Dr. Matiur Rahman :
Relationship through social network is an integral part of digitalised sociology. It has now become an integral part in the lives of most people living in developed and developing countries around the world. The use of personal computers and digital technologies has increased significantly since the beginning of commercial use of those in the early 1980s and 1990s respectively. These have reached a unique level in people’s daily lives, influencing family and intimate relationships, leisure activities, paid work, education, trade and the ways in which the media is presented and enjoyed.
In terms of human behavior and above all, interpersonal relationships, these technologies are creating different levels of social relationships that are different from traditional social relationships. New digital media technology is having a profound impact on the daily lives and social relationships of many people in the society. People around the world are being brought together in unprecedented ways by digital media and networks. As a result, a digital social relationship is being formed between them which has become one of the areas of research for sociologists.
The theory of the ‘Liquid Society’ was introduced by the prominent Polish sociologist and philosopher Zygmunt Baumann in his book ‘Liquid Modernity’ published in 2000. ‘Liquid’ here refers to the substances that flow into our society, spill, drip – which means we are transforming from a ‘solid’ to a ‘liquid’ stage in terms of relationships. ‘Liquidity’ is being replaced in the case of the previous ‘stable’ and ‘strong’ relationship.
In sociology, society refers to a group of people who live in a particular community and share the same culture. On a larger scale, society consists of the people and institutions around us, our beliefs and cultural perceptions. In general, more developed societies also share a political authority.
Baumann compared the current society to a ‘liquid’ substance where every human being behaves like a liquid particle, which means that the bonds between them are not as strong as in the previous society and the society cannot retain its identity even by applying different kinds of force. He thinks that this process of liquefaction of society has started from the time of changing the face of society and state in the name of modernity. And according to him, issues like insecurity, uncertainty and individualism play a major role in such a society.
It is said that in the era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, there has been an unimaginable development of technology and at the same time various changes have taken place in the basic structure of the society. However, the most notable and common feature of these changes is that society is creating distances in the depths of connection among people and the strong social bonds are becoming increasingly narrow and weak.
In this digital age we can send huge amounts of information, money or products through the internet – without direct contact with people. We are also creating artificial intelligence instead of humans and it is said that many kinds of work can be done through it in the near future. In this age of new technology, the previous industrial society has been transformed into a new social system called ‘Information Society’ or ‘Information Based Society’.
We now have sophisticated computers, smartphones and the internet. In this new information-based society, we see that the distance between people has narrowed as a result of unimaginable improvement in the virtual communication system. Now, we can talk to someone far away from us via video call. We use Google meet, Skype and webcam, etc. for meetings or other purposes. Connecting or making friends with people from different continents in the virtual world of social media like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram which may not have been possible in the real world. Due to this rapid development of technology, globalization is accelerating and its benefits are reaching all people. But what kind of changes are taking place in the basic structure of society as a result of this ubiquitous development of technology?
Covid-19 is a good example of this risk. It proves how insecure and uncertain life is in this society. Therefore, states or governments in different countries need to focus on programs that address the uncertainties and insecurities of their citizens. We need to develop a philosophy of development at the local and international levels that will strengthen the relationship between the people of the society, increase confidence and create different areas of cooperation. In this way we will be able to build a strong social bonds based society for our future generations.
(Dr. Matiur Rahman, Research Consultant, Human Development Research Centre, Dhaka).
