"If ten fourteen-year-olds are grouped together, they will fight with one another. They will form a Lord of the Flies culture with its competitiveness, social anxiety and meanness. But if ten people aged two to eighty are grouped together they will fall into a natural age hierarchy that nurtures and teaches all of them. Because each person has a niche, competition will subside. Each person will have something unique to contribute. Values will deepen, and experience will grow richer. For our own mental and societal health, we need to reconnect the age groups."
- Mary Pipher, Ph.D.: Another Country
Is this true? I think not. It is tempting, but this idea that a multi-generational grouping will have a Utopian power structure is not demonstrated in nature. On the one hand, yes, there are more people around for caring for children and elderly.
On the other hand, problems arise because the elderly are dependent on this family structure, and they must see the young adults stay within this structure and bring home the bacon. Taken to excess, the children are trapped in the system. Arranged marriages. The son does the same work as the father. Children leave school to work. The caste system.
Brutally blunt:
Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things
Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger
More complex and subtle:
- Mary Pipher, Ph.D.: Another Country
Is this true? I think not. It is tempting, but this idea that a multi-generational grouping will have a Utopian power structure is not demonstrated in nature. On the one hand, yes, there are more people around for caring for children and elderly.
On the other hand, problems arise because the elderly are dependent on this family structure, and they must see the young adults stay within this structure and bring home the bacon. Taken to excess, the children are trapped in the system. Arranged marriages. The son does the same work as the father. Children leave school to work. The caste system.
Brutally blunt:
Arundhati Roy: The God of Small Things
Aravind Adiga: The White Tiger
More complex and subtle:
Rohinton Mistry: A Fine Balance
Manil Sun: Death of Vishnu
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