အဆင့် ၃ မိမိကိုယ်ကိုယ် စစ်ဆေးအကဲဖြတ်မှု လေ့ကျင့်ခန်းများ - ဖတ်ရှုခြင်းနှင့် နားလည်သဘောပေါက်ခြင်း

Affluence came to America during the Second World War, and (though there were still many pockets of severe poverty) continued thereafter; economic recovery began in Europe from 1948 onwards.

Slowly the economic basis was established for the production, consumption and international exchange of new consumer goods. Between the mid-fifties and the mid-sixties there was a great increase in the number of multinational companies. New purchasers appeared in the market place: particularly young married couples, the working class in general, racial and ethnic minorities, those in the regions and provinces asserting themselves for the first time against metropolitan dominance, and women and girls.

Economic change combined with demography, specifically the ‘baby boom’ at the end of the Second World War, producing by the beginning of the sixties an unprecedentedly large, and unprecedentedly well-off, teenage presence in the market place (and young people could operate as producers as well as consumers).

Major technological developments of importance are those in television (including Telstar), 45-rpm records and transistor radios, in electronic synthesizers, in advanced consumer products, refrigerators, washing machines, and so on, and in the development of the contraceptive pill. Ideologically conservative forces were strong, reinforced by the frigid influences of the Cold War and hysteria in the United States about ‘un-American’ activities.

Affluence and consumerism were taken as validating the perfections of existing society. However, new critiques of society were appearing in the fifties, and formed the basis for the much more rapid and extended circulation of critical ideas in the sixties: neo-Marxism (Marcuse), the beginnings of structuralism, the ‘New Left’, the establishment of sociology departments, particularly in the European universities, and the first limited circulation of the notions of the American Beats. Old racial boundaries were crossed in a much more comprehensive way than ever before as young whites adopted and adapted black rhythm 'n blues.

Pollution from domestic sewage can lead to more than one sort of problem. Most obviously, sewage is a source of water-borne diseases such as cholera and typhoid fever. A second problem with sewage is that the bacteria that break it down, during a process called respiration, use dissolved oxygen from the water to do so. This same dissolved oxygen also supports the other aquatic life. The more sewage there is in the water, the more bacteria are required to break it down and the more dissolved oxygen they use, leaving less oxygen for fish and other aquatic animals. Once the oxygen in the water is used up, animals that need oxygen die. It isn't long before the water begins to smell distinctly unpleasant due to the gases released when the sewage begins to be broken down by bacteria that can live without oxygen. If you've ever stirred up the mud at the bottom of a stagnant pond, you will know exactly what we mean.

Agricultural activities pose problems through both crop spraying and the use of fertilisers. Crop spraying is carried out to prevent damage to crops from weeds and various forms of pests. However, such spraying can disperse herbicides and pesticides over a wide area so that they end up in water that drains into rivers and lakes. In high enough doses these pollutants may be toxic and, like lead and mercury, they can accumulate in the tissues of animals and so end up in our bodies too. Fertilisers contain nutrients, substances essential for the healthy growth of all plants and animals. However, when fertiliser seeps into lakes and rivers by drainage off the land it can lead to excessive plant growth. As a lake surface becomes covered with water weed, oxygen can no longer be dissolved in the water to replenish what is being used by fish and other aquatic animals. Once again, starved of oxygen, the animal life soon begins to die, and the water becomes stagnant and foul-smelling.