According to this piece from The Economist, the "car culture" of rich countries is evolving toward less driving and less interest in automobiles, in part because of new social interactions related to the Internet.
According to this piece from The New York Times, families who moved out of low-income housing using federal vouchers didn't earn more money, but they experienced levels of happiness equal to those who made $13,000 more a year.
And according to this piece in The Wilson Quarterly, mental illnesses like schizophrenia appear to be brought on and/or exacerbated by social context and community.
While reading this past week, I began feeling as though these pieces were all hinting at something, but on which I couldn't quite place a finger. How are they related? And what is a common thread running through them all?
On a broad level, I think they relate with respect to the way community affects the way people feel and interact with their world. In the Economist piece, a study by the University of Michigan is cited which shows that where Internet use is high among young people it is more common to get one's drivers' license later (or indeed, not at all). In another survey, it was found that, "...young people increasingly view cars as appliances not aspirations, and say that social media give them the access to their world that would once have been associated with cars." This is interesting, because it shows how having an online community affects the way people interact off-line. If one can talk and share over the Internet, perhaps there is less need to get in a car and see them.
In the New York Times piece, people who moved out of low-income neighborhoods into more mixed-income neighborhoods didn't see a rise in their earnings, but they did become happier; indeed, as happy as a family which made $13,000 more a year. The first result is perhaps unsurprising, since education is believed to have a far greater effect on earnings than one's neighborhood. The second result is less so, however. Indeed, the move seemed to reduce the level of anxiety and unease families felt, and as a result families showed improved mental and physical health. This time, the community context markedly affected the well-being of individual people and families.
Finally the Wilson Quarterly piece sought to show how mental illnesses such as schizophrenia are not simply the result of genetic time-bombs turning on and ruining a person's life; rather, the way such illnesses are assessed, understood, treated makes a big difference in how frequently cases arise, and how functional patients tend to be. For example, it's been shown that Indian families "don’t treat people with schizophrenia as if they have a soul-destroying illness." Interestingly, Indian schizophrenia patients tend to function better than those in the West.
Also of interest is the way people in certain social contexts are more prone to schizophrenia than others. According to the piece, "The most remarkable recent epidemiologic finding relates to migrants: Some fall ill with schizophrenia not only at higher rates than the compatriots they leave behind, but at higher rates than the natives of the countries to which they have come. Dark-skinned migrants to Europe, mostly from the Caribbean or sub-Saharan Africa, are at risk of developing schizophrenia at rates as much as 10 times higher than those of white Europeans." Evidence like this suggests that any explanation of the disease relying solely on genetic factors is probably missing something.
And to my mind, it is perhaps no accident that social context not only helps those with the disease (such as in India) cope and live, but also plays a role in determining who develops the condition in the first place (such as with migrants).
Taken together, these three pieces seem to suggest some ways in which our community context shapes our lives. Things like social media can change the way we interact with friends, such that instead of driving into town to hang out, people choose to chat online instead. In addition, where we live may not make us materially more wealthy, but it can positively or negatively affect our mental and physical health. Factors which affect how secure we feel now, and how confident we are of future security seem to make a real difference. And finally, how our community understands and treats those with mental illness can play an big role in how functional those such illnesses can live their lives.
Something to think about perhaps.
Happy Fall (or Spring for our southern hemisphere friends) everyone :)
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