THERE are some institutions which command respect: the United Nations still does so, despite some global wobbling over the last decade; The Royal Society, the RNLI and, despite the media’s best attempts to the contrary, The Prince’s Trust are yet others worthy of respect and support in an increasingly ephemeral society.
On a far smaller scale, the Veterinary Defence Society (VDS) is both a voice for sanity in a turbulent world and, for many veterinary surgeons and practices, a lifeline strong enough to withstand the desperate grip of a man who believes himself to be drowning.
It maintains a quiet presence throughout the upheavals of a rapidly changing profession and, in true British fashion, remains calm and supportive in the face of any crisis.
It was no surprise, then, to see that the VDS has announced a short series of seminars on managing complaints. These events will look at why complaints arise, how minor grumbles can escalate into something more serious and what those complaining really want.
At the same time, these seminars offer the opportunity to identify and practise the skills needed to defuse difficult situations. Some would say that these are not just professional but life skills, increasingly needed to cope with the increasing stresses brought about by severe overcrowding – have you braved the London Underground in rush hour lately? – and by a widening social gap between those who have and those who have rather less.
The newspapers abound with reports of how mankind is damaging the environment, possibly with terminal consequences, but there is precious little written about the ecological impact of mankind’s irrepressible compulsion to live in ever bigger groups, making urban overcrowding inevitable, along with the behavioural and healthcare challenges that this will cause.
Mention Calhoun to an ecologist and his work, in 1962, looking at overcrowding in a population of rats, will spring to the fore and one wonders if we shouldn’t take a rather closer look at this classic study in seeking to explain some aspects of social behaviour.
Judicious editing
As with statistics, there is always a risk in taking research and editing it judiciously to suit the tenets of one’s own argument but, in Calhoun’s work, the fate of the male rats was particularly interesting and quite apposite for current trends in youth offending.
As overcrowding increased, dominant males held sway in the minicommunities of the breeding boxes and young males left their social group long before they were sufficiently mature to be able to survive in the wider environment of an outside world, possibly because their nests offered little comfort or encouragement to stay.
There was increased fighting between some males while others became lethargic and depressed. Some showed marked changes in sexual behaviour and there was a higher rate of conflict than would normally be expected in smaller, caged communities.
Outside the two main groups, where the females were good mothers and managed to raise over half their young, the unattended females were more crowded and failed to build proper nests for their young. Many young were simply abandoned.
Can we directly apply Calhoun’s learning in a human environment? Possibly not, as most ecologists would argue that humans are more sophisticated and complex beings with a series of social codes and mores that transcend such simple experiments.
On the other hand, many of the behavioural patterns exhibited by rats in overcrowded circumstances are chillingly similar to the growth of various patterns in antisocial behaviour in our own society.
One thing is certain: that overcrowding in urban, industrialised society can lead people into the aptly named “rat race” of competitive behaviour. Success in this environment may come at the cost of a breakdown in permanent relationships, gastric ulcers, increased blood pressure, and other stressrelated health conditions.
The other side of the coin shows that persistent unemployment can lead to increased aggression and/or lethargy in individuals who come to doubt their role and value in their immediate society.
Since the early 1970s, the rise in the empowerment of the consumer has been spectacular, contributing to a major rearrangement of social norms and values in an increasingly competitive and acquisitive society.
Today’s consumers are not only empowered with the opportunity to be informed, they have an expectation of a relationship with a supplier of any goods or services that is based on equality.
Sadly, in some cases, equality is a chimaera based, not on parity of experience, skill or information, but on social expectation. As a result, complaints may come in a limited series of presentations but may have their root cause deeply embedded in some other aspects of behaviour and experience.
These seminars offered by the VDS are entirely laudable and should be a mandatory part of the training of young veterinary surgeons, equipping them with both professional skills and skills for a life that will be spent working in an increasingly crowded and stressed environment.
