The Importance of Tourism in New Mexico

New Mexico Palm Tree 

Image by jonnyphoto via Flickr

Most people don’t realize the importance of tourism to a region. Tourism is good for almost any economy. It brings in extra cash to businesses of all shapes and sizes in the region which makes the economy get a nice boost too. Tourism in New Mexico is just as important as tourism anywhere else – it keeps the businesses alive and lets the community grow. Here’s a quick glance at how tourism affects the New Mexico economy. New Mexico deserves its share of tourism and is a beautiful place to vacation year round.

The Tourism Association of New Mexico (TANM) is making an effort to expand New Mexico’s tourism. The organization teacher businesses about the importance of tourism and encourages businesses to work together to draw in a better flow of tourists. It offers awards to its members when good tourism is achieved and hosts events to get businesses working together.

The community plays a large role in tourism as well, providing a friendly place for visitors to be. Markets flourish when out of town visitors come to buy. Small private businesses can spread the word about themselves by selling to tourists and using online social websites to promote awareness of their businesses.

Large events such as the Santa Fe Indian Market in August draws in over a hundred thousand tourists from across the globe. This event has a huge impact on New Mexico’s economy, bringing in just under $20 million a year – now that’s a big boost.

Society And Social Status

Society is inevitable for our living. It is the place around us with other people living in it. We are part of a society, wherever we live around the world. The idea of social status came into being with the development of money and finance. Initially there was barter system where people used to exchange goods for goods, clothes for clothes, etc.

As the idea of currency developed, the aim of every individual is to earn money because only money can give you necessities of life like home, clothing and food and luxuries of life, for using any service, to buy anything and everything one needs money. The social status of a person or family is highly dependent on the family history and financial background.

In some societies, the amount of wealth of a person like land, vehicle, gold and high earning business empires all are considered as status symbols. Nowadays, people do hard work and are ready to take any amount of financial or personal risks to earn money and this money is mainly used to increase the social status in the homeland by building big houses with decorations, expensive vehicles, and spending unnecessarily on materialistic pleasures just to show their social status to others in the neighborhood.

This is an unhealthy practice and should be discouraged. But as all the business enterprises and even small scale industries are gaining from their product distribution and big industries start producing expensive things knowing that people are ready to buy their product at any cost. Honestly, it feels good to be popular in our home town or living locality.

But spending more than what we earn is not suitable for a happy life. It only helps to build financial tension and liabilities as you grow older. Planning and thinking twice before making financial decisions, can help people from running behind social status.

How To Earn Fame In A Society

The aim of a large part of society is to earn lots of money and fame and everything else follows. Luxury has taken new forms and there is no limit to what one can achieve. Also, there is no limit to what people are ready to do for money and fame. The first thing one has to say goodbye while dreaming about fame is your morality and self-respect, especially for women.

It is true that the word morality is not defined in the same way for everyone, and what is good and bad widely depends on the person’s attitude towards everything. It differs from one person to another, depending on their thoughts, ideas and attitude towards each and everything in life.

If we scan our thoughts for a second to think about the famous people, the first category that comes to our mind are about celebrities. Entertainment being a very important part of common people and increasing in popularity because of the influence of media like television, radio and internet, working in this industry can give you fame, if you are well talented and lucky. Working for social upliftment and involving in social services, helping needy people can also bring in fame. But usually no one does good deeds for name sake.

Actually, without thinking about the various fields of work or industries, the one way to be popular is to be the best in whatever you do. Becoming successful in what you do, be it studies, work or extra-curricular activities is going to give you fame within your circle of friends, family and immediate society. Gradually with hard work and sincere effort, any person can aim a life with high social status, lots of money and popularity. Even children are competing with each other for getting the best out of everything. Days are not far when everyone will become stars!

How To Live In A Society

Earlier also people used to travel to distant regions in search of job and higher education. But now, it is so common for people to choose a place outside their country of birth, to work study and live their life. Even inside a particular nation, there are so many states and each state with many districts and regions, each having different culture, different style of living, different food and clothing habits and even different language for communication.

So, it is very important to understand and follow these when you decide to live in a particular place. It is an art to blend into a society and man very easily adjust to his new surroundings and live happily with the facilities around, just that it should be better than his home town. Living in a society, there are certain common rules that everyone follows without any special instructions, like respecting other people and their privacy, to behave properly at public places, taking care of public property and avoiding anything that makes you look funny in the middle of a crowd.

People who show act of violence like robbery, hijacking, public attacks on people, etc. are considered as anti-social elements. They form groups and work against the well-being of the society and people living in it. The reasons they tell maybe protests against government policies or due to some other personal tragedies that happened due to social riots.

To live successfully in a society, we need to be a part of that society and adapt to the ways, but that does not mean you should forget your culture. A society binds together the families and individuals living in it. Today, most of the international destinations are multi-cultural societies where people from different countries around the globe come in search of high profile jobs, high standard of living and enjoyment.

Society And Social Service

The idea of social service occurred to man in order to help his fellow beings who are in need of support. In a single society, families were categorized into high, middle and low class based on their financial set up. So naturally, the rich can help the poor to survive and come up in life, by helping him with basic necessities and money. Free medical care, shelter for the homeless and homes for the abandoned, food for the hungry, all these are part of social service.

Instead of doing it individually, people have made charitable organizations and trusts to carry out several social services to help the needy. Another aspect of serving the society is by helping out with the development of public services like roads, water supply, electricity and donating land or money for starting such charitable organizations.

Donation of food, clothes and money for orphanages, educating orphans or children whose parents are unable to afford it, providing jobs to needy candidates who are struggling to support their families, are some good deeds one can do if he is well off. Raising funds for charity is very common today and most of the population are ready to support and be a part of it, helping with what they can afford.

There is a natural tendency for human being to feel concerned about others. There are many instances of natural calamities that had suddenly raised a panic and people all around the world become ready to do their best to help others. I think the best way to serve the society is to be a part of the ruling body or government. Politics is mainly concerned with running a nation with a huge responsibility to take suitable decisions for the development of even a small community inside the geographic area.

Man And Society

It is so true when we say ‘Man is a social animal’. That is, a person cannot live alone. He needs the company of other men. Humans need to live together and interact with one another. From earlier times itself, the civilizations that emerged on the river banks is a typical example for this. Now also, people live in a society defined by their local surroundings with required amenities like shopping areas, grocery, hospitals, schools and colleges, public transportation facilities, utility bill payment facilities and so on.

If you ask me what a society is, I would ask you to step outside your home and look around and that’s it. A society is not only a common medium for interaction and fulfilling necessities alone. There is entertainment and leisure also. Planning a weekend get-together with your family friends or colleague is also an act of socializing.

Now, many clubs have started aiming people of same interests to become its members and to plan some activities that either benefits the members alone, or does something useful for the society. If we observe our day to day life, we will realize that for each and everything we communicate and interact with other people. All small businesses, shops, banks, theatres, television channels, radio, etc. and giant companies are set up by men to produce and market some useful product for the people and earn money from it.

It would not be an irony if I say that if there is no society, there is no existence for human. You can see that even animals and birds live in groups. But what separates man from them is that man has the power of intelligence and thinks of serving his society. That is how social services like charitable organizations, blood donation campaigns, medical camps, and lots more came by.

Dowry and Society

Dowry is an ancient custom related to marriage in which the bride brings money, goods or estate to her husband.  The original concept of this was to aid the husband in building a new family. Marriage is the first step of establishing a family, or as a wedding gift.  This needs some amount of money. Dowry was a resource of money for this purpose. It is still in practice in many societies. But now the concept of dowry has changed a lot.

It is now considered as an easy way of obtaining money. It is considered as compensation to the groom’s parents for the amount of money they spent to educate their son. So, as the qualification and social status of the groom increases, the dowry also increases. Even some bargaining is done to reduce the amount. The bride’s family usually compromises as it is often related to their status. But if they are not successful in meeting their promises, the marriage may not happen. If it happens without fulfilling the promise, it may end up in the breakage of the marriage. It may be by furnishing a case in the family court or even by killing the woman. This happens as the groom’s family feel that they are betrayed by the bride’s family. As dowry is not legal, furnishing a case demanding dowry is not possible. It often results in character assassination or adultery cases as these are easy grounds for Divorce.

Sometimes the women are accused of Psychic problems. All these make dowry a social problem. A family has to raise a big amount of money for the marriage of their daughter as the expenses include general marriage expenses and dowry. In some societies, the amount of money spent in daughter’s marriage refers to their social status which makes it unaffordable. At the same time, marriage of a son brings money to the family. This results in discrimination between boys and girls.

Divorce and Society

Divorce is the legal separation of two individuals by dissolving the bonds of matrimony. It is a legal act. The legal procedure is not only involves the separation of two partners, but also settlement of other issues like compensation, child custody, spousal support and distribution of property. Dissolving the bond is a complex thing. It affects both the partners mentally and socially. Usually marriage is more than the union of two individuals. It is the union of two families. You are gaining more personal relationships through a marriage. Separation of the partners will affect other relationships also.

That is why divorce is considered as a social issue. Increase in the rate of divorce is considered as an abnormal social situation in many countries. Children of the separated partners are worst affected. They are shunted between the parents. Studies reveal that the children of divorced parents are more likely to engage in criminal activities. Growing with a single parent will cause psychological problem in children which has an adverse effect on the future of the society.

This happens if one among the partner is unemployed. This usually happens with housewives. Studies reveal that in 90% of divorce cases, mother holds the custody of the children. If the children are staying with her they may experience poverty. Poverty results in malnutrition, lack of proper clothing and lack of proper schooling.  Divorced individuals may suffer from psychological problems. Divorce may change the attitude of an individual towards the institutions such as marriage. Such individuals may again end up in broken relationships. This is also a serious threat for the society. As divorce is a legal problem, it may take a course of time for the legal separation. During this stage both the partners may experience anxiety or other stress related problems. Modern society gives more freedom for the individuals to take decision about their lives but divorce is definitely not good for the society.

Society and institutions

Society is composed of social institutions. Social institutions protect social values. They are a set of socials norms. They help to define social value. Society is a group of individuals. If each individual behaves as he likes, it will create problems. So, there should be some criteria to classify do’s and don’ts in a society. This gave rise to social institutions. Social institution imparts specific role to an individual by defining the relationship between two individuals. The major social institutions are Family, Marriage, Education, Government and Religion. Family defines primary, secondary and tertiary degrees of relationships. It imparts definitive roles to individuals. It defines the duties of members .It regulates sexual behavior.

It gives moral support to the individual. It helps in the primary socialization of children. Marriage is the acknowledgement of intimate and sexual relationship. It can be defined as a legal contract which helps in developing kinship. It creates legal obligation between the individuals. The rituals associated with this institution are designed in such a way that they represent marriage as a holy act. Education is a highly developed institution. It helps in socializing individuals. It affects the life chances of an individual. It helps an individual to develop to his full potential. Government is powered to enforce laws of public conduct within a geographical area.

Religion is a sacred institution which imparts solidarity and integrity to the society. It emotionally satisfies a society by giving explanation to problems, purpose and meaning of life. It is a system of beliefs and practices. It helps in retaining collective consciousness. Another major institution is military which is powered to use lethal weapons to save a country and its civilians. Hospitals are another institution which provides healthcare for an individual. Thus social institutions help in maintaining the social life in an organized manner.

Concept and Types of Society

What is a society? In simple words it is a group of people. But the concept of society is not as simple as this. In a society each individual plays single or multiple roles. The characteristics and the moral values are determined by the society. An individual cannot stay away from a society. He is always a part of one or other society. There may be slight differences in the characteristics or moral values of a society, but the basic rules are almost the same. Society can be divided on several criteria. The basic types of societies are:

Hunters and gatherers: In this, Individuals hunt for their food. They were always mobile without settling in any place. They always wander for food and lived in caves. They never stored food.

Pastoral Society: They are group of people who depends on animals for food and transportation. They store food. They usually settle in a place for a long time but as resources of the place deplete, they move on to another place.
Horticultural Society: They are group of people who depended on plants for food. Depletion of resources was a problem for them too to settle down in one place.

Agricultural Society: They cultivated crops over large areas of land. They were also engaged in farming animals.
Feudal Society: Here Land Lords were the owners of the land. Tenants were the group of people who worked hard in the land and they were not entitled to take the yield. Major part of the yield will be taken away by the Land Lord.

Industrial Society: Large industries were set up to produce various goods. Workers settled down near the factories. Transportation facilities increased, cities emerged, wealth and health improved, schools were established, and many changes occurred in the social, political, economic as well as moral aspects of the society.
Post Industrial society: it is the present day society. Here technology plays as the key for development.