The present book “Sociology in Various Contexts” tries to observe and analyze different social and age groups in various dimensions. One of the most important and influential groups in any society is the youth who usually stand at the age group 15-29. Such an age group is quite more in developing world as compared with the developed world. They are innovators in any society. The youth participate in any occasion; they learn new knowledge and technology, and try to diffuse them within the existing sphere. However, as in developing world child birth is on increase, better and more efficient planning on youth is essential to be done to meet the the needs of majority of a nation. The phenomenon of population change is pervasive throughout the world in which societies have moved from high fertility and high mortality to low fertility and mortality conditions, leading to more youth and eventually more elderly people. What distinguishes the youth from the current age is the new culture. The speed of change itself has caused youth transformation–leading to the emergence of many intergenerational issues. Changes due to industry and technology, development of electronics and communications, rapid urbanization and many more, have provided challenges and new opportunities for young people. Rapid social change in recent decades has widened the usual generation gap between the young people and the previous generations difficult.
Social work plays a determining part within the youth; especially in the rapid changing world. The intervention of social work reactivates the youth and saves them from passivity. The work profession developed in the 19th century in Europe with some of its roots in voluntary philanthropy. Youth, easily changing into adulthood, their cultural interactions also change accordingly. During this evolution, they receive the social work services to adjust as needed. Therefore, lack of attention towards the youth, and not attending to their needs, leads to the reduction of productivity, underdevelopment and inefficiency within the youth. As a result, social work enables the youth to take responsibility for joint work and the like.
In sociology, child labor is highly discussed. It happens to many developing countries where child birth is high, and at the same time the income of the head of the household is not sufficient to meet the family needs. Child labor is very prevalent in developing countries. The most prevalent in this regard is Asia, where in India the number of children working is over 30 million. In Africa also, child labor is a part of their culture. As the world population is predicted to increase to over 10 billion by the year 2050, the number of children working in developing world will almost increase quite high due to socio-economic mismanagement. Working children, while providing for their daily expenses, to some extent, also help their families financially. However, in societies where chronic poverty prevails, the phenomenon of child labor does not seem unusual. Child labor causes future generations to face unforeseen challenges and problems. One of the immediate consequences of this trend is the frequency of marriage at a young age, which likely repeats the same cycle. Child labor as a public disorder used to appear in the present industrial world in the 19th century more due to high birth, and the existing poverty there. The current child labor in developing world needs to supervise the children concerned not to turn to street children, criminal gangs and the like. However, many South and West Asian countries are in short of health facilities. Therefore, demographic and health measures are necessary to be taken into account in Asia in order to control the child labor.
Throughout history, poverty has been a normal phenomenon for the human beings, and it more is done by a minority which is always criticized as well. Following the Industrial Revolution, many manpower entered jobs that required skills. For such a move, literacy and education highly increased among the citizens, and because of which grounds for class differences gradually diminished. To achieve smart city goal, fair use of resources must be done from all parts of a country. In the process of class gap minimization, wealth being the product of productivity, productivity itself can be developed and expanded. Such a process gradually and sociologically leads to smart city development. As a result of such a process, poverty and class differences could be eliminated. As a witness, Japan is a country wherein smart city goals have been reached/ achieved. Sociologically speaking, the equilibrium of the three elements are necessary to reach a smart city. The three elements of food, water and population must be available for that. Imbalance of it is usually reflected in many developing countries. Population change/ increase that started since 1950, jeopardized the other two variables. Such a phenomenon caused migration, unemployment, density of population in many cities and many more. Overall, high population-growth areas face serious issues of poverty and low adaptability. Shortage of food and water as an effect of population growth, leads to unplanned migration leading to challenges and chaos. The given issue will happen to Africa where 40% of its population is under the age of 15 years. Shortage of food and water pushes many people to industrial countries too, through which socio-economic tranquility is widely affected. To solve such an emerging problem, the developing countries need to project and plan their populations. Only then, can a better quality of life be expected. Likewise, the changing climate must be kept in mind, and food planning be on the agenda accordingly, and if not, more hazards must be expected.
Quality of life all over Asia is not the same. Some are having enough resources, and some are oil rich with high income per capita.
Such resources provide them with adequate quality of life. Some others are those industrializing, obtaining better income ___ leading to higher quality of life for the citizens. There are also some countries which are neither industrializing, nor oil rich. Such countries have to lead life in a low quality of life manner. Though the Asian countries are trying to establish quality of life for all, yet, because of shortage of some infrastructures, some countries remain in poverty. Therefore, some Asian countries continue in minimum quality of life. As new technologies are entering the Asian countries, they expect their quality of life to improve in the same way. However, population and resources need to be harmonized in order to access desired quality of life. According to sociologists, industrialization is known as the main foundation of any development. To access any development in health, hygiene, food industry, housing, employment, better insurance measures, high-quality education, social justice and the like, industrialization has the first say. Industrialization leading to improvements in standard of living, has led to a better chance of survival, and eventually more aging population appears. The result of such a move will positively affect the quality of life of future generations too, and the process will continue. Overall, industrial sociologists need to remind and make contributions in improving the quality of life in various dimensions. Lastly, industrialization affects countries quantitatively and qualitatively because of communications worldwide.
