The tyranny of couples

#里茲螞蟻批判性思考寫作專欄 #Alex專欄 #外師每週精選閱讀 
 
After last week's look at Taiwan's disdain for having babies and getting married, and its obsession with fur babies, let's now take a more global perspective to examine factors leading to changing trends in relationships; something that was conspicuously absent in the previous article. The author of this article has conducted research into different types of relationships already existing in western countries. She uses several examples to demonstrate how relationships and attitudes towards them have been evolving in recent decades, demonstrating a pattern which she speculates will continue to break up traditional concepts of cohabitation and other de facto arrangements.  

​After the demise of the traditional extended family in most developed countries – a trend only witnessed recently in Taiwan but which had already happened at the beginning and middle of last century in most western societies – the nuclear family became the standard point of reference for the authorities in social planning. That soon went by the wayside as well, as women became more empowered and gained more meaningful employment opportunities and financial means. Then rising standards of living accompanied by sharp rises in living costs and especially housing costs led to plummeting birth rates around the world, and increases in couples cohabiting. Nowadays, in many societies there is not such a strong social stigma attached to singledom as there was in the past, and increasing numbers of men and women are choosing to live alone.
 
Unfortunately, governments have mostly failed to recognise the changes to social norms and demographics that have already spread across much of the developed world, where even living in a couple these days is not necessarily seen as desirable, and often not even considered as a viable living arrangement for people who do not want to have children or to get married. Because policy has so badly lagged behind social change, there exists very unfair systemic disadvantages for single people, which make up increasingly larger proportions of societies. This forces them to unwillingly live with others in order to meet outdated requirements for de facto or spousal benefits and privileges, or else suffer institutional discrimination and the increased social and psychological burdens of being seen as aberrations by their own governments. Perhaps Japan will lead the way like in its hospitality industry offering single rooms (not just capsule hotels), and services and benefits for individuals that are equal in privilege to that afforded to couples and families. Otherwise, why should single people pay so much tax, not get any of the tax relief that couples and families enjoy, and yet at the same time not receive welfare or other benefits commensurate with their contributions to society.
 
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/14/coupledom-couple-norm-social-change
 
===我是分隔線===
 
💡這個專欄目的是訓練同學聰明閱讀。
 
上面的貼文內容是我們的實力派外師Alex，針對每週一篇英文文章閱讀後，親自寫出的批判性思考文（不是copy & paste的東西啊）。旨在讓同學知道如何用不同的角度來讀文章。你可以選擇先讀Alex寫的批判文，也可以選擇先讀本次的英文文章連結，但最好兩處都要閱讀才能達到最好的效果。
 
這是個訓練批判性思考的好機會，希望同學不要被文字牽著鼻子走，在閱讀時可以多思考。大家可以善用這個寶貴的資源～
 
舊文連結：
https://www.leedsmayi.com/alex-column
 
Alex是我們的御用老師，每週都會幫梅姨、托托、慕華上英文課。目前星期一晚上有開一班 #里茲螞蟻外師應用英文課程 ，程度高級，充滿知識性與深度。有開放單次付費上課。若你想學習用英文來深度探討各項主題，check it out！
 
Alex老師的應用英文課：
https://www.leedsmayi.com/applied-english.html