Factors influencing cooperation
During our conference in December in Eger we have been researching factors influencing the cooperation within a family, between families and finally between all of us. The main question was, what factors should be taken into account in order to contribute to the development of families and the development of families’ communities.
First, influencing factors such as accelerating life rhythm and accelerating world, atomisation, individual, selfish value system, self-centered worldview, the unclear definition of the private sphere and the role of the media came up. Afterwards, self-knowledge – as a skill and also as a subject – was evaluated as an important factor by the workshop participants. It is inevitable to integrate it in the education, to put more focus on it in the education, to develop quality and decrease the overload of children and teachers. It appeared as an important trend that today children are under a procedure of losing the ability of thinking.
The composition of the family (mosaic families, divorced parents, single parent), appreciation of grandparent, generational differences and the interplay of generations (and the bagatellisation and mismanagement of this difference) also emerged as a significant factor.
The economic structure and economic situation (consumption habits, quality of life, living space, conditions of life, mobility opportunities) and the political environment (labour market situation, family system institutional status, family policy, family support system, retirement age and deep poverty) have also significant effect on cooperation. The economic and political situation, as well as the surrounding cultural environment contribute to develop the vision at an individual and social level too. This comes from the fact how big our social utility is, how much we feel we are useful and how much our individual responsibility (empowerment) is. Last but not least, technological development have emerged as an important factor, mainly through the role of social communities and smart technology.
Collecting these factors mentioned above has also helped us to fine-tune the plans and content of our action research.