The Social Costs Of Moving
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by: joe.moesier
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Word Count: 505
Each year Americans are moving intercity, interstate and abroad. Migration has become a common feature with every citizen chasing his or her version of the American Dream. Moving has it pros and cons. On the downside, moving is at the price of the social well being of the traditional American family.
A conventional American family consists of at least two generations living together, with the elders living in the same house or in the same city. This concept of family is epitomized by rural America, but is fast losing relevance in cities where unitary families are a norm. Economic reasons are forcing Americans to make hard choices. These choices include moving away which has an adverse effect on their families. More often than not, moving hits the elders of a family the hardest. This decision typically involves leaving behind the elders. The elders are thus faced with an empty nest which has a direct impact on their emotional health. Families moving sometimes opt to put their elders in old age homes and institutions for the aged so as to concentrate on their aspirations. Such a move is difficult for some elders to cope with and they become depressed.
Along with the elders others are also affected. The absence of the grandfather and/or the grandmother has its effect on the children too. The young lose the opportunity to imbibe the traditional values and lessons of life, which can best be passed by a time-tested oral tradition.
Moving to a new place is never easy on the pocket. Any relocation is a challenge on your budget management, which would include careful assessment of your immediate liquidity, as well as your various insurance policies. Your interstate moves would of course be less painful than say a move abroad, which requires a longer and more judicious financial plan. Even unitary families are greatly affected financially. It may well happen that the children plan to move away requiring the parents to chip in thus increasing the financial burden. The children on relocating get busy with their own lives and the thus the established social fabric also undergoes strain.
Intra-family and societal relations are affected by migration. The vacuum created by loss of family members requires to be filled. When suitable role models do not fill the space, siblings become vulnerable to the darker sides of human nature and at a later stage visits to the psychiatrist become a norm. Why are Americans going in for psychiatric counseling in increasing numbers? The answer possibly lies in migration, which is causing disarray in the American social structure. The issue that needs to be addressed is whether we as Americans must reconsider our choices, or continue our quest for fulfilling the American dream at all cost.
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