I know a lot is being said about the changing dynamics of the state. My surprise findings in the last one month stay in Bihar is the change in people’s behavior. Earlier people use to be arrogant, impatient, short tempered and totally uncivil in nature. The relentless corruption, poor administration, rising population and diminishing job prospects, social division, large dependence on fraud and cheating to sustain livelihood, depleted education system resembling the pre-independence era, shaggy infrastructure, non-existent judicial system and dead industries were causing frustration among the people. The ominous result of these accrued frustrations was quite visible in their behavior. Let’s not forget that the above mentioned factors were result of poor-governance (a governing body which itself had common Bihar touch, so what was needed was a government which can insulate its ministers and aides from these social norms which obviously would require sacrificing the comfort of power and hedonism enjoyed by previous governments). Floods and droughts added fuel to the fire complicating the problems year on year. A visit to North Bihar will reveal the plights of citizens in these areas, who seem to be sharing the planets infrastructure with their domestic animals.
Coming back to the fundamentals of social behavior, the study of social behavior is often referred to as "social psychology", social psychologists tend to focus on how individuals act in social situations, and how they are influenced by social processes. Sometimes, the focus is on how the individual is affected by others--what is called social influence. Social influence can include direct influences, like group decision making, as well as indirect influences, like imagining how friends would react to a particular situation. In other cases, social psychologists study the cognitive processes that we use in understanding ourselves and others, called social cognition.
Normally such prolonged condition of social frustration leads to revolution but in the absence of visible leadership this was not possible in Bihar. Social Cognition lacked any kind of direction and unity earlier. The change of governance did the trick; admin function was given priority to influence the people’s behavior and release them from the frustration. Relieved citizen who earlier used to resort to violence now and then suddenly became peaceful. The quick response from government agencies to resolve their issues gave them new hope and they started relying on civic agencies. Nowadays it is surprising to see the same group of people who earlier used to very often fight among themselves is busy improving their lifestyle and competing with each other on different perspectives. Today there is a change in social cognition and social behavior and it is yet to see how far this change will lead to the development in their lifestyle. The world is running and I stand and observe as Bihar has started to walk.
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