Annalyn Banas

NAME: Jacob Kim SUBJECT: Anthropology How People Cope Up Social Change? People cope up with the rapid social change. This is quite true in a small town of La Quebrada, Honduras that over a five year period have undergone a transformation, from being an isolated community of a small scale coffee farmers into a hot destination of migration from Honduras to United States and back. The everyday lives of people are influenced by the global economy, which is quite different from what they had experienced before. But most of the townspeople perceived the transformation as a temporary response to the economic crisis. The transformation did embrace the different aspects of the local people from political,religious and family dynamics. This paper tends to examine how people were able to cope up with the economic change, particularly the effect of capitalist modernization. La Quebrada, is a small populated state of El Paraiso, Honduras which is in the North America region. Its nearby cities are El Mata Palo, Santo Domingo, and Quebrada Arriba. And its closest cities are Soyapango, San Salvador and Tegucigalpa (Gomapper.com,2014). In the Broken Village story, it depicts how this remote village in Honduras has transformed faster from being asleep coffee growing community into destination spot of migration to and from the United States. But today, it's become dependent on the migrants who were working in far places such as in South Dakota and Long Island (Reichman, Daniel R.,2011). The town’s encounter with global change had created a profound sense of alienation as the townspeople felt that they were taking part in the system that they do not have enough understanding and controlling. Some of them who were manual laborers and uneducated who work in the United States had changed while the successful coffee growers and local political elites struggled while the new group of elites from migration rose in power and wealth into the society. Some who were able to migrate into the United States found a job, save a lot of money and return back to the town while some struggled with finding work and live in hostile environments. During the time of this cultural upheaval, people tried to think the cause and the future of these changes. They even debated whether the change is positive or negative and morally good or bad for the people. The social reforms are focused on the attempt of the coffee growers to run a coffee cooperative, local debates on migrants and the growth of new evangelical religions in the community. The community indeed tries to reconstruct a moral vision for the society where rapid change is happening. This shows how La Quebrada was able to deal with the structural change of individual choice which form part of the social reform that the whole community experienced. This stresses how the people in the community struggle to balance their family life and the chance to make money by working in the United States. And as the lifestyle of people change, so is the growing jealousy that the other felt. This seems not a positive attribute by social change. And as they tried to implement a free trade of goods and capital, but for most people there is no freedom to move from one country to another. Checking it out in a real life scenario, what did change really attribute in the life of people? In a research conducted by Walden University in 2012 on the impact of social reforms in the lives of people, it shows that two-thirds of adults worldwide agree that the economic conditions are really bad, but it is rather important to get involved in the social change especially when the economic condition is quite good. But most of people’s action does not change even in an economic crisis. This is for the fact that we rarely see rich people donating money for a cause of an organization when the economic condition is bad (csrwire.com, 2014). As social reform continues to change people’s passion and have fuel communities all around the globe, it is necessary to assess its impact to the individual level, whether it is good or bad, moral or immoral as a whole. In the 2012 Social Change Impact report, most of people would least likely to change their behaviors which are often the result of economic conditions. Although, most would have donated money, products or services to show that they get involved in social change, but this is one thing that they cut back to when economic condition is not quite good at all. Most would prefer to participate in volunteer work or services and use social network sites as a way to deal with social change.Individuals did have an important role to play in the future of social change. Although most people have seen the value in involving in organization for charity work, still most of them believe that social change are people who is acting on their own and not organizations. But today’s generation seems different as majority would agree that they can make this world a better place through their own actions which is often through the power of digital technology. People today now enjoy going social conversation rather than starting a new one. Thus the importance of social change is quite important for any individual. More than would agree that involvement in social change is quite necessary, but this varies in every individual. So what is the article above telling us? Looking at how the community in La Quebrada changed rapidly due to migration of the people that brought a lot of change in their community after they get back from other places entails a lot of responsibility, decision making and consideration. It is necessary to weigh the pros and cons once a community engages in social transformation. And if we look at it today, modernization truly transform our lives. But sad to say, oftentimes, social transformation changes people’s status and way of living that it failed to look at the true value of humanity and social responsibility towards the environment and the whole community. Although, people benefit from the status quo that they have which is brought by globalization in the community, but most negatively react to social change. And most are reluctant to change for the better and even resist it. In reality, the lower social class is the most affected to these social changes. For those who are able to deal with social change positively, they are able to maintain group belonging, family ties and maintain self-esteem. One good example is the migrants who were able to support their family as they went back to their community. But for those who poorly cope up with the social change are often isolated and disconnected in the community. That is why feelings of jealousy prevail within the community. As a community, especially in the townspeople of La Quebrada, how can they support the social transformation that is rapidly taking place in their community? It is good to have models that others in the community will follow from political leaders, community leaders and religious leaders. Implement laws that will support this change so as environmental protections and anti-corruption policy. People need to be educated what is really changing and why it is happening in an area. Like in the coffee farmers, as new technology was introduced to them, they might need some reskilling. Finally, there is a need for institutional norms as well other institution that will support social change in the community. Without these supports, expect a community of alienation, anomie and disorganizationas the social change will occur to them. This is what will happen when social change is forced on a society quickly like what happened in La Quebrada, Honduras.  Work Cited Gomapper.com, “Where is La Quebrada Arriba in El Paraíso, Honduras Located?” 2014. We. December 2, 2014 Csrwire.com, “New Survey Finds Global Economic Conditions Impact Positive Social Change” 2014. Web. December 2, 2014 Reichman, Daniel R. “The Broken Village: Coffee, Migration and Globalization in Honduras. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press (ILR), 2011.