, Zahid Farooq
DUE to a variety of factors, inflation is rampant, and many economists do not see any relief in sight. There is a need to understand more about the impact of the cost of living crisis on various aspects of human life rather than just the purely economic aspects. Based on discussions with community activists, educationists, social scientists and staff of the Urban Resource Centre, the following few paragraphs are a glimpse of the impacts and tradeoffs low-income and middle-income groups face in the midst of this crisis.
The most significant impact of skyrocketing prices has perhaps been on human relations within the family and in the neighbourhood. Because of inflation, familial support on rainy days is dwindling, and the less well off can no longer rely on the perceived-to-be-better-off relatives for food, money and financial and material contributions during marital and bereavement customs, as the latter cannot afford such support anymore. As a result, family feuds have increased, and relationships with immediate family members are suffering.
The frequency of altercations between family members living in shared dwellings has also increased. Cases have also been reported where a house has had to be sold to pay off the accumulated electricity bill, resulting in the dispersion of otherwise cohesive family units. Shopping for joy and impulse buying customs are dying fast. In low-income neighbourhoods, because of inflation, people are reluctant to contribute to rituals that used to be participated in wholeheartedly. Earlier, in the case of deaths, neighbours provided food to the bereaved household for the first three days. Now, this grief-sharing mechanism is becoming challenging to maintain. It was an excellent mitigation mechanism which has fallen victim to the financial crisis.
A few cases of families coming together under one roof to collectively fight the rising cost of living have also been reported. Because of this increase in density, a new set of social problems has surfaced. The living space has been reduced, earlier enjoyed independence is lost, shared kitchen space is contested, the noise pollution by TV and other gadgets has increased, and increased demands on an individual’s privacy have been placed. The parking of vehicles due to the reduced share of spaces is another bone of contention. The phenomenon calls for redefining poverty as a lack of ownership of a dwelling and associated spaces.
Inflation has cast a shadow on every sphere of life.
Because of inflation, parents now have to choose between their kids when deciding whom to send to school and whom not to. The axe usually falls on girls; most of the time, they are the ones whose schooling is put on the back burner. School fees have been increased exorbitantly and, as a result, demand for madressah education has increased. Even though madressah fees have also increased, they are still affordable in relative terms. Families struggle to afford basic stationery for school. In the name of affordable and ‘English-medium’ education, many ‘private’ schools have mushroomed in low-income neighbourhoods. Though they employ highly contested quality standards, lower-income groups prefer them over government schools because they believe that public schools have incompetent or absentee teachers and below-par student facilities. With a rise in transport fares and travelling costs, parents are also leaving far-off residences to move near their children’s schools on rent.
On the other side of the coin, the number of students opting for the Cambridge system of education continues to rise, even though for these students, too, it is becoming challenging to afford the fees and related expenses. Thus, many young students have started working online, where they freelance and earn in foreign currencies.
Inflation has had an impact on dietary habits as well. The consumption of fruits is now a luxury, borrowing salt, spices and other food items from neighbours is a dying tradition, mutton is a distant dream for most, and boiled eggs in winter have become a luxury for many low-income groups.
High inflation has cast a shadow on every sphere of life, from the curtailed operational timing of the household refrigerator to cutting down on grocery items, reduced socialisation, compromises on the quality of food items, and loss of savings. And yet, the most significant impact is on human relations. If not addressed in a timely manner, this will make already weaker segments of society further vulnerable to exploitation.
The above-mentioned narration on the subject is, admittedly, not a comprehensive picture of the impact of inflationary pressures on the everyday lives of the masses and needs further, intellectually robust investigations.
Mansoor Raza is a Karachi-based academic.
Zahid Farooq is board member Urban Resource Centre.
Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2024
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