Community Specialization

It is in a growing and diverse world that we find ourselves more and more isolated. The world keeps changing, and we are nearly powerless to do anything about it. We muddle through a world of increasingly complex technology and situations that are not what they used to be. Yes, the world changes and we are powerless to stop it, but that doesn't mean we can't learn to live with it.


It isn't without some reason that people in today's society feel that it has become worse and worse to live in this day and age. The good old days they'll say as they reminisce the past, but were those days really so great? Crime has been dropping, more people have jobs and are better off than they were, it is pretty safe to say the world is a better place. Nostalgia blinds objectivity from the past. As Sam Ewing said, “When you finally go back to your old hometown, you find it wasn't the old home you missed but your childhood.”


Putting aside nostalgia, I believe there is another reason for the feeling of isolation in the modern world. We have a longstanding understanding in sociology that globalization is more or less a certainty that will continue to progress. Globalization also goes hand in hand with increasing specialization which is another sociological certainty, at least for the time being. I believe that it is increasing specialization and globalization that are the cause of the increased feeling of isolation, or to put it in layman's terms, the sense that the world is fading.


Globalization results in increased communication and diversity the world over which results in people, of both parties, being mixed into an environment that they are not used to. This can, and does, result in a sort of culture shock, again, for both parties. It is commonplace to regard the United States, especially Chicago, as a terribly racist place, but some things we don't hear about are the racism and discrimination in other countries. Prior to the recent terrorism acts in France, there was and is (of course not by every person) a dislike of Muslim people. Why? Because people from the middle east, as the stereotypical Mexican coming over the border into America, are coming into European countries and doing exactly what that stereotypical Mexican is doing here. That's right – trying to make a better life for themselves!


At the potential expense of others. It may well be, though we don't like to talk about the potentiality for things that don't sound kind, but the point of the example is to examining the culture shock and see further, why globalization has a negative culture shocking effect. Racism and discrimination are most often the result of some imposed “crossing of the line” by one group upon another.


Now let us examine the neighborhood or the supposed lack thereof. The neighborhood complex, due to globalization, should be increasingly diverse and more communicative as globalization also implies that communication is going on. However, people argue, not without reason, that the neighborhood communities are dying or gone. I feel that this is not true, but for a very clear cut reason. Just as we specialize and communicate more with globalization with jobs, we also do the same with our social lives.


Take, for example, the days in the past where people could be separated into high school social classes such as: nerd, jock, emo, or less friendly terms, etc. etc. There weren't all that many different categories, but I can think of at least one that wasn't there and certainly is now – and that is a “gamer” (meaning somebody who plays video games to a larger degree than the average person). In fact, I often refer to myself as one, though not so often, and I certainly use the term to refer to other people that are also “gamers.” This is at least one example of a category that emerged due to modernization, and I believe there are more in society.


So why is there the perception that the neighborhood is dying? Because people, due to increased specialization, are falling into increasingly smaller (more isolated) groups. If you were to think of a high school gathering where all of the “nerds, emos, jocks, etc.” were invited you would have an easily countable and definable group, but if you were to have double the categories or more it would be more difficult to gather all of the groups. Now compare it to a neighborhood, it is a large circle. Within it each category if a smaller circle. All of the smaller circles may be within the neighborhood, but it's easy to see why a larger number of smaller more specialized groups might become distracted with their own goings on and forget or not care to be involved in the community. The community is still there, it's just a bit more diverse.