The impact of liquid variables on social action: a field study in the city of Baghdad

Abstract

Society is currently experiencing a period of profound transformation in values ​​and behavior. This is due to accelerating changes that are weakening cultural foundations, leading to a state of value instability that makes individuals lose the ability to determine what is acceptable and unacceptable within society. Consequently, behavioral and moral problems increase, negatively impacting cultural awareness and knowledge. Under these circumstances, individuals find themselves in a state of confusion as a result of changes that have diminished the effectiveness of social institutions in regulating and monitoring behavior. Therefore, the main question of the research is: How have these fluid changes affected the ability of social institutions to regulate social behavior? And what are the effects of this on individuals' actions and deviations?

The study's results show that there is no longer a clear boundary between acceptable and unacceptable behavior. This is consistent with Bauman's notion of "liquid modernity," where references rapidly disintegrate, leading to the state of anomie referred to by Durkheim. Social institutions have lost their effectiveness in regulating behavior. This has led to an increase in deviant behavior. This decline indicates that social action has shifted from a rational frame of reference to more emotional and conventional patterns, where the control of meaning is no longer collective but rather individual or random.