The
arrival of prosperity and concomitant materialism
Prosperity breeds
transition, transition from non-materialistic culture to materialistic culture.
The arrival of globalisation, free market had affected agricultural and
services sector of Kerala economy heavily. On the services front with the help
of IT sector young engineers earned good money. On the other hand the immediate
impact that globalisation had on the agricultural produce has led to the drop
in prices of various agricultural products such as rubber, pepper … has led to
misery of farmers. Land cost remained stable.
Globalisation has
offered large number opportunities for young graduates especially in the
software sector. This has in turn resulted in the accumulation of money in the
hands of youngsters. The new-found money caused consumption culture to rise and
flourish.
Setting apart the
initial fall in the prices of different agricultural produce the farmers
subsequently reaped the benefits of globalisation. The price of agricultural
produce such as pepper and rubber has also seen huge increase in a short span
of time and the same with regard to fall in price. This sky rocketing of prices
for agricultural produce in a short span of time led to sudden prosperity of
different regions. The accumulation of large sums of money suddenly into the
hands of farmers who haven’t seen or managed such a huge sum of money has caused
materialistic culture to flourish.
The manufacturing
sector in Kerala remained comparatively apathetic to the phenomenon of
globalisation.
Sudden prosperity
always leads to changes in social behaviour. People neither have past
experience nor have good management skills to manage the sudden prosperity. The
only ethic that guides people appears to be the amount of disposable income
that one has. The income is disposed as soon as it is amassed. Materialistic
pursuits and consumption culture starts to dominate the society about which I
shall deal in the subsequent chapters.
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