How to Analyze Contemporary Life
How to Analyze Contemporary Life
The basic move
- Divide life into phases so the investigation stays manageable.
- Life is too big; a single study leaves too many gaps.
Two sample classifications
- Brief: health, family, recreation, vocation, religion, civic life.
- Detailed: resources, production and consumption, communication, the arts, education, and more.
The rule and the sources
- No single classification of life is satisfactory; the aim is manageable aspects with none missed.
- Information comes from three levels: individuals, social groups, and communities.
Contemporary life is enormous. Trying to study all of it in one go produces a vague survey with too many gaps. The solution is the same one used for studying learners: divide life into manageable aspects and study each one in turn, making sure none is missed.
Dividing life into aspects
The basic move is to divide life into various phases so that the investigation can be managed properly. Life is too big to take whole, and a single study leads to too many gaps. Two example classifications show the idea, one brief and one detailed.
A brief classification of life might use just a handful of aspects:
- Health.
- Family.
- Recreation.
- Vocation.
- Religion.
- Civic life.
A detailed classification breaks life much finer, into aspects such as: natural resources; the protection and conservation of life; the production of goods and services; the consumption of goods and services; communication and transportation; recreation; the expression of aesthetic impulses; the expression of religious impulses; education; the expression of freedom; the integration of the individual; and exploration.
| Brief classification | Detailed classification |
|---|---|
| A few broad aspects | Many fine-grained aspects |
| Quicker, less coverage | Slower, more thorough |
| Good for a first pass | Good for deep study |
By dividing life into aspects and studying each separately
A brief classification might use health, family, recreation, vocation, religion, and civic life. A detailed one breaks life much finer. The aim is manageable aspects with none missed.
No single classification is right
An important caution comes with this: no single classification of life is satisfactory. There is no one correct way to carve up contemporary life, and a developer should not waste energy hunting for the perfect scheme. The purpose of any classification is simply to break contemporary life into manageable aspects, and the only real requirements are that no significant aspect is missed and that each aspect yields information useful for suggesting objectives.
So the brief and detailed classifications above are not rivals to be judged right or wrong. They are tools, chosen to fit the depth of study a developer needs.
The three levels of source
Once life is divided into aspects, where does the information come from? From three levels of source:
- Individuals, or people.
- Social groups.
- Communities.
Each level reveals contemporary life from a different angle, and the next article takes all three in turn. Together they give a developer a rounded picture of the life their learners will enter.
Individuals, social groups, and communities
Each reveals contemporary life from a different angle: a person’s own activities and values, a group’s shared practices and problems, and a community’s resources and direction of change.
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