“Is the world becoming ruder?”
I believe that this is a question essential to the investigation of the situation which our current Australian society has landed itself in… I have come to realize that the manners of Australian society are crumbling and common courtesies as well as cultural mores are losing their meaning.
Communication, the power of values, gender and continuity and change are the concepts I will be using to explore my hypothesis; that the social and cultural norms of manners have shifted significantly in the last ten years. Therefore as a point of cross cultural comparison, I am using time. This will identify the changes in the values held about manners and mores and to the extent to which they have lost their power as a source of social control.
… The main focus of this PIP is to identify the aspects of a society and its culture which have been subject to change over time due to the dramatic adjustments in the attitudes and values held towards mores and good manners. These aspects can be broken down into; the prevalence of the use of vulgar language, the social sphere of customer service and the behaviours associated with gender…
…This PIP gave me the opportunity to further investigate such an incredible issue that is currently impacting upon our society as we speak. Through the research I conducted, I was able to break this issue down to learn exactly how it is that our own Australian society had become more impolite over the past ten years.
The secondary research was helpful in that I was able to get some formal reading into the accurate definitions of manners, courtesies and mores and even learn why it is that they play such an essential role in maintaining the well-being of society. Contemporary distresses regarding the decline in manners were also expressed in the articles acquired in the newspapers, television and hot issues discussed on prime time radio. I realised that the media’s portrayal and the responses of the general public demonstrate a consistent attitude, we Australians hold towards certain issues that are defined to be rude, offensive and boorish. This also provided me with an explanation behind my everyday experiences as an individual. Corroborating these findings were my discoveries in my observations. Both methods of participant and direct observation were valuable in that I was given the chance to not only get an in-depth insight into the behaviours surrounding customer service and gender, it allowed me to actually record my findings on paper, certifying both my assumptions and those found through my secondary research…
… Despite the problems I faced in putting the final product together, the entire research process throughout the year was beneficial for my own understanding. It was through this understanding that I became more aware of the environment I classify as my ‘home’, from the past to the present and into the future. It is true that in certain spheres of our society, revolutions have gradually taken place and we have become a lot more impolite towards one another over the course of ten years. Through this analysis, I am left with the question:
“Could this be the way the modern world is simply expected to be?”
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