Making and Remaking of Lives
Society is built from the interaction of people. The main form of communication is whereby people come together to form a network that involves different people playing different roles. Therefore, the existence of people depends on each other. Generally, nature finds a way of balancing events to create tasks for each person. The making and remaking of the society include the activities that revolve around activities of people and things. Most of the actions that lead to the making and making of society are, however, taken for granted. For example, shopping, helping people on the road side, or even taking children to school do not count as serious activities. Most of the events are viewed as usual, and individuals do not specialize in such activities. The making and remaking of lives do not, however, escape the impact of choice and constraints. The choices that people make are known to come along with constraints that affect the making and remaking of lives.
Consumption forms a significant part of human life. Most of the activities that human beings engage in have a final goal of satisfying consumer needs. The type of goods and services to be consumed depends on the choice of the individual. However, the choices made concerning consumption are faced by constraints that come up due to the desire to fit in a particular category. Moreover, the environment within which individuals live in determines the extent to which choices will be affected by constraints. Besides, choices and constraints are related by the way that individual goals interact with the social setting. Generally, individuals are forced by circumstances to make and remake their lives.
Choices are primarily out of freewill until circumstances set in. For example, economic factors may play crucial roles in imposing some choices on individuals. The inability of individuals to make choices freely comes in as constraints. Most constraints come in gradually leading people into believing that nothing has changed from their previous lives. An example of an imposed constraint would be an individual who loses their job. Ideally, a job is expected to provide a payment that caters for the costs of activities around making and remaking lives. For example, holiday trips may cease when an individual loses their job. Also, the choice of the type of foods to consume may become restricted by economic factors. Therefore, constraints come in to impact the choices that individuals have towards making and remaking their lives. Besides, the patterns of consumption may influence the choices available and constraints limiting individuals from making confident choices.
The pattern of consumption is responsible for the choices that individuals make while making and remaking lives. For example, the jobs that individuals do in a particular area may be determined by the patterns of consumption. Moreover, the patterns of consumption will tend to impose additional demands that will require further efforts and thus, extra efforts required. Again, the work done due to consumption patterns comes back to impact the consumption patterns through the production of consumable goods and services. Therefore, consumption patterns and work is done by an individual are related. Besides, the availability or scarcity of products and services affects the choices that people have and puts constraints on acquired goods. Additionally, consumption imposes a political aspect of choices and constraints.
A political aspect exists concerning consumption. Individuals develop a form of resistance as a way of adapting to the constraints imposed by circumstances. In “The Life and Times of the Street,” the concern on the individuals is the lack of choice to purchase goods from local shops (Blakeley and Staples, 2014, 245). The people in the streets may be willing to make ethical choices of shopping from small shops on the streets, but Tesco is the only available place of purchase. Therefore, the residents in the streets are limited to the choice of purchasing from the supermarket. Also, the lack of choice may not be purely placed in larger supermarkets. Small scale shopkeepers have the choice of opening small kiosks but have left the supermarkets to dominate the streets. Additionally, choices that are not imposed by constraints transform the lives of people and their places of residence.
Making and remaking of lives does not have to be faced with constraints. Sometimes, choices are made out of freewill. Individuals become transformed to make choices concerning the life they desire. For example, individuals on the street make choices based on the infrastructure in the streets. Some individuals have chosen to become sewage cleaners, while others have decided to collect garbage (The Open University, 2014b, n. p). Therefore, the making and remaking of social life make individuals make choices that are not imposed by constraints. However, the free will choices may lead to constraints in that choices can only be made on the available circumstances. Besides, individuals cannot decide to clean a sewage line if it did not exist. The idea of making and remaking of lives brings out issues of power where choices are made because of a lack of options.
The lack of capability to make some decisions grows to become a constraint. Individuals tend to make choices where less or no struggle is involved. The presence of competition is, therefore viewed as a constraint that hinders the making of decisions. Besides, attempts to achieve uniformity and achieve standardization end up disadvantaging some people in the streets. For example, small scale traders may lack the power to compete with bigger businesses such as supermarkets. Therefore, the residents fail to have free choices on where to go for shopping.
Moreover, the establishment of laws to discourage the opening of small shops is an issue of power and oppresses people without the ability to open large businesses. Generally, the existence of power is responsible for constraints that hinder the choices available for individuals. The buying and selling of goods can shape the relationships between people in a particular area.
People relate depending on the goods in circulation in their areas of residence. The making and remaking of lives pay significant attention to the available products in the market. Therefore, change and continuity get the upper hand in impacting the transformation of patterns in making and remaking of lives (The Open University, 2014b, n.p). For example, a street that used to be known for car showrooms and transforms into a restaurant and the small-shop street is accompanied by changes in the patterns of consumption. The making and making lives allow for the possibility of change to allow for modification and continuity. Also, individuals’ relationship with each other change over time if the goods in circulation change. Besides, boundaries may come up in terms of social class. The case of the street, which used to have car showrooms may, for example, lead to a mixture of residents. For example, people with and without cars may feel comfortable residing in the street, and thus a mixed social class is created.
Choices and constraints vary depending on the social order of individual people. Societies have different ways of adapting to change. For example, issues such as gender roles are defined according to the culture of the people. Therefore, choices and constraints will be determined by the culture and social organization of the people. For example, some communities will not allow women to engage in business activities. Although women in such communities will not view the requirement as a constraint, the reality is that constraints are present. Also, most communities believe that women are supposed to move to their husband’s home after marriage. A woman who will be will be willing to have a home and bring a man to live with her will be facing cultural constraints in such communities. Therefore, the social organization of societies affects the choices and constraints encountered during making and remaking lives. Moreover, activities of individuals during making and remaking of lives outdo the working of nature.
Nature plays little or no role in the transformative process of a community. The basic idea behind any transformation is that individuals make choices in the absence or presence of constraints to change systems towards their advantage. For example, the economic structure of any community is developed by individuals as they try to overcome constraints and make choices. The changes in aspects such as the economy are affected by the order that comes up while making and remaking of lives. Therefore, the systems that come into existence are triggered by human choices rather than nature. The contribution of nature is limited to creating an environment that favors the growth of different social orders.
Societies are made and made and remade through different processes. The unnoticed human relationships that come up during day-to-day activities contribute immensely towards the making and remaking of lives in a society. However, the processes of making and remaking lives are subject to a range of choices and constraints that affect the extent of the processes. Specifically, constraints affect the way choices are made, and individuals always find ways to overcome constraints. Generally, making and remaking of lives are processes that are subject to choices and constraints.
In sum, making and remaking of lives are subject to the impact of choice and constraints. The choices that people make are known to come along with constraints that affect the making and remaking of lives. Choices and constraints are related by the way that individual goals interact with the social setting. The unnoticed human relationships that come up during day-to-day activities contribute immensely towards the making and remaking of lives in a society. Ideally, making and remaking of lives are processes that are subject to choices and constraints.
Personal Reflection
Materials from Open university have been crucial in the development of several skills. The materials are developed in such a way that the content covers the possible societal system. First, I my exploratory skills have been sharpened. The issue of making and remaking lives had not been of interest to me until I started using materials from Open University. Also, my interpretative skills on existing debates on human lives have been improved. For example, I have come to interpret why human beings behave differently in different environment. Thirdly, interactive skills have been improved after realizing that the activities that receive less attention have significant importance to the society. Generally, the experience of reading materials from Open University has been fruitful and my career dreams have received a positive boost.
References
Blakeley, G. and Staples, M. (2014a) ‘The life and times of the street’, in Allen, J. and Blakeley, G. (eds) Understanding Social Lives, Part 1, Milton Keynes, The Open University.
The Open University (2014b) ‘Understanding Social Lives Part 2’ in John Clarke and Kath Woodward DD102 Introducing the Social Sciences.