"When basic needs are met, people have everything they need to succeed." - correct? A paper by Moffit et. al. (2010) suggests there is a limited supply of willpower which we all draw from in our day-to-day lives.
So, if you have to combat job seeker’s allowance paperwork, seek out each journal you need from myriad libraries, and cycle across town to reach facilities because you live in a cheaper area, do you have the same resources to use in the work arena as someone with all these resources at their fingertips?
So, if you have to combat job seeker’s allowance paperwork, seek out each journal you need from myriad libraries, and cycle across town to reach facilities because you live in a cheaper area, do you have the same resources to use in the work arena as someone with all these resources at their fingertips?
With the closing of many libraries goes the torch of equal access and opportunities. Rare use is not an excuse for closing something worthwhile; rather the value should be publicised. Where else can people work in a warm environment, for free, with access to the internet and the latest journals? Between freelance contracts I work in a library rather than in my flat, but these area are increasingly becoming noisy, entitlement-ridden doss points rather than a haven for concentration and work.
In economically difficult times, maintaining hope is more important than ever if society is not going to turn on itself.
Growing up within a functional capitalist family framework differs from growing up within a morass of unemployment, not just because of material resources, but through a sense of fear and desperation, that you are literally clawing out every penny for food and clothes; that your life could literally "slide out of view" (Jarvis Cocker). The adrenal response of the limbic system to immediate pressures causes the body to prepare a fight or flight response, which competes with and blocks out higher cognitive functions such as planning and delaying gratification. There isn't a well trodden path which reassures that there's a time for everyone "if they only learn, that the twisting kaleidoscope, moves us all in turn.” In a world without consistent fair play and meritocracy, there is not necessarily a time for everyone. So those on the fringes must claw over one another to succeed, and this internal lack of cooperation among the stressed group (according to social evolution theory) increases the gap between rich and poor still further.
Growing up within a functional capitalist family framework differs from growing up within a morass of unemployment, not just because of material resources, but through a sense of fear and desperation, that you are literally clawing out every penny for food and clothes; that your life could literally "slide out of view" (Jarvis Cocker). The adrenal response of the limbic system to immediate pressures causes the body to prepare a fight or flight response, which competes with and blocks out higher cognitive functions such as planning and delaying gratification. There isn't a well trodden path which reassures that there's a time for everyone "if they only learn, that the twisting kaleidoscope, moves us all in turn.” In a world without consistent fair play and meritocracy, there is not necessarily a time for everyone. So those on the fringes must claw over one another to succeed, and this internal lack of cooperation among the stressed group (according to social evolution theory) increases the gap between rich and poor still further.
The resulting stress and adrenaline, causing the amygdala to affect basic body processes and hormone release, controls fear and aggression, and this is apparent in the anthems of youth. Eminem’s '8 mile' was played voraciously on my estate: "You got one shot do not miss your chance to go. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime. This is it." When I got my first job in the media, I thought I had to work all the hours under the sun for fear it would disappear. But opportunities do not come once in a lifetime. Everything does not hang on one moment for most of us - there is no simple pass or fail. The pressures such ultimatums exert could cause many to mess up.
The field of animal cognition now recognizes fast and slow cognitive styles. These are not necessarily distributed between different species, or even different organisms. The fast style allows less time to take in the environment, and is often driven by the limbic system under stress, or the fight or flight response mechanism. In humans, the fight or flight system can also be triggered by social stress, as you’ll know if your palms have ever sweated before giving a speech - this is one of the stress responses of the limbic system in response to pressure. This fast style prevents the hooking in of the cortex, and so inhibits looking deeply at a situation, reassessing your approach and coining novel strategies.
An atmosphere of nature red in tooth and claw will cause people to fight.
Logically, all this implies that a welfare state which makes life easier rather than harder for its members, and creates pathways of opportunity, will suffer less fear and aggression due to bottlenecking of opportunity, allow slower deeper thinking and cause greater productivity to flourish.
An atmosphere of nature red in tooth and claw will cause people to fight.
Logically, all this implies that a welfare state which makes life easier rather than harder for its members, and creates pathways of opportunity, will suffer less fear and aggression due to bottlenecking of opportunity, allow slower deeper thinking and cause greater productivity to flourish.
“There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life,
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.”
But tides come twice a day, you just need to ride them.
But tides come twice a day, you just need to ride them.
No comments:
Post a Comment