Social Changes in the CNMI

Objective: to present a good overview of the social changes that have occurred in CNMI between the 1950s and the present.  We should provide enough detail to illustrate the broad changes that were taking place, but without losing the forest for the trees.  The participants should have an understanding of the major forces at work on the islands during that period.  We might leave it to them to decide which were the most important in creating the type of society CNMI has today.

Methods: There are various kinds of input that we will need.  They are:

• statistical data and figures on demographics, business, etc.
• readings that bring out in a concrete and absorbing way the changes that have occurred in certain areas of life
• presentations by CNMI residents on aspects of community and family life 30 or 40 years by contrast with today
• longer presentations by Fran and Sam on particular themes where these are needed.
• Should there also be a model of rural-urban transition we present that might tie together the rest of the material during the week??

Topics

Demographics  (Although this has been covered as a separate topic in a teacher’s institute, it will be impossible to eliminate the topic from this session.  We can’t discuss social changes without at least reviewing demographic shifts.)

• changes in population composition between 1960 (if possible; if not, 1970) and the present. It would be good to have data for every ten years of this period.  The data should include: breakdown of ethnic composition (CNMI “citizen”, Asian, mainlander, Asian), age and sex.
• comparative data on fertility, median age, and outmigration. Nothing fancy is needed here, just a few figures that we can use for comparison.

Business Growth and Development   (This too has been covered in another session, but it is essential to review it briefly here.  The development has been dramatic and perhaps traumatic, as listeners may conclude from the data.)

• brief narrative on the transition of the type of economy from the 1960s to the present: TT capital and government employment; build-up of tourism and garment industry during the 1980s; development of other private businesses.
• figures on gross revenue for ten-year intervals from 1970 to present; perhaps also figures on taxes for ten-year intervals. It would be nice if we had figures on inflation during this time so that we could make the conversion to standard dollars.

Income (We should show how rapidly the accumulation of wealth occurred for the average family in the CNMI.  This itself goes a long way in explaining much of the change that has occurred in recent years.)

• The obvious measure of wealth is average income. Do we have comparative figures over time on this?

• Data that we might use as additional indicators of family wealth include: number of vehicles, kinds of housing, total savings in on-island banks, etc.
• The accumulation of wealth during the “land rush” in the early and mid-1980s. There is plenty of anecdotal information to be found: stories of purchases of $10,000 Rolexes, Infinitis, and all that.  We should probably have a couple of CNMI people presenting on what was happening at this time, possibly personal accounts of what was happening in their families.

Transportation and Communication (This might be one gauge of cosmopolitanism)

• Air transportation: the saga of the growth of CNMI from a few flights a week on small planes to what it is today. Brief presentation of passenger arrivals per week would be nice.
• Voice communications: from the ham radio age to direct-dial telephone service anywhere in the world.
• Television: when it started and how it developed, what the perceived effects of early TV were on the island.
• Overall, the flow of people and communication is two-ways: there are abundant opportunities for people to get off island and visit other parts of the world, but there is also an enormous inflow of ideas, images, etc. onto the island.

Religion

• The Catholic Church today no longer “owns” CNMI as it once did. Although still very important, the Catholic Church is not the only show in town.  What are the other religious groups with a significant following in CNMI today?  What is their outreach, their impact on other areas of life?
• What effect does the breakdown of the religious monopoly have on society?

Education and Health

• Are there any significant changes in the disease burden of CNMI that has occurred in the last 30-40 years? (Probably much more diabetes and hypertension, for instance.  Other increases?)  What does any of this suggest about the change in lifestyle in CNMI?
• Are the educational patterns today different at all from what they were 30-40 years ago? Were as many women graduating back then?  How do the average education attainment levels compare?

Shift from Rural to Urban Society

• Give indications of the place of ranches and farming in the lifestyle of the community in the 1960s compared to the present (I don’t know what indicators to use, though.)
• Change in the spread of the population throughout Saipan, and perhaps the other islands, from the 1960s to now.
• Perhaps show the difference of housing style between then and now: open-house style then compared with the cement house now.

Changes in Family Organization

• Part of this should be simple comparative data: changes in family size, average number of persons per housing unit, and other similar things.
• Presentations by older CNMI residents of what life was like in the family then and now. These presentations should emphasize what the family did on weekends, how they occupied their time during the week (especially in the evenings), the frequency of family celebrations and parties, who lived in the household and what did they do.

Changes in the Local Community

• The demise of the commissioner, the recognized authority over the local community. (We need someone to explain who this was and how the job worked)
• Other changes in the community structures: gradual build up of ethnic communities on the island, reliance on the police rather than informal networks of social control, etc.

Social Deviance Today and Yesterday

• What kinds of social controls were used by the community then and now? How did the communities in the past get around over-reliance on the police?
• Crimes and jail: How big was the jail population then and now? What crimes were they in prison for?
• Drug use, gangs, and other measures of social deviance.