The first three chapters of this report describe an emerging pattern of attitudes in the Australian community which strongly favour increased pet ownership and a stronger commitment to the care of pets. That climate is, in turn, the result of some fundamental shifts in the attitudes and values of Australian society which have occurred as a direct result of the relentless pace of social, cultural, economic, political and technological change which has so profoundly destabilised Australian society in the 1980s and into the 1990s. The past 20 years have, in fact, been a period of unprecedented socio-cultural upheaval. This has been a period in which Australians have begun to realise that the Australian way of life is actually being redefined: it has been a period in which most of the landmarks and reference points traditionally used for defining Australian society have either vanished, shifted, or been eroded. It is fair to describe this period as 'the Age of Redefinition'. Consider a few of the more obvious examples of ways in which the Australian way of life is being redefined:
Women's re-definition of gender roles, and the influences of the Women's Movement (including some unexpected consequences: exhaustion, conflict, guilt, and resentment of the uncomprehending male);
the re-definition of the institution of marriage; the rising divorce rate and the increasing incidence of family breakdown; young people's growing avoidance of marriage;
the trend towards smaller households (almost 50% of Australian households now contain only one or two people;
roughly 30% contain only one adult - with or without children);
implications for food, architecture, media consumption (especially the rise of radio);
the changing patterns of work and leisure, (including the radical effects of unemployment and involuntary early retirement); the changing shape of politics;
the blurring of distinctions between major parties; the rise of "personality politics";
and the explosion in the number of swinging voters (up from 5% pre-1972 to 30% in 1990);
declining esteem for politicians and increasing questioning of "the system";
rise of the independents; the revolution in domestic technology;
the unexpected social effects of the dishwasher, the microwave oven, the VCR;
the retail revolution; automation, self-service, EFTPOS, ATMs; the problem of depersonalisation and confusion in the marketplace;
regional rather than local shopping; plastic money; the credit boom;
the redefinition of health (and associated anxieties about diet, fitness and stress - leading to a new interest in moderation); economic uncertainty and insecurity;
the fear that we will not bounce back from the recession, but will have to learn new ways of thinking about our future;
the emergence of a clear class structure, stratified by the dollar and spelling the end of the Australian dream of egalitarianism;
the impact of "the multiculture" on Australians' sense of their own identity; the rise of republicanism; and so on.
In the light of all that, it would be surprising if Australians were not suffering from a heightened sense of anxiety, and a deepening sense of insecurity. The outcome of the Age of Redefinition has been the Age of Anxiety: indeed, stress is now a central fact of contemporary Australians' lives, and the means of reducing stress have become a major pre-occupation.
There have been three primary effects of sustained exposure to life in the Age of Redefinition, and all three of these effects are relevant to the question of pet ownership and care;
The first effect has been a widespread sense of loss of control of our lives. Australians increasingly feel as though they are victims of change (rather than agents of change), and they are looking for ways to win back some sense of control over their lives and mastery over their destiny.
The second effect is a growing sense of isolation, as a direct result of the fragmentation of families and households, and a feeling that the traditional Australian neighbourhood is under threat. Australians are losing their sense of community, partly because so many of the changes listed above have had the effect of making people feel more isolated from each other. The individual rather than the family has become the social unit, and, when tribal creatures lose their tribal sense, there is generally a good deal of pain to be suffered as a result.
The third primary effect is that Australians have lost confidence in their own future, and in the future of Australian society. Morale is down, and people have a strong need for comfort, reassurance, ritual and other experiences which will reassure them and help to rebuild their confidence in their own future.
All of this may sound somewhat grandiose in the context of a discussion about pet ownership but, in fact, these shifts in social attitudes help to explain the increasing value which Australians are placing on the role of pets in their lives. Stress and loneliness are very undesirable states for human beings to find themselves in, and pet ownership is looming larger than ever as a therapeutic strategy deliberately calculated to reduce stress and to relieve the pain of loneliness.