Towards A Competitive Malaysia #22
Chapter 5: Consequences of progress and Prosperity (Cont’d)
The Social Price of Progress
The social changes accompanying progress are no less consequential. They revolve primarily around lifestyles at the personal, family, and community levels.
At the personal level, the most profound and completely opposite to what would be anticipated is declining fertility. The accepted wisdom was that with improved medical care, abundant food, and better living conditions people would reproduce prolifically, and many more would survive to old age resulting in a population explosion. With finite resources, it would not be long before we would outstrip the food supply. This was the dire prediction of the 19th century British clergyman Thomas Malthus. Modern thinkers like Paul Ehrlich and members of the Club of Rome echoed variations of this dark theme.(6) Malthus went so far as to conclude that only famine, war, or disease would save humankind from this inevitable fate.
Malthus, Ehrlich and others have good reasons for their gloomy outlook. In the larger biological world, when food is plentiful and conditions favorable, the specie would reproduce with abandon. This is true of bacteria as well as rats. It is the universal truth in biology; it is thus reasonable to postulate that a similar pattern would occur with humans.
Alas, humans are unique. When times are good, we behave in the very opposite manner. With progress and prosperity, fertility rates decline dramatically even in societies that were once known for their reproductive proclivities. Prior to World War II, the Japanese were notorious for having large broods. The reason often given for their earlier expansionist policies was to find space for their rapidly expanding population. Fast-forward to today and with greater affluence, the Japanese are hardly reproducing at replacement level. Their population is actually declining, as with most of the First World.(7) America is the exception because of immigration; its native-born population is actually declining.
This fertility transition, with fertility rate below replacement level, defies explanations as well as attempts at reversing it. Even Singapore, with its authoritarian leadership, could not force its citizens to procreate fast enough.
In Malaysia, non-Bumiputras already experience this fertility transition. Malays and other Bumiputras too will soon reach it. They are being temporarily delayed by silly arguments on the racial calculus of the country, propagated by their ill-informed leaders. If a strong-willed leader like Lee Kuan Yew were unable to influence his followers with regards to their reproductive activities, I doubt very much whether far less effective Malay leaders could stop the low fertility of Malays that would inevitably accompany their progress.
This fertility transition is the most dramatic and unexpected consequence of human progress.
Another far-reaching social change is the general sense of alienation, what sociologists refer to as anomie. For some, when their basic needs are taken care of, they lose their sense of purpose. This is reflected in the high suicide rates in developed countries. When people are consumed with having to survive, this apparently gives their lives a purpose.( 
There are also profound changes at the family level. The intergenerational household so common in the past is a rarity today, and with it, opportunities for intergenerational bonding. The extended family of yore is giving way to the nuclear family of today: a father, mother, and the children. This makes the family unit small and isolated, compounding the anomie.
A major correlate of economic growth is gender equity. Economists assert that it is a prerequisite for economic development. They point to backward nations where women are denied opportunities as ready examples.
Certainly a nation that does not value half of its population and does not offer them educational and other opportunities is losing out on the potential of a major chunk of its human capital. The world would be poorer without the contributions of women. They bring their own special perspective to a problem. Besides, it is just not right morally to deny them opportunities or to discriminate against them.
Gender equality, right morally and in every other way, creates its own problems. When a husband and wife are equally capable of bringing bread to the table, economic considerations do not factor much when divorce is being contemplated. There is one less barrier against divorce, or put differently, one more step that eases it. It is not surprising to see the high correlation of gender equality with delayed marriages, high divorce rates, and rise in households headed by females.
Another consequence is the devaluing of child rearing. With women entering the workplace and the value of their labor outside the home being tangibly valued (it counts towards the GDP), child rearing is now left to others. Mothering is no longer valued by society. This can only have adverse consequences.
The solution is not to regress to the “good old days” and confine women to the kitchen, rather to use our ingenuity and resources to resolve these new issues. The Scandinavian nations have done particularly well in this regard, with their readily available, publicly supported, and highly affordable childcare centers. These centers often do a better job taking care of children than young inexperienced mothers. Both mother and child benefit from such arrangements. Ultimately, society too benefits.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Western societies now have nursing homes, extended living facilities, and senior citizens homes. I am uncertain whether these arrangements are better than having the aged stay with their grown up children and have opportunities to bond with their grandchildren. These senior living arrangements have one benefit: They free old parents from the sense of guilt for being dependent on their adult children. Conversely, adult children are freed of the burden and guilt of taking care of their aged parents, and thus able to pursue their dreams and live wherever that dream takes them. These senior homes are far from the decrepit “benevolent” homes common in Asia in the last century where the aged were deposited to live out their dying days. Many are well designed to enhance the golden years of their inhabitants.
Next: Economic Growth and Social Equity