1.The Transitional Society

Kerala society has been witnessing increasing restlessness recently. This increased restlessness is due to the transitional nature of our society. The conservative Kerala society has entered the phase of transition in which a shift from conservative to modernism is taking place. So what is the nature of this transition? We know that it is fast; and rapid transition always brings associated complications with it. In fact this transitional nature of conservative Kerala society is giving rise to increasing disquietedness.

When society moves away from traditional conservative nature to modern rational state vigorously concomitantly a situation of anomie develops. Old norms are no longer valid, new norms are yet to come. Normlessness becomes the norm of society. People are confronted with the existential question. This situation is aggravated when the protagonists of the modernity confronts directly with the rightists of the day as was witnessed in the event ‘Kiss of love’.

To start with let me explain what anomie is; when individuals are confronted with insufficient moral constraint they don’t know what the appropriate and accepted way of behaviour is in particular situations. This situation is called anomie. When multiple individuals or the whole society are faced with insufficient moral constraints then the whole society moves towards a situation which is characterised by loss of morality and rise of conflicts. The reason behind these conflicts is the transitional nature of society. Let’s discuss an example for further clarification. Suppose an individual reaches a college for the first time. He doesn't know what should be the proper and accepted way of behaviour in the first days of college. How should one interact with the professors, how should one behave in the class, how to interact with the people of opposite sex… are the dilemmas faced by a student when he enters the college for the first time.  Thus a man is confronted with dilemmas in his life which causes confusion in his mind about what he should do in a particular situation.

When individual is exposed to new environment he faces dilemmas, but what happens when the environment changes and the individual is exposed to the changing environment? He faces dilemmas in this situation too. Let’s look onto an example for further clarification. The influx of large number of news channels and media houses is an example of changes happening over and above the individual. The competition between different newspapers and television channels has triggered the rise of sensationalism. This in turn has resulted in everything and anything becoming news. Whatever nonsense a politician or a head of religion or caste associations’ leader says becomes news. These changes happening in the surroundings of an individual is influencing and manipulating the individual. As a result the individual behaves or adapts to the changing environment and in this situation too he is confronted with the dilemmas. The individuals gets confused; what to believe, whom to believe becomes a question. These rapid changes occurring in Kerala society leads to the rise of moral breakdown and disquietedness which we are witnessing right now in front of us.