Escaping societal needs by floating

Nature:

Individuals escape from the needs of society by refusing to make any in depth social commitments. The individual floats from one shallow commitment to another or dreams about the past or the future. All demands for concrete engagement in the present are left unmet.

Incidence:

Primary group covenants between people, like marriage, have become sequential contracts and have lost their profundity. The process of getting married and raising a family has turned from a life's work to a frantic search for sexual satisfaction, financial security or release from guilt about the quality of life of one's children. Elders, adults and children have become disconnected from each other's life styles; and care for others has become a peripheral concern. Communities are no longer geographically oriented but are oriented towards work or leisure-time, further creating tensions in basic group relationships. Emotional and spiritual support systems have been eroded by this fragmentation of covenants.

Broader Problems:

Avoidance of reality
Collapse in the meaning of participating in society

About the Encyclopedia

The Encyclopedia of World Problems and Human Potential is a unique, experimental research work of the Union of International Associations. It is currently published as a searchable online platform with profiles of world problems, action strategies, and human values that are interlinked in novel and innovative ways. These connections are based on a range of relationships such as broader and narrower scope, aggravation, relatedness and more. By concentrating on these links and relationships, the Encyclopedia is uniquely positioned to bring focus to the complex and expansive sphere of global issues and their interconnected nature.

The initial content for the Encyclopedia was seeded from UIA’s Yearbook of International Organizations. UIA’s decades of collected data on the enormous variety of association life provided a broad initial perspective on the myriad problems of humanity. Recognizing that international associations are generally confronting world problems and developing action strategies based on particular values, the initial content was based on the descriptions, aims, titles and profiles of international associations.

About UIA

The Union of International Associations (UIA) is a research institute and documentation centre, based in Brussels. It was established in 1907, by Henri la Fontaine (Nobel Peace Prize laureate of 1913), and Paul Otlet, a founding father of what is now called information science.

Non-profit, apolitical, independent, and non-governmental in nature, the UIA has been a pioneer in the research, monitoring and provision of information on international organizations, international associations and their global challenges since 1907.

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Escaping societal needs by floating

About the Encyclopedia

About UIA