Author: Andre Coleman

The Ibos are one of the largest and most influential ethnic groups in Nigeria, who live mainly in the South-Eastern part of the country. [1] Several historical accounts traced Igbo ancestral heritage to the proto-Benue group, who migrated from the great lakes and mountains of East and Central Africa around 5000 BCE. The Ibos speak different variations (dialects) of the Igbo language and share a common culture expressed by various customs, practices and traditions. Pre-modern Igbo societies were quasi-democratic; ruled by republican consultative assemblies of elders. To a greater extent, this system of government guaranteed its citizens equality; in contrast to the feudal system of government operated in most other parts of West Africa. [2]

Nevertheless, some documentary evidence show gender biases favourable to men in the share of socio-political and religious roles and privileges in the localized patrilineal structure of Igbo society. Examples of these discriminatory practices include the exclusion of women from participating in age groups which were a major instrument for political actions in Igbo societies and the denial of rights to hold traditional titles which bestow authorities to perform religious ceremonies or pass laws that could provide access to patrilineal, spiritual, and economic resources (particularly land). [3] These customs have continued to receive the assent of native Igbo communities and finds expression in customary laws under the Nigeria legal system. This system has continued to perpetuate asymmetric power relations between men and women. [4]

Research Questions

Overall, the study will strive to determine the impact of the practice and administration of customary laws of inheritance on gender inequality in contemporary Igbo (Ibo) society by providing answers to these specific research questions:

To what extent does the practice of inheritance in the Igbo customary law impinge on the livelihood and security of women in Igbo society?

What are the highlights of the salient features of the practice in contemporary Igbo society?

To what extent does the Igbo custom of inheritance reflect regional and global standards on equal status of women?

Rationale for the Study

The rationale for this study stems from disparities between the application of ‘lawyers’ customary law’ and the practice of ‘people’s customary law’. [5] This discrepancy tends to undermine the effectiveness of the state legal system in addressing gender inequalities. [6] This challenge is more pronounced in the complex and pluralistic context of the Nigeria legal system. [7] It becomes imperative to explore the possibility of legal reforms and pragmatic policy options that could better align common law incentives with those of customary law.

Research Methodology

This study will adopt a theoretical approach, which would involve critical review of important scholarly literature on conceptual issues in legal theory, constitutional developments in British colonial Africa, the Nigerian legal system, customary and religious laws, and will invoke a multidisciplinary approach towards reaching acceptable goals on issues of gender equality. This paper would also use descriptive and analytical methods to review constitutions, legislation and case law relevant to the subject matter. Basically, it will apply the desktop library method.

Literature Review

The centrality of law in colonial administration was demonstrated by the early introduction of the English legal system as one of the first instruments of British authority in Nigeria. This system comprised institutions and norms of the English legal system, which had very distinct historical and cultural origins from the customs and indigenous systems of governance and administration of justice that existed before the advent of British rule etc. [8] These indigenous customs, institutions and normative order found expression in customary law. [9] Nonetheless, the British colonial authorities recognized and retained the indigenous system of customary law. [10] Weeramantry observed accordingly that upon the attainment of independence, newly emerged nations often need to take a considered decision whether and to what extent, they would wish to preserve their traditional values and cultural systems. This opportunity to make that decision, he said, has been presented to more than one hundred nations released from the bondage of colonialism since the beginning of this century. He went further to state that, these nations have been faced with the challenge of maintaining cultural values while foregoing new institutions of nationhood. Their decisions are often translated into legal terms, whether constitutional or otherwise. The co-existence of these dual legal systems gave rise to pluralism in Nigeria’s legal system; a phenomenon that has generated interesting debates amongst scholars.

Griffiths (1997) advocated for ‘legal centralism’ which engenders uniformity of laws and concentrated administrative structures under state control. This perspective fails to recognize the need to contextualize law and make it more compatible with the existing social order. [11] Woodman (1985) buttressed the argument against legal centralism by drawing attention to the inability of state controlled common law system to keep pace with the diversity, flexibility and evolutionary nature of customs and social norms. This handicap is manifested in the divergence between the customary law applied in common law courts and the customary law practiced by people in the society.

The Supreme Court Ordinance No.6 of 1914 gave permissive expression to customary law, subject to the satisfaction of three validity tests: applicability, repugnancy, [12] and incompatibility. [13] These limitations of customary law were designed to remove superstitious and harsh elements of these laws; and to solve problems emanating from inaccuracies caused by the lack of codification of customary law. [14] Despite these safeguards in the application of customary law, many feminist advocates have continued to question the ability of customary law to deliver rights and security to women under a plural legal system e.g. right to land, inheritance rights and customary division of labor etc. Citing frustration with the treatment of issues of customary law by common law as a matter fact and the reluctance of appellate courts to over-turn judgments given by customary courts, feminist advocates have looked more in the direction international conventions/charters and statutory law for the realization of gender equality. [15] Unfortunately, the expectation that customs and social norms could easily be changed by legislative fiat could be somewhat unrealistic, given the moral and religious sanctions attached to these customs and norms. [16] However, alternative approaches need to be explored to remove some of the impediments to the reform and development of customary law.

Aidoo [17] observed that the seeming preoccupation of most African scholars on human rights veers only in the direction of issues relating to violations which occur as a result of dramatic political events and not so much on real issues as that in the civil societies where cultural traditions and customs impact negatively on specific rights such as the violation of women’s right to inheritance in the Igbo traditional society. Women of the Igbo society have been led to believe that cultures cannot be changed. The ease of this conviction owe to the fact that indigenous women of the society have no proper means of exposure, and so are used to perpetuate in-human cultural violation on fellow women. Ibhawoh [18] argues that traditional cultural believes are not monolithic or unchanging. They could change in response to different internal and external pressures. He reiterated that cultural change can result from individuals being exposed to and adopting new ideas. Ejidike [19] on the other hand, though in his text he acknowledges that cultures are dynamic and are malleable, failed to relate this during his discuss on Igbo traditions. Could there have been a bias, or a tacit support of traditions.

It has become almost common knowledge and of general acceptance in Igbo society that women are inferior to men. This discrimination is reflected in their social, economic and political life. The discourse of inheritance in Igbo society is mainly on land and landed properties. In the Igbo society, land is recognized as the primary source of wealth, power and social status. As Uche [20] puts it, it is the most significant provider of employment in rural areas and is an increasingly scarce resource in urban areas. Further reiteration by Umeh [21] defines land as social security of last resort for the Igbos. The importance of agriculture in Igbo land cannot be over emphasized. According to Korieh, agriculture was the main stay of economic activity of the Igbo people for a very long time. While men had the right to grow cash crops, women were given the privilege to grow crops such as cassava, cocoyam, maize, pepper and vegetables. [22] Despite the small scale farming women were permitted to have, they were still able to trade their goods and substantially provide food for the family. However this does not vitiate the glaring discrimination of inheritance faced by Igbo women in both customary and formal system of land tenure. This, Uche [23] argued, was as a result of culturally embedded discriminatory beliefs and practices, and male control of inheritance systems. In the Supreme Court case of Chinweze v Masi [24] , it was held that, under customary law, a wife has only a life interest in the property of her deceased husband, and if he dies, her interest ceases. The Igbo culture views women as chattels, property of the man, and so the woman, upon the demise a man, his relatives will inherit her along with his other properties. [25] In Ogunkoya v Ogunkoya [26] , women were referred to as chattels that are inheritable by other members of the deceased husband under certain conditions. The Hegemony that is practiced among Igbo men, which is also supported by the law, has given them the impression that they can do whatever they please and get away with it. Under the custom of patrileneage prevalent among the Igbos, the “umuada” (daughters) are precluded from succeeding their father’s property. This was also observed in the case of Uka v Nkama [27] . The resultant effect of the patrilleage is that the fate of a woman is hanging on the kindness of the husband’s family or her fortune of bearing a male child. [28] This act had encouraged levirate marriages, where the deceased widow is inherited by a family member. Women had no option than to do the bidding of the “new husband” in a bid to protect her young children. Women were also exposed to sexual molestations, and contracted sexually transmitted diseases due to their powerless positions. They cannot say to their partner to use protection, for fear of being thrown into the streets. The dignity of women, through these discriminatory acts has been greatly trampled upon.

One of the excuses from men for discrimination in land inheritance is exogamy.as the men claim that allowing women to inherit land would result to a transfer of family land to another lineage if, in the case of a daughter, she marries, or a widow, she re-marries. [29] some of the reasons men have given for their strong believe and support of women not inheriting land are flimsy as uche [30] have put, and they include;

Women are not intelligent and may make wrong decisions on land.

Women are themselves properties and cannot, therefore own properties

Land belongs to the family, and women, traditionally are not regarded as family members.

Women are on transit and should not own lands.

If female children were given land by their fathers, they will not respect their husbands and will leave their husbands at the slightest provocation.

He went further to state that, not only are these reasons flimsy, but it also exposes the depth of ignorance which most men carry with them. Observing that some women when in an oppressive marriage, leave their husbands without much regards for his properties. He also emphasized the fact that ‘women have exhibited a high level of intellectual achievement both at national and international spheres’. [31]

‘The quest for congruence between cultural traditions and modern national and international legal standards’, as put by Ibhawoh [32] , is a ‘theme for growing interest’. He observed the assumption that ‘national human rights standards enshrined in national constitutions reflect the collective national conscience; they present a higher order of human aspirations with a more effective mechanism for promotion and enforcement. They also provide a higher set of standards by which cultural tradition can be judged. This assumption can best explain the understanding that national human rights laws take precedence over customary or cultural practices, at least in theory’. One would imagine that the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria would protect its citizenry, especially women, against cultural practices that violate their rights. But as succinctly put by Bennet [33] , when he states that ‘sometimes the constitution gives no indication whether fundamental rights supersede customary law or vice versa’. The notion that ‘the principle of the supremacy of national constitutions ensures that in legal interpretation national human rights guarantees take precedence over any other laws or customary rules” [34] , exists only in south Africa, [at least for the period during which this text is written].

The constitution of Nigeria, chapter 1, part II, spells out the cultural objectives of the state under what it referred to as ‘directive principles of state policy’. These principles are not rights and cannot be enforced in a court of law, and the state is not under any legal obligation to respect them. Directive principles are merely intended to direct government policies. Section 6, clause 6(c) is an ‘ouster clause’, which states that “the obligation of the state to conform to, observe and apply the fundamental objectives and directive principles of state policy is not amenable to judicial inquiry or enforcement”. Interestingly, and unfortunately, social, economic and cultural rights are contained in these principles.

Interestingly, Nigeria has ratified the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) [35] , Nigeria was also one of the countries which participated in the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995, that adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, [36] the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) [37] which includes, the protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa. These bodies explicitly call for a repeal of every form of violation and discrimination against women. However, these discriminatory acts continue to exist, especially in the Igbo societies, thereby making a caricature of the legal obligation government have undertaken in acceding to these treaties. Article 5 of CEDAW provides that state parties shall take all appropriate measures to “modify the social and cultural patterns of the conduct of men and women, with the view to achieving the elimination of prejudices and customary, and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority or the superiority of either sexes or on stereotyped roles for men and women”. Article 2 of the Charter provides ‘state parties shall combat all forms of discrimination against women through appropriate legislative, institutional and other measures”. It also went further to state that ‘state parties shall commit themselves to modify the social and cultural patterns of conduct of women and men through public education, information, education and communication strategies, with a view to achieving the elimination of harmful cultural and traditional practices and all other practices which are based on the idea of the inferiority of either of the sexes, or on stereotyped roles for women and men”. The provisions of both bodies are basically the same, laying emphasis on the protection of women against discrimination. The reason for the continuous violations of these provisions, and of women, aside from the lack of implementation under the constitution, may not be far- fetched. In Nigeria, most particularly in the Igbo society, not much is heard by the indigenous people, who are mostly affected by these traditions, of any of the treaties. There is need for awareness and sensitization on the issues surrounding inheritance based discrimination, there should also be some form of media information and translation mechanism. Additionally, Non-governmental Organisation should put more effort into reaching indigenous women by making themselves readily available. That way, they can get first- hand information with which to write their reports and make necessary recommendations. An impact study by Christof Heyns and Frans Viljoen in 1999, in collaboration with the U.N office of the high commissioner for human rights, aimed at reviewing the all human rights treaties, they concluded that” international enforcement mechanisms used by the treaty bodies appear to have had a very limited demonstrable impact thus far”. [38] Awareness, judicial decisions and legislative reforms were the factors used to measure these impacts. They concluded that the coverage of the reporting process by the media was “negligible”.

The United Nations and its bodies have continually affirmed the right to equality before the law without discrimination on basis of sex. [39] Article 1(3) [40] of the United Nations Charter, states that the purpose of the United Nations are ; ‘to achieve international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion’. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) [41] provides in Article 7 that ‘All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination’. Article 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) [42] also provides that ‘The States Parties to the present Covenant undertake to ensure the equal right of men and women to the enjoyment of all civil and political rights set forth in the present Covenant’. However, with all these treaties put in place, discrimination against women continues to sprout to a worrying height. In 2004 [43] , the CEDAW committee noted that ‘in no country in the world has women’s full de jure and de facto equality been achieved’. They went further to state as follows; ‘Discriminatory laws are still on the statute books of many states parties. The co-existence of multiple legal systems, with customary and religious laws governing personal status and private life and prevailing over positive law and even constitutional provisions of equality, remains a source of great concern. Nationality laws also continue to discriminate against women by curtailing their capacity to confer their nationality to their children. Women continue to experience discrimination and disadvantage in the enjoyment of rights to own and inherit propertyaˆ¦aˆ¦’. [44]

Outline of the Study

The study will be organized into five chapters using the following structure:

Chapter 1 will introduce the study and its objectives by presenting the context and research questions with a clear sense of scope and limitations of the study. This chapter will also discuss the methodology used in the study.

Chapter 2 will discuss the effects of the customary practice of disinheritance of the Igbo people on the rights of women in the society.

Chapter 3 will discuss international and regional standards of inheritance and the status of women, drawing inferences from the UN treaties and every other treaty which protects the rights of women from violation.

Chapter 4 will draw conclusions from the finding and make recommendations that could better align the customary law incentives with those of common law and also induce social actions that could lead to changes in gender relations.

Interculturele Pedagogiek

Extra opdracht Beoordeling ‘Cultuur en opvoeding’

Cultuur en Opvoeding.

Een recensie over het boek van Lotty Eldering.

De discussie over het multiculturele karakter van de Nederlandse samenleving keert herhaaldelijk terug. Een van de redenen hiervoor is de toename van immigranten en vluchtelingen uit niet-westerse landen naar Nederland. Prof. dr. Lotty Eldering, emeritus hoogleraar Interculturele Pedagogiek aan de Universiteit Leiden, heeft vijfentwintig jaar lang onderzoek gedaan onder allochtone gezinnen. Naar aanleiding van dit onderzoek heeft ze begin 2002 een overzichtwerk geschreven, waarin aandacht wordt besteed aan zowel de huidige (opvoedings-)situatie van allochtone ouders en kinderen, als hun voorgeschiedenis en de daarbij behorende cultuur als hun verdere leefsituatie. Dit boek heet Cultuur en Opvoeding. Interculturele pedagogiek vanuit ecologisch perspectief.’ Niet eerder was er een studieboek verschenen over het onderwerp interculturele pedagogiek. Lotty Eldering is een van de eerste schrijfsters die zulk grondige informatie verschafte over de nieuw bevolkingsgroepen die in Nederland binnenkomen.

Het doel van dit boek is het bij te dragen aan het tot stand komen van een beter inzicht in de culturele orientatie en sociale positie van allochtone ouders en jeugdigen. Daarnaast is het de bedoeling de culturele sensitiviteit, ten opzicht van deze mensen, van haar lezers te vergroten. Het boek is bestemd voor een groot publiek, namelijk studenten en docenten die zich willen verdiepen in de opvoeding en leefwijze van allochtone jongeren, praktijkwerkers, onderzoekers en anderen die behoefte hebben aan kennis en inzicht van cultuur op de opvoeding. Daarnaast is het ook handig als naslagwerk te gebruiken.

In Cultuur en opvoeding wordt de manier van opvoeden van allochtonen in Nederland duidelijk besproken, zodat je er een goed beeld van kan vormen. Telkens wordt hierbij ook gesproken over de islamitische en de hindoestaanse manier van opvoeden. De religie en tradities van deze groepen worden hierbij ook behandeld om een beeld te krijgen hoe zich dit in de Nederlandse samenleving inpast. Ook wordt hier een vergelijking gemaakt met de Nederlandse gewoontes en de christelijke opvoeding. Nederland wordt hier gezien als multiculturele samenleving, door toename van het aantal immigranten en vluchtelingen die afkomstig zijn uit niet-westerse samenlevingen. Wat hier allemaal bij komt kijken wordt beschreven te samen met de waarden en normen in Nederland.

Eldering schrijft vanuit een ecologisch perspectief. Dit perspectief gaat er van uit dat de sociale en culturele context van het gezin, de omgeving, grote invloed heeft op de opvoeding en ontwikkeling van het kind. Tot nu toe is het ecologisch raamwerk voornamelijk gebruikt bij het bestuderen van een stereoculturele omgeving en niet, zoals Eldering doet, bij het bestuderen van kinderen die opgroeien in een multiculturele samenleving. Eldering beschrijft kritisch het ecologische model en het ‘developmental niche model’ (‘ontwikkelingsgebieden’) van respectievelijk Bronfenbrenner & Harkness en Super.

Cultuur en opvoeding geeft de informatie erg beschrijvend weer. Het leven van allochtonen in Nederland wordt beschreven en geA?llustreerd aan de hand van voorbeelden in aparte kaders. Door het boek loopt over het algemeen een goed volgbare rode draad die de lezer langs al die aspecten leidt.

De indeling van het boek verloopt op een logische manier, van het grote algemene (wat zijn allochtonen, waar komen ze vandaan) naar het meer uitgewerkte (hoe wordt er opgevoed, welk risico- en probleemgedrag komen er voor). Doordat de voorgeschiedenis en de cultuur in de landen van herkomst, van de allochtonen gezinnen die in dit boek worden behandeld, eerst toe te lichten kom je tot een beter beeld van deze gezinnen. Ook verklaard dit veel van wat er in de rest van het boek volgt. Deze twee punten hebben namelijk nog steeds invloed op zowel de opvoeding als de andere dagelijkse dingen in de allochtone gezinnen wanneer deze in Nederland wonen.

Na een voorwoord van de schrijfster zelf, volgt een inleiding over de interculturele pedagogiek en het gebruik van dit boek. Hierin worden drie theoretische perspectieven, namelijk het ecologische model (invloed omgeving op de opvoedingssituatie), historisch en vergelijkend en acculturatie (dichterbij elkaar komen van mensen uit verschillende culturen) en cultuurverschillen, genoemd die gebruikt zijn in dit boek als richtlijnen. In hoofdstuk 2 worden de identificatiecriteria, herkomst en migratie van allochtonen in Nederland beschreven. De meeste aandacht gaat hier uit naar de (Creoolse en Hindoestaanse) Surinamers, de Marokkanen en de Turken. In hoofdstuk 3 gaat het om het theoretische kader. Hier worden de integratie, het multiculturalisme, het ecologische raamwerk (met hierin het ecologische model van Bronfenbrenner en de ‘devolopment niche’ van Harkness en Super), de cultuur en de risicofactoren (zowel in het algemeen als speciaal voor allochtone jongeren) beschreven.

De religie staat centraal in het volgende hoofdstuk. Hier worden de Islam en het HindoeA?sme verder uitgewerkt, van het ontstaan tot de komst van dit geloof in Nederland. In hoofdstuk 5 draait het om de maatschappelijke participatie en de culturele orientatie van de allochtonen hier in Nederland. Hier komen onder andere de sociale positie, taal en de banden met het land van herkomst aan bod. In hoofdstuk 6 gaat het boek vervolgens verder met de crossculturele verschillen in opvoeding. Hier wordt het socialisatiemodel van Kagitcibasi en visies op kinderen en hun ontwikkelingen behandeld en de punten opvoeding, leren en identiteit worden nader uitgelegd. In hoofdstuk 7 gaat Eldering daarop door, want hier staat de opvoeding van allochtonen gezinnen centraal. Dit is geschreven vanuit de allochtonen gezinnen (Marokkaans, Turks, Surinaams) zelf. De adolescentie is het onderwerp van hoofdstuk 8. Hier gaat het over relaties (met ouders en leeftijdsgenoten), vrije tijd en vrienden, school en werk, seksualiteit en huwelijk. In het laatste hoofdstuk wordt tot besluit de risicofactoren en het probleemgedrag behandeld. Hier gaat het over wat een belangrijke basis is wat een jongere nodig heeft, welke risicofactoren er zijn en met welke psychosociale problemen ze te maken kunnen hebben.

De manier van schrijven, de indeling van het boek en de vele voorbeelden, van zowel tekst als illustraties, maken dit boek tot een leerzaam boek die ook prettig is om te lezen. Wel mist er zo nu en dan wat structuur. Wat tussen hoofdstuk 6 en hoofdstuk 7 wel duidelijk is, is tussen andere hoofdstukken sporadisch. Tussen hoofdstuk 6 en 7 is een duidelijk verband, er wordt in het eerste hoofdstuk een achtergrond geschetst voor de tweede.

Vrijwel alles waar aan gedacht wordt bij het denken aan allochtone mensen in Nederland, komen aan de orde. Aspecten die hier worden bedoeld zijn bijvoorbeeld religie, manier van opvoeden, sociale positie en andere cultureel specifieke dingen. Het is een interessant boek voor diegene die geA?nteresseerd zijn in cultuurverschillen hier in Nederland. Alles bij elkaar maakt dit informatieve boek compleet.

Culture is the essential part of the humans society. Every person is spending his or her life within a certain cultural community. It frequently defines what kinds of person a man or woman is and what values will they have. Does the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology? Let us discuss this topic step by step.

To understand it better, we can at first define what the cultural environment is and what influence it has on people within it. The very nature of the cultural environment is cultural and social aspects. It is could also be called “a social context” and sometimes “milieu”. It is a culture of a society or a group where a certain person is living or getting an education; it is institutions and people who interact with a certain human. By interaction we can mean not only different types of personal communication (like on a workplace, in class, with neighbors etc.); people could also communicate with each other by means of different communicational media (like phone, internet, newspapers, television etc). In spite of non – personal type of the communication, people whom a man or a woman meets in internet can have an influence on his or her values and point of view. Also television and other mass media form our perception of life and other people little by little. This type of interaction we can call one – way or anonymous. It does not always imply the equality of the social status. Thus, the concept of a social environment is wider that the concept of a social circle or a social class. Nevertheless, it is common that those people who have the same social environment start having a sense of solidarity. They easily help and trust each other; also they tend to create a social group. As a result, those people will always have a similar way of thinking and similar patterns even if they make different conclusions.

It shows us that people depend on society and culture around them very much whether they recognize this fact or not. Let us briefly define what culture itself is. It is going to help us understand what kind of effect it has on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology.

There is plenty of information about culture and different consequences of it. It is impossible to transmit a culture through genealogy. Culture is not something innate; culture is something that everybody should learn. Different facets of it are interrelated; a culture is spread by those people within a group. Nowadays different cultures could easily exist within a country side by side (like it commonly happens in African countries). According to Hoebel (1960), the definition of a culture is following: “The integrated sum total of learned behavioral traits that are manifest and shared by members of society”. According Lawton (1975), culture includes “age grading, religious rituals and athletic sport”. According to Frow (1995) there are “traditional differences in task and doing business were breaking down and this meant that standardization rather than adaptation is becoming increasingly prevalent”. Probably, a culture is one of the most significant environmental variables that should be considered within a global marketing. Often a culture could not be freely overlooked; it often hiding from a view. Culture consists of some elements; they are language, aesthetics, religion, values and attitudes, education, social organization and material culture. It is necessary to discuss briefly every element of it.

Material culture includes communications, power, transportations and others. Language is the next aspect of culture. It is a reflection of the values and nature of a certain society group. It could be sub-cultural languages, for example, dialects; in some countries it could be two or even more languages. Aesthetics includes art, dancing, arts-music. It concerns good taste, beauty, form and color of it. Education, as it is easy to see, includes the transmission of ideas, attitudes, skills and training in certain disciplines as well. Moreover, education serves as a transmitter of cultural and social values. Sometimes a child was introduced to the cultural value by school or later by university. Religion gives the humans’ behavior the best insight and as well it helps us to answer different questions, for example, why people behave n this way and not in another.

We can see that “culture” is a complicate conception; it includes different aspects. What can we say about “values” conception? What is commonly meant by “values”? Shortly, by values a person may mean something that is really matter to him or her. It is beliefs and ideas somebody holds as special. Social and cultural environment forms one’s values. Home, church school – there are just some places where people could study values that are common for everybody within their cultural environment. Teachers, friends, parents are forming our personal system of values from day to day. As a result we have personal values. Arts et al. (2003) summarized that they consist of something that we accepted from people around as and that part that came with our own life experience. It is too compulsory to accept everything a person is hearing around him or her; nevertheless, values of cultural environment around us has its strong influence on our own system of values.

Now, when we recognize what “values”, “culture” and cultural environment” commonly mean we can examine the direct effect that the cultural environment has on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology.

Before discussing the influence of a cultural environment on a person according to anthropology let us briefly mention the definition of the science. Saying shortly anthropology is the inquiry of humanity. Its origins throw back in the social sciences, natural science and humanities. The term itself is taken from the ancient Greek language and has two parts: “man” and “study” or “discourse”. The matters of anthropology are “how do people behave”, ‘what are their physical traits”, “why we can see differences and variations between groups of people”, and finally “who was the ancestor of the modern humans”. Anthropology is commonly divided in to four fields; they are cultural, or social, anthropology, linguistic anthropology, archaeology and biological, or physical, anthropology. We can see that anthropology itself is the science that studies social and cultural values, differences, origins, roots etc. Thus, it is important to talk about the influence of culture environment according to this certain science.

According to anthropology, a culture could be seated deeply; unprepared person could take some type of a culture like something senseless, strange and even cruel. Let us give an example. According to the Muslim culture a woman must cover her face with yashmak and hide herself from any alien. Nilaweera & Wijetunga (2005) emphasized that this custom could appear strange and senseless to any person from Europe, United States or numeral other countries where people flaunt a woman’s form openly. Here is another example of the opposite culture. In some African countries (like Congo, Kenya etc) women do not wear top cloths. Oyeshile (2004) explained this fact that according to their culture, their traditions and according to their hot climate they do not consider the top of the female body something that they should cover or hide. There are many other different examples of things and customs that are unacceptable and even criminal in one part of the world; at the same time at another part of it people consider it the culture and commonly do it.

Summarizing this short extract we can see that cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology. Continue the two examples above, a woman from the African country where there is not common or compulsory to cover her body with upper wear have values that are different from the values that are precious for a woman from a Muslim country. If those women could try to explain themselves their culture, values and reasons why they are keeping those culture values they would hardly understand each other. It is common that Muslim people condemn women from Europe and America. For them even the most modest and restrained American female seems to be a woman without culture values because she shows certain part of her body

What can we say about the influence of the social environment on personal values for psychology? What is psychology? It is the science of the human’s behavior and mind. This science is an attempt to understand humanity by exploring certain specific cases and by discovering some general principles as well. One of the main goals of psychology is to benefit the society. Scientists who involved in it we can divide in to some groups: cognitive scientists, social scientists and behavioral scientists. Among others, social behavior is among different subjects of psychology. The science of psychology explores following concepts: emotion, cognition, phenomenology, perception, attention, brain functioning, behavior, motivation, personality, unconscious mind and interpersonal relationships. As anthropology, the science of psychology is a social science and it has a strong connection with social environment. According to psychology, some type of behavior could be considered normal and other type could be considered abnormal. Commonly, humanity has the same nature. For example, murdering and cruelty is considered abnormal in every social group and community. Nevertheless, within some cultures the conception of cruelty may vary. Let us give an example. In American and European countries violation in any form is unacceptable even within a family. Thus people who keep doing it to others would consider psychologically abnormal. According to the culture of some eastern countries, especially countries with Muslim culture, a husband can beat his wife or punish her or in any other way if she does not satisfy him. What kind of misdeed could a wife do? She may cook a food that her husband does not like; she may say a word that her husband could consider unacceptable. People within the community with such culture are considered psychologically normal even if they commit violence every day. According to their culture cruelty is acceptable. A woman is expecting for it and she has no even right to complain. According to the example above we can see that psychological situation within a community could have a strong negative effect on personal values of a human. A person can look at low values of members of the community around him or her and subconsciously this person could understate those values that he or she had before. Psychologically people inclined to depend on society. That is why we can state that the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for psychology.

Sociology is the last science that we are going to discuss. It studies the society using different methods of critical analysis and empirical investigations. This science refines and develops knowledge about the activity of human society. One of the aims of sociology is to achieve the social welfare with the mean of the knowledge. Mancheno-Smoak et al. (2009) stated that the field of interests in sociology varies from the micro level of interaction and agency to the macro level of social structures and systems. It is a very broad conception that is focused traditionally on social class, religion, social stratification, social mobility, secularization, deviance and law. It includes all spheres of people’s activity. It is interesting that sociology studies different types of interactions between people. We are living in the age of the world wide globalization when the whole planet is becoming one big house. Different cultural and social communities are not staying separate from each other like it was some hundreds years ago. People are moving, migrating and spreading their culture and different values among other societies.

Why can we state that according to sociology, the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community? First reason is that people like to communicate with each other. It means that they getting some new knowledge and values. Roniger (1995) declared that when representatives of different cultures are staying in contact for some time they will get used to new values. It will stop being new for them. New cultural values will become common and according to sociology people will start accepting it in their lives. In some time they would not remember that one or another culture or value was not imparted to them. And it is the second reason why the cultural environment has an effect on values of people for sociology. In other words, when people move from one place to another they create a new social group with mixed culture and values.

In conclusion of all factors and aspects that we discussed above we can see that anthropology, sociology and psychology are connected between each other. These three sciences are all about the human nature, culture and community. They are examining interactions and cooperation between different people; we can state that the cultural environment have a direct effect on the values within a community for anthropology, psychology and sociology because according to these sciences it is up to people’s nature to take something new from others. According to religion, human society was created as one big family. Let us agree that this statement is right; thus, we need to accept that people within a social community have a direct effect on each other in the same way in which members within an ordinary family have.

Every science that we discussed has one main aim – to make our society better. We need to remember that it is up to everybody to help in achievement of this aim.

Introduction:- The essay will focus on how culture, gender and religion limits human rights in Africa and how the three come into conflict which leads to discursively construct each other via cultural. It will also cover the potential and limitations of the women’s rights as human rights in which, attension will be paid to Islamic law-sharia and some of it cases in Nigeria. The essay will also relate international human rights documents like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, African Charter on human and people’s rights, protocol to the African Charter on Human and people’s Rights of women in Africa, and Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam(sharia law) and conclusion.

Legal Pluralism in Human Rights Law:

The plurality of norms and values that exist in different African cultues and societies is also reflected within the human rights system itself. The human rights system embodies both individual and communal rights. The tension relationship between the principle of a group’s right to self determination and cultural identity, asembodied in the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights and Article 16.1 of the Women’s convention, which puts an obligation on the states parties to eliminate discrimination against women in all matters relationg to marriage and family relation. In the African context is whether the protection of group rights such as culture and religious identity of ethnic group, constitutes a justifiable reason for differential treatment of women and men in African. There has always been great arguement when interpreting the convention in relationa to African States parties, it should be born in mind that African and Western cultures apply different values and norm(Grannes 1994:28) This is because the implementation of Women’s convention has proved to be particularly problematic in the area of personal and family law, where it comes into conflict with religious and customary laws and practices.

Human Rights in African

Over decades now, Africa have been ranked by international Human Rights organizationas like Human Right Watch, Ammesty International and International Crimenial Court as a continent where human rights violations are at it apex especially islamic countries, the violation of women’s basic human rights are mostly done in the name of culture and religion. [1] After the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948 in which pursuit of equal rights for women through international law has been fair from reach. The principle says that everyone is free and equal in diginity and eveveryone is entitled to rights “without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex…” was started in Articles 1 and 2 of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights [2] , African Charter by the Organization of African Unity (now African Unity) in 1986, Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam by the Organization of the Islamic Conference in 1993. Anthropology as an academic discipline has embraced a predominantly ethical relativist stance toward the idea of human rights as a legitimate universal concern for all cultures. In the past years the rising prominence of women’s rights as human rights has challenged this point of view. Within the context of the global women’s human rights movement, feminist anthropologists are in the forefront of this challenge, striving to uphold anthropology’s important focus on cultural context, while at the same time paying deep concern for harmful pracetics against women, with female genital mutilation in African no exception, which may be argued to be morally objectionable outside of any given culture. “Human Rights” is a very difficult phrase to define. One’s idea of humanity varies in every culture especially in African societies; discrepancies are often found even within a singular culture.

Gender,Culture, Religion and social Causes a Barrie to Human Rights in Africa:

Violence continues to affect lives of millions of women in African in all socio- legal, economic and educational classes. This is cuting across cultural and religious barriers, which impeding women from taking full participation in societies. One of the greatest barriers to women’s economic advancement is violence they face on daily routine. Not only does such violence impede women’s ability to live full and productive lives, it also hampers their contributions to family, society and economic development. Violance aganist women is one of the most visible consequences of economic, social, political, legal and cultural inequalities that exist between men and women in Africa, as a result the continent is laging behind the rest of the world [3] . Given the subordinate status of women in Africa, women are most exposed to ill treatments, physiological abuse, and physical violence, such gender violence is considered normal and enjoys social sanction.

African continent is rich in cultural relativity(culture of discrimination) and norms, as a result it has showed a vital barrier to the implementation of the universal human rights act.

A universal agreement among certain human rights provisions is not likely to occur, specifically when dealing with islamic countries in African where transition to more equal rights is most problematic, where elements of Sharia law governing the behaviour of women remain active. In extreme examples in Northern Nigeria, these ancient laws still declaims that adultery is a crime when only carried out by women, and makes it impossible for a man to be convicted of rape. In certain circumstances, conforming to human rights would signify a fundamental change in societies that the elite is not willing to undertake, fearing a potential change in the balance of power while the cultural norms remains unchanged.

Violence against women in Africa comes in several forms discrimination, rape and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which the World Health Orgnazation (WHO) defines as ‘comprises all procedures that involve partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, or other injury to the female genital organs for non-medical reasons’.

The practice is mostly carried out by traditional circumcisers, who often play other central roles in communities, such as attending childbirths. Increasingly, however, FGM is being performed by health care providers and constitutes an extreme form of discrimination against women. It is nearly always carried out on minors and is a violation of the rights of children. The practice also violates a person’s rights to health, security and physical integrity, the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and the right to life when the procedure results in death.

Despirte global efforts by World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to combat the wild spred of FGM, it still remains donominant in Africa as a cultureal partices, which lives about 92 million girls age 10 years and above are estimated to have undergone FGM and three million girls are at risk annually [4] .

The reasons behind female genital mutilation in Africa include a mix of cultural, religious and social factors within families and communities.In most African countries where FGM is a social convention, the social pressure to conform to what others do and have been doing is a strong motivation to perpetuate the practice. Traditions in African believes that FGM is often considered a necessary part of raising up process for girl(s), and a way to prepare them for adulthood and marriage life, it often motivated by beliefs about what is considered proper sexual behaviour, linking procedures to premarital virginity and marital fidelity and is also associated with cultural ideals of femininity and modesty, which include the notion that girls are clean and beautiful after removal of body parts that are considered male or unclean. The Africa Traditional Reglions (ATRs) is the only religion that fully support to the practice, practitioners often believe the practice has religious support, other religious leaders take active positions with regard to FGM: some still promote it, some consider it unimportant to religion, and others are still kicking against the idea.

Potential and Limitations of Women’s Rights as Human Rights

Social and economic indicators for African countries consistently show that women bear the greatest brunt of hardship because of disciminatory lwas against them, efforts to modernise this discriminatory laws have been frustrated by deep-rooted cultural barriers that runs in opposite direction with developments . Women in Africa contribute in numerous ways to the national development of every country. They are responsible for nearly all household duties , starting from food productions and processing exercises. Often, women tend to be viewed not as individuals, but as part of the male-headed household with some unique needs of their own related to their preceived roles, if given the rigts they can be at the front line of major global issues.

Women organizations in Africa and around world such as Formum for African Women Educationalist (FAWE) and the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) have been actively involve in using different approaches in seeing the the rights of women as stated in various international human rights docuents be met,their efforts are far from reach in Africa.

Sharai Law:

The word sharia means “the path to a watering hole”. It denotes an Islamic way of life that is more than a system of criminal justice. Sharia is a religious code for living, in the same way that the Bible offers a moral system for Christians. It is adopted by most Muslims to a greater or lesser degree as a matter of personal conscience, but it can also be formally instituted as law by certain states and enforced by the courts. Many Islamic countries have adopted elements of sharia law, governing areas such as inheritance, banking and contract law.

Sharai Law in Nigeria -Case One:

Safiya Hussaini, age 35, was sentenced to death by stoning in October 2002 for allegedly having a child with a married neighbour. She had the child after her divorce, but maintained the father was her former husband and that they were married when the child was conceived. The court convicted her, but Hussaini won an appeal, this time alleging that she had sex out of wedlock before sharia law took effect.

Sharai Law in Nigeria – Case Two:

In 2001, a teenage single mother was given 100 lashes for adultery, even though she argued she was raped by three men. The court said Bariya Ibrahim Magazu could not prove that the men forced her to have sex. Sexual discrimenation is transparent in this case, The Sharai law failed to bring the three men to book for raping, insisted all the blame was put on the woman alone.

Sharai Law in Nigeria -Case Three: In 2002, Adama Unusua, who was 19 and pregnant, was recently sentenced to 100 lashes in public for having sex with her fiance. [5]

International Human Rights Documents and Sharia Law in Africa:

The African continent ratified international and regional human rights protection instruments, human rights violations such as discrimination against women persists widely both in law and practice.The international commettee remains particularly concerned by the currently violations of human rights in Africa especially the ones currently going on in North Africa andWest Africa(Ivory Coast). The persistence of discriminatory laws; lack of perfect harmonisation between statutory and customary laws and the application of Sharia laws constantly increase violence against women, including widowhood rites; and obstacles to access top employment opportunities leades tonor right in decision-making that even affects them.The Shariagoes in oppsite direction with all international and regional human rights documents, expect in the Cariro Declaration on Human Rights in Islam by the Organization of the Islam Conferencce in may 1993, which made provision in Article 2 [6]

Conclusion:

Increase in the violation of huma rights in Africa is at it apex point, both the international and regional commeteer need to pay much attension to this issues, especially the violation of fundamental rights which are clearly speelts in all human rights documents with execption to Articule 2(c) p 4 of the Cairo Declaration of Human Rights.Women’s rights must be respected by eliminating all form of discrimination against them, so that they can see themselves as partners in development in African.

Culture is defined as, “a particular society at a particular time and place”. This definition describes that cultures in various locations and during different time periods are unique, and cannot be duplicated. In a multicultural nation, such as Canada, there are various cultures with different views, beliefs and opinions that have been brought by the new immigrants and shared within their ethnic communities, as well as their families. At times these cultures and views can clash, and result in one interpretation of what is believed to be right to override the other. This is when the relation of the concept of culture relating to crime can be made. At times what may seem to be viewed as normal or non deviant within one culture can be deemed illegal and unlawful by another culture. This however becomes a culture shock when people of various subcultures are forced to abide to the culture of the metro poles they live in. This concept of culture relating to multiculturalism can relate to culture of conflict theory, the subculture theory and the differential association theory. It is not only within ethnic groups that cultural conflicts exist, but also within subcultural groups that are within a larger context of society. The concept of culture invoking crimes is substantially based upon the fact that subcultures clash because their culture is under the interpretation that their values, beliefs and judgements are opposite to what they believed should be deemed criminal. The result of crime within various cultures, are caused by the differential values of various cultures, the lack of education and adaptation of Canadian culture in the multicultural metro poles, and the opportunities that exist in order to prevent crime.

Culture conflict theory states that “the root cause of criminality can be found in a clash of values between differently socialized groups over what is acceptable of proper behaviour”. For example, for some, protesting for one’s rights and freedoms by blocking a road is deemed illegal from the place of origin they immigrated from, therefore when viewing Canadian citizens continually protesting on the roads may cause them to believe that the individuals’ committing these acts are criminals. Canada being a multicultural nation, harbours many different cultures that may in fact not be used to the behaviour and cultural views of the greater Canadian society in which they belong in. This often is due to the conduct norm defined by Sellin as, “the shared expectation of a social group relative to conduct”. This expectation of what is considered to be normal and deviant are socially created by the broader society and forced upon individuals to follow. Canada for example has progressed greatly from a conservative society, to a very liberal and free democratic society. Many things have changed with regards to conventions and law in Canadian society; such changes aren’t so readily accepted by older generations or various cultures, nor are they easily adapted to. This results in crimes being committed by people that aren’t actually aware of committing an illegal action. This explains Sellin’s point that crime is nothing more than that an argument is that of what is deemed to be right or wrong. Selling also pointed out that there were two types of cultures in conflict, they were primary and secondary conflict which also led to the clash of cultures and the result of crime.

Primary conflict is described as that in which there is, “a fundamental clash of cultures that occurs”.An example that is very common in contemporary society is the idea of honour killings by parents. “Honour killings are committed usually to daughters by parents or older siblings because the behaviour of the child is believed to have brought shame to the family. On June 16th 2010, a father and son were sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty for the murder of Aqsa Parvez, a 16-year-old girl of Pakistani descent who wanted to wear western clothes and get a part-time job like her Canadian peers.” Although this example seems to be drastic, it is believed by the individuals that commit these crimes that this is completely normal behaviour that has been practiced in their native lands. This example shows that what may have been deemed illegal and murder by Canadian culture was not the case from where these two individuals came from. The individuals in this case were not aware that they had committed something wrong, because based on their culture it is their responsibility to uphold the family name and do whatever it takes to protect it. The question then remains if this should actually be considered a crime because the person who committed it came from a different culture which did not hold the same views. Or would it be the responsibility of each individual residing in Canada to adapt and learn the conduct norms and completely forget about their values and beliefs. In this primary example, it can be made clear that since Canada is home to many immigrants, a “crime” like this may occur again because of the lack of knowledge of what is considered to be right and wrong in a new culture. Although this act may be considered to be unexplainable to many parents as well as citizens it is clear that many citizens still carry on their culture of their homelands, crimes such as these are bound to continue to flourish in a multicultural society.

Secondary conflict is described by Sellin to be that of which when “smaller cultures within the primary cultures clash”. An example of secondary conflict is the smaller cultures of drug dealers, prostitutes and gamblers that are regarded as clashing with the middle class and upper class values of society. For example for the middle class, making a decent wage through legal means is a way of life and what is considered to be what is considered right, however for those individuals that participate in drug dealing and prostitution it is also seen as their way of life. Therefore when laws are created by the middle class and upper class citizens they are created in a way in which clashes with the way of life of the low class citizens who commit these crimes as a way of earning money and living. Therefore, this crime that is socially constructed by the higher class results in the only way of life the lower class citizens have being deemed as criminalized activity. These crimes rates continue to flourish because these individuals’ way of life has been criminalized by the upper class. Until a new form of opportunity is granted for these individuals they will continue to maintain their deviant ways of life. Thus, this secondary conflict will only disappear when the economically marginalized are able to adapt to the cultural norms of the middle and upper class.

Subcultures are defined as a collection of values and preferences that is communicated to sub cultural participants through a process of socialization. Therefore, this statement is reiterating that it is through interacting with a subculture that one learns how he or she is to act and what he or she is to believe in. This interconnects with subculture theory which is, “a sociological perspective that emphasizes the contribution made by various socialized cultural groups to the phenomenon of crime” For example, street gangs continually function in a sub cultural level where they have their own set of values, beliefs and roles that may not necessarily adapt to the Canadian laws of society, however due to socializations that have made them a member of the group they do not see themselves committing crimes. For example, there are violent subcultures that Ferracuti and Wolfgang describe as individuals learning from being constantly exposed to violent practices as a means of problem solving. This is done by these individuals because violence is seen as a better precaution than other forms of adaptation. Therefore when charging a gang member for brutally attacking another gang member, one has to realize that within the subcultures of these individuals and their gangs what they are doing is only what they have learned to do in response to what has been taught to them. Therefore the question then comes into question of whether the subcultures of these gangs are the reasons why the crime rate is considered so high, and if so what can be done to change the mentalities of these subcultures to adapt to a more acceptable approach.

Many of these subcultures committing crime has been a direct result of the differential opportunity provided to each of these individuals. For example, there are two different opportunity for those individuals that fall into the lower class for a pathway to success, one is measured through legitimate means and the other illegitimate means. Examples of legitimate means are obtaining a job and making an honest living, while illegitimate means are selling drugs, prostituting etc. The reason why most lower class individuals chose illegitimate means over legitimate opportunity is because these measures are readily available. These jobs and opportunities that the lower class have to do in order to survive are always disapproved by society, which results in these individuals committing crimes. These so called delinquents are defined as individuals’ whose behaviours violate basic norms of society and those whose crimes once known by the police get them involved in the criminal justice system. It is described that deviance is just as much an adjustment to conform as is deviance to conform to expectations. What this statement means is that each of these individuals are trying their best to adapt to a society in which everything they do is being considered a crime, therefore at the most they are trying to adapt as much as they can to the expectations and norms of the middle class which do not include the lower class.

There are three delinquent subcultures that are pointed out which are criminal subcultures, conflict subcultures and retreatist subcultures. Criminal subcultures are ones in which criminal role models are available for imitation by those just entering the subculture. For example, gang leaders that own a gun and have been inside jail are mentoring these new recruit into their subculture and teaching them all that they may know. Conflict subcultures are when participants try to seek status through violence. This could be a scenario where a gang member is trying to earn the trust of his elder gang member, therefore he commits a few crimes to prove that he is worthy of their trust, somewhat like an initiation process. Another subculture is the retreatist subculture where drug use and withdrawal from society dominate. This for example is one of those high drug trafficking cases where the individual is always under the influence of an illegal substance, and prefers to not be in the public eye so he or she will not get caught. Through these various subcultures, one can see that these are still common in our contemporary society, and are continuing to add crime to our statistics.

Conflict culture, subcultures and differential association theory all underlie the reasons why there is a constant issue with crime in the multicultural metro poles. Individuals are unable to break free of their own cultural barriers, and adapt to Canadian cultural barriers that are frankly different and built upon social norms. What one would consider normal in his birthplace may be deemed a crime in Canadian society which is why the cultural conflicts continue to create more crime within Canada. It is not only the cultural conflict, but the processes and structure of subcultures that also deviate in exceptional amounts of crime being committed that is not deemed by the wrong doers to be criminal. One can uncover the fact that aside from the cultural conflicts, these individuals are put in this pathway because only illegitimate means of survival are provided toward for them. This society is built upon socialization of upper class views, morals and beliefs which results in the middle class and lower class being swept under a rug and continuously charged with crimes that they may consider a way of living. The only way in which we are to break free of this cultural crime being committed is by educating the general public about the importance of adaptation of Canadian laws, creating programs for those individuals in dangerous subcultures and allowing all classes to create the conduct of the norms.

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The headline read, “One out of 12 in America Held to be Illegitimate; Issuance of ‘Partial’ Birth Certificates Proposed to Avoid Embarrassments” (Staff, 1944, p. 4). The assertion conjures a mental image of hundreds of decadent, low socioeconomic status, immoral women and her filius nullius (Latin term meaning, “son of nobody”). Parents of the single, gravid woman were shamed, mortified or disgusted by the sexual promiscuity of their daughter; how they could face their friends after learning of the daughter’s transgression? Is this the first era of social stigma related to a child borne by an unmarried woman? The samplings of historical data below indicate no.

The Bible speaks often to a debauched woman and her bastard offspring. For example, Galatians 5:19-21 (English Standard Version):

19 Now, the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality,

20 Idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,

21 Envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Figure Lillian Gish (1926)In 1850, Nathanial Hawthorne wrote the “Scarlet Letter.” Set in a Puritan colony, his central character Hester Prynne, gave birth to an illegitimate daughter because of an adulterous affair. Hester was publicly shamed and forced to wear a red letter “A” on her chest, identifying her as an adulterer. She experienced cruelty, humiliation, and ostracism from the people of the community. She eventually realized the fortitude of her spirit. The novel is 160 years old, yet the moral dilemmas of personal responsibility, and consuming emotions of guilt, anger, loyalty and revenge are enduring.

“Unfair treatment and the stigma really permeate all aspects of society. It’s still expected that people will marry and that there’s something weird about you if you don’t.” Thomas Coleman

In the year 1944, when the above article appeared in The Pittsburgh Press, the institution of marriage before parenthood was the virtuous and accepted way of life. Women were expected to “love and obey” their husbands.

bas·tard (basaˆ?tE™rd) noun

a person born of parents not married to each other; illegitimate child

anything spurious, inferior, or varying from standard

Slang a person regarded with contempt, hatred, pity, resentment, etc. or, sometimes, with playful affection: a vulgar usage

Etymology: ME < OFr < bast- (also in fils de bast) (< ? Goth bansts, barn) + -ard, -ard: hence, one conceived in a barn (Webster's, 2010).

Vocabulary to describe the child borne of an unmarried woman varies throughout literature. Bastard is the most prolific term used in the earliest writings. A bastard is a person born out of wedlock whose father is not listed on the birth certificate and legal status is illegitimacy. Bastards had no right to inherit property from his or her parents except through a will. In the mid-20th century, discrimination against children born out of wedlock became subject to constitutional limitation under the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment (Columbia, 2009, p. 1).

Illegitimate, love child, whoreson, spurious; terminology referring to the child borne of an unmarried mother may be perceived as vilifying the child. The mother, who’s referenced by the terms unwed, unmarried, or single, was a pariah. Often, the pregnant single woman was scuttled off to a residential home for unwed mothers.

The occurrence of out-of-wedlock births has been rising over the past 70 years. In the 1940s, fewer than five percent of the total births were out of wedlock (Ventura, 2009). In the 1940s and 1950s, unwed mothers were strongly encouraged to give their children up for adoption. Commonly, an illegitimate child raised by grandparents or married relatives believed the unwed mother was his sister or he was her nephew.

Between 1940 and 1960, the escalation of out-of-wedlock births was subtle. Since the 1970s, increases in the number, rate, and ratio of out-of-wedlock births have been dramatic. In addition, the size of the unmarried population has increased as a result of the high birth rates during late 1940s through the early 1960s, along with the unprecedented deferment of marriage by the baby-boomers (U. S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [DHHS], 1995, p. 4).

Little in the literature discusses the biosocial and psychosocial influences upon the child or the mother. However, researchers have gathered a multitude of statistics demonstrating the delayed cognitive development of the child of a single parent. Unwed teenage mothers and their children are more likely living in lower socioeconomic conditions. The mothers face multiple risks of dropping out of school and becoming part of the economic underclass (Drummond & Hansford, 1992, p. 529). The unwed mothers were perceived by society as “deadbeats ripping off the American taxpayer.” Additionally, the societal concern of Americans over teenage mothers was that “babies are having babies”; that 16 year old girls were too young and unprepared for the responsibilities of single parenthood (Whitehead, 2007, p. 6).

The negativity surrounding unmarried mothers and their children was rampant during the years prior to 1970. That is not to say the mind-set completely disappeared at the stroke of midnight on December 31, 1969.

The public opinion of unmarried mothers remains. How that opinion is manifested has undergone changes. The transformation of the single-parent family from uncommonness to an established family style was one of the most dramatic social changes of the 20th century. Only 1 in 10 children lived in a single-parent family prior to 1960. More than 1in 4 did so by the century’s end. Although the consequences of single parent family formation have received abundant scrutiny, less is known about the evolution of attitudes toward these families (Usdansky, 2009, p. 209).

Is the increase of non-martial births due to eroding morals? Or, is there more ambivalence and apathy towards the single parent lifestyle? The cognitive development of morals and culture in emerging adult (ages 18-25) continues through middle age (Berger, 2008, p. 483). During this phase of human development, the emerging adult thinking is more practical, more flexible, and more dialectical (Berger, 2008, p. 472). The cultural background likely affects the cognitive process (Berger, 2008, p. 481).

Cultural influences have an effect on religious belief development. The religious and spiritual growth of a genome progresses with stages of human development. Take the quotation below, for example.

“‘Marriage exerts less influence over how adults organize their lives and how children are born and raised than at any time in the nation’s history,’ the survey says. Between 1960 and 2005, the rate of unwed childbearing increased sevenfold, from 5.3 percent of all births to 36.8 percent. The survey finds that the average unwed mother ‘is more likely to be white than black, and more likely to be an adult than a teenager. aˆ¦’ The survey attributes this ‘sharp increase in non-marital births’ to ‘an ever greater percentage of women in the 20s, 30s, and older aˆ¦ delaying or forgoing marriage but having children.’ But more Americans than ever naively think they alone can make single-parenting work.”

“Day-to-day realities slowly undermine this optimism. Single parents who have been at it awhile know better than anyone how less than ideal their situation is. That’s one reason we can expect to see more and more single parents looking for outside support. Single mothers aˆ¦often long for a strong, caring male to enter their children’s lives. So it nearly goes without saying: The church has a unique opportunity at this cultural moment.”

“For years, we have been preaching the supremacy of the two-parent family, offering classes and seminars for young couples and familiesaˆ¦”

“A dramatic example, but boys without father figures and girls without mother figures have a strike against them. The latest national study shows that more children than ever are entering the world with such strikes. It’s an unprecedented cultural moment for Christians, to see if we can act less like individual consumers of spirituality and more like the family of God” (“The fatherless child”, 2007, p. 5).

On August 22, 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, Public Law 104-193, better known as the Welfare Reform Bill. This law changes how governmental financial assistance is administered.

On September 15, 2000, the Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala awarded five states $100 million ($20 million each) in for reducing the number of out-of-wedlock births. “Among the priorities of the 1996 welfare reform law were promoting parental responsibility and encouraging two-parent families,” said Secretary Shalala. “I’m very pleased to award these bonuses as an incentive to advance these important family goals” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2000).

Is the child borne of an unwed mother destined to poverty, illiteracy, and a life of crime? Is the single mother doomed to never-ending disgrace and the topic for scandalous gossip? In the next chapter, evidence throughout the years reveals the picture is not all black.

“The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new.” Rajneesh

The year 1992 marked a pioneering event on network television. The highly-rated CBS show “Murphy Brown” started the new season with Murphy Brown, a divorced news anchorwoman, become pregnant and choosing to have the baby and raise it alone. America’s pro-lifers jeered, while the pro-choices cheered. Even the presidential candidates had something to say. Vice President Dan Quayle declared that the Los Angeles riots were caused in part by a “poverty of values.” He went on to denounce the acceptance of unwed motherhood. “It doesn’t help matters,” Quayle complained, when Murphy Brown, “a character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid professional woman” is portrayed as “mocking the importance of fathers, by bearing a child alone, and calling it just another ‘life-style choice’ ” (“Murphy Brown”, 1992).

In 2006, Rosanna Hertz published her non-fiction book, Single by Chance, Mothers by Choice. She noted the Single By Choice (SBC) woman belongs to a distinct subgroup of single parents, who, out of a strong desire for a child, have made the active choice to go it alone. Moreover, she asserts the SBC route to parenthood does not necessarily seem to have an adverse effect on mothers’ parenting ability or the psychological adjustment of the child (Murray & Golombok, 2005, p. 1655).

From the early 1960s to the late 1980s, the percentage of women having a non-marital child increased by 50% among whites and by 24% among blacks (Currie, 2009, p. 37).

One research study hypothesized a preventive group intervention with SBC mothers can identify potential psychological risk factors and help mothers with sensitive aspects of parenting (Ben-Daniel, Rokach, Filtzer, & Feldman, 2007, p. 249). There is research indicating that women in the typical age group of SBC mothers (35 to 44) tend to experience more stress than younger mothers. Their lifestyle is well established; pregnancy and parenting are perceived by some as interfering with their chosen way of life, especially in her career. SBC women are often the oldest daughter in their family (Ben-Daniel et al., 2007, p. 263).

In the few studies that exist on children of single mothers, no significant difference has been found in the child’s emotional and social development. Likewise, the development of gender identity of children of single mothers, as compared with children raised in heterosexual families, was unaffected.

The results of the study revealed therapeutic gain: Reduction of stress, tension and guilt; helped mothers prepared for parenting by encouraging a positive self-image and perceptions of the child. Improving the SBC mother’s acceptance of her chosen family model therefore promoted her willingness to tell children their birth story (Ben-Daniel et al., 2007, p. 264).

The child must be aware that it is okay to come from a family background different from a friend’s or neighbors. Some children live with two parents, others with only their mother or a father. Recently, grandparents have become the newest faction of caregivers for their grandchildren. Other relatives, step-parents, friends, or guardians are examples for the child to ponder. As one SBC mother revealed to her son, Walt Disney’s famous mother and son elephant family never made reference to a father; and the mother and son seemed perfectly content.

“The child must know that he is a miracle, that since the beginning of the world there hasn’t been, and until the end of the world there will not be, another child like him.” Pablo Casals

The non-marital child and his mother faced prejudice, humiliation, taunts and sneers over the centuries. The hurtful monikers of bastard or illegitimate child are slowly giving way to kinder terms. The prevalence of single by choice, mother by choice women is increasing at the end of the first decade in the 21st century. The commonality of alternative family models and the quiet acceptance of them allay the self-consciousness of the mother and child. No longer does the solo parent with her child have to endure the social stigma of a virtual scarlet letter. When two are a family, the biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial development of the non-marital child is determined by nature and nurture, the environment of unconditional love and acceptance by his society, and the eternal affection of his mother.

The issue of economic growth has for several decades been at the fore-front of every country’s policy agenda and has been the most talked about phenomena spanning from the industrial revolution era up to date. With most of the world economies recovering from the shock and memories of the 2008 global economic downturn, the world still remains ascetically divided between affluent and underprivileged, democratic and authoritarian, just and unjust, orderly and chaotic. These differences are so conspicuously clear to even the casual spectator that we live in highly disjunctive times. This has generated a lot of explanations pinpointing to the underlying causal factors. Geography, climate, previous historic situations such as colonization among others have been propounded in support of this huge economic divergence.

However, cultural traits and its influence on economic growth seem to have been given less attention. The reason for this gap is easily traceable. Anything invoking cultural attributes, values and predisposition according to [1] Patterson (2006) has been pushed and sidelined within the field of social sciences and policy circles. One would therefore be wondering why such a marginalization? The obvious answer to this is simply due to the fact that culture is difficult to address on several levels. What is perceived as culture in one locality or region might not be applicable to another. This makes culture definitionally problematic. Its relativity and ambiguity affected by contextual factors is actually difficult to objectify and assess.

The focus of this thesis however, is to do an empirical study on this subject matter especially considering the fact that most research works such as Jiang Shixue (1998) and others have resorted to theoretical means of finding explanatory factors to buttress culture and its relationship to economic development. To make this paper distinctive enough, we employ a multidisciplinary approach in which a wide array of data set from 948 countries would be considered for sampling from the world value survey database from 1981 to 2009. Our tasked would be to sample out 30 countries across the six continents with their distinctive cultural values. These cultural values sampled from the selected 29 countries would be regrouped into four main indices- instrumental rationality, affectual rationality, value rationality and traditional rationality. The detail of these headings would be covered in subsequent sections. Corresponding economic variables such as real GDP per capita, human capital captured as in gross school enrollment at different levels and physical capital ( employment levels) measured by the value of gross fixed capital formation would as well be collected to match the sampled countries.

1.1.2 Motivation

Recent causal factors on economic growth have been expounded from different angles and theories. These divergent views have established a somewhat two strands or schools of thought. The first and widely known group is the neoclassical group based on Solow’s growth model which emphasizes the importance of investment. The second and most recent group- known as the theory of endogenous growth propounded by Romer and Lucas has also shed more light on the essence of human capital and innovation capacity (technology).

Besides these two economic think tanks, there have also been other contributions from Myrdal’s cumulative causation theory and another from the New Economic Geography School (NEG). Others such as Jiang Shixue (1998), Granato, Inglehart and Leblang (GIL; 1996), Papamarcos, Watson, Fukuyama (1995; 1996), Weber (1958), Jonathan (2009), Jackman and Miller (1996a), McClelland et al (1953; 1961), Landes (1998) have all highlighted on the significant role of non- economic factors play on economic growth. The emergence of this area has given rise to yet another distinction between what Petrakos et al (2007) termed as ‘proximate’ and ‘fundamental or ultimate’ sources of growth.

However, with the exception of few of these works, most publications on economic development have centered on the ‘proximate’ sources of growth. The proximate group advocate on issues such as accumulation of capital, labor and technology. On the ‘ultimate’ group, most research works (see Weber, Jiang Shixue) have been done theoretical without empirical backing. It is only in most recent times that others such as Granato et al (1996) and Jonathan Hanson (2009) correlated cultural factors to economic growth with data collected from the world values survey database. For instance, in the work of GIL (1996), that was developed based on the shortcomings of McClelland et al (1953; 1961), collected data from 25 countries from the world value survey database. They systematically tried to test the robustness of “achievement motivation” index on economic growth. As part of their findings, they concluded that there exist significant relationship between achievement motivation index and economic development. However, their work received a lot of critiques from James Miller, Jackman and most recently by Jonathan Hanson (2009). These criticisms span from the sample size to the inability of their model to predict the future except the past. Jonathan Hanson (2009) in an attempt to address and assert on GIL’s findings, has also tested the validly of earlier results and has concluded that there is no such relationship between achievement motivation and growth. He did this by increasing the sample size from 25 to 42 countries and also extended the years from 17 years to 27 years period.

From the above developments, it is evident that the ‘ultimate or fundamental’ source of growth has had limited attention and that findings on the relationship between cultural factors and economic development has not been straightforward. We are therefore left to wonder if there exist any sort of relationship between cultural factors and economic development. If yes, can it be measured and its effects compared with traditional economic factors such as savings and investment? These questions and others would constitute the basis of my research objectives. My desire to do this research work is therefore informed by the questions raised above and the huge vacuum in research publications in this area. Also, considering the fact that all the research works on this area seems to follow similar pattern, that is, they all employ the same index (achievement motivation) in their test. This paper would somehow differ by employing a different approach that would seek to go beyond this by aggregating cultural traits into four indices.

1.1.3 Aims and Objectives

The objective of this research is to answer the question posed in our motivation by identifying and investigating if there are any relationship between cultural traits and economic growth. To achieve this, our aim would be to try to assign quantities and measure these cultural traits empirically. Specifically, the research would focus on data sets from across the six continents, advanced, emerging and LDCs. We would build cultural traits indices on the basis of rationality as defined by Max Weber.

1.1.4 Hypothesis of the Study

The following null and alternative hypotheses have therefore been set and the research would seek to prove the validity of each hypothesis formulated:

H0: Culture is positively associated with economic growth with high level of IR/ VR and low levels of TNR/ANR

H1: Culture is negatively associated with economic growth with low level of IR/ VR and high levels of TNR/ANR

1.1.5 Significance of the Study

Just as we highlighted in our rationale as to the vacuum in research as far as this area is concern, it is our expectation that this work would fill the gap in research publications. Our findings as to whether cultural values have strong correlation with growth or not would also go a long way to give an empirical meaning to the numerous theoretical publications on this subject matter. Given our distinct approach coupled with the large sample size of 52 countries across the six continents and the depth in data set spanning from 1981-2009, we believe our result would hold more credibility. Our result would lay to rest the discrepancies in findings by Granato et al (1996) and Jonathan (2009) by affirming either of their results. The policy recommendations that would be outlined based on our result findings would be very useful to policy makers and the world of academia.

Limitation

We encountered a lot of shortcomings in undertaking this research work. To begin with, our chosen topic in itself poses a lot of problem as it is not straightforward to deal with. Its subjectivess was a cause to worry to us. The immaterial nature of culture traits quantitatively was also another bottleneck to us. There are no quantitative data representing cultural traits. We had to rely on world value survey and European value survey responds to represent culture traits in quantities. This approach is tedious and time consuming. Last but the least, the time allotted for students to write their thesis is not enough. We were given approximately three months to come out with this thesis report. Originally, our aim was to go beyond the sample sizes of the different literatures we have reviewed, but time did not permit us to do so. We had to settle on 30 countries.

Outline

This thesis report is divided into eight main parts. Section one gives a general overview of the intended work encompassing background, research motivation, limitations and research outline. Section two devotes attention on the various literatures in lieu to this research. Section three looks into how culture has been perceived and defined from different perspectives and dimensions. Our aim in doing this is to identify the various traits as in culture. Section four deals with the methodology and specification of the model employed. We move on to describe our data set, sources and the countries involved in section five. We move on to Section six which is the empirical aspect in which our economic and cultural variables are co-tested and interpreted. Sections seven and eight attempts summarizing the result findings and its implication and further conclude with recommendations in a respective manner.

CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF RELEVANT LITERATURE

2. INTRODUCTION

This part of the paper takes a critical look at some of the works already been done as far as our subject matter is concern. To do this, our quest would be to review relevant literatures and approach employed by other writers. Our target would be to consider all explanatory factors that shares relevance with economic growth as proposed.

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

There is more than enough literature on sources of economic growth but amongst these sources, little seems to have been done on culture, as a factor that could induce development. The reason for this negligence is easily traceable, perhaps due to the complications and ambiguities attached to this subject matter. Culture is dynamic and harbors a lot of relativities hence making it quite difficult in ascribing a definite definition.

For instance, theories such as the one developed by Solow (1956), and publications by Romer (1986), Lucas (1988), Aghion and Howith (1992), Barro (1990), Grossman and Helpman (1991) acknowledges and therefore highlighted three sources of growth: new knowledge, innovation and public infrastructure. Another batch of literature, that is not widely known in academic circles is the growth theory of cumulative causation developed by Mydal (1957) and Kaldor (1970) that argues growth emerges from centrifugal effects ( positive spillovers) that’s spreading growth from more to less advance economies. This theory implicitly shares a lot of commonalities with endogenous growth. In another view, Krugman, 1991; Fujita et al, 1999 tried using the New Economic Geography (NEG) theory to explain the possible sources of growth. They assert that economic growth tends to be an unbalance process favoring the initially advantaged economies. This theory focus on location of economic activity, agglomeration and specialization rather than growth, but indirectly, growth outcomes can be sourced from this model.

When observed in a more macro point of view, other theoretical approached have emphasized the significant role non-economic factors play on economic performance. In other words, institutional economics have embraced the emerging roles of institutions [2] , economic sociology stressed out the importance of socio-cultural factors [3] , political science placed its clarification on this emerging subject on political determinants [4] and others have shed light on the role played by geography [5] and demography (Brander and Dowrick, 1994; Kalemli-Ozcan, 2002).

Granato et al (1996), Huntington (1996); Temple and Johnson (1998); Landes (2000); Inglehart and Baker (2000); Zak and Knack (2001); Barro and McCleary (2003); in recent years have done some research on how socio-cultural factors may affect growth. Most of them used different approaches and data sources to buttress their points. As part of some of their findings, it was concluded that there is a significant relationship between cultural factors and growth. However, Authors like Granato, Inglehart and Leblang (GIL 1996) have come under serious criticism. For instance Jackman and Miller claim that it is impossible to measure the stability of democracy as purported to have been measured in GIL’s work. Jackman and Miller cited the reason that levels of democracy have changed greatly over the last two centuries.

Jiang Shixue (1998) carried out a theoretical study on cultural factors and its role in changing the economic positions of most East Asia and Latin American economies. His aim was to compare how economic growths in these two regions have been shaped by cultural factors or values. In his findings, he was of the view that Confucianism as a cultural value has contributed immensely to East Asian Development as compared to its Ibero-Catholic or Hispanic counterpart in Latin America. He argued that Confucianism encourages thrift, savings (which is core to investment) and education. We are made to understand that, in the mid 1960s, the savings rate in most East Asian countries was 35 percent. However, this was not the case for most Latin America economies that were by then struggling to overcome high inflation rate, which kept interest rate negative. Their saving rate was therefore 16 percent, one half of their Asian counterparts.

Jonathan (2009) used similar approach by Granato et al (1996) to test how correlated achievement index is to economic growth. As opposed to the findings of GIL, Jonathan extended the data sample years from 1991-2008. An empirical test was thus carried out with the same data from world value survey. Jonathan concluded that there is no such relationship between achievement motivation index and growth as may have been reported by GIL.

Muhammed et al (2010) have recently done an empirical research on cultural values and economic growth in Asia. They used the traditional growth model as built by Solow and Lucas to test cultural values collected from world value survey database (1995-2007). Presence in their model was factors such as investment in human capital and per capita income since it is an established fact these factors have had positive correlation with economic growth. They augmented these economic variables with cultural variables such as trust, respect, self-determination and obedience. Their findings were quite similar to Granato et al (1996). They saw that obedience as a cultural value bears a negative correlation to economic growth. However, the other two traits indicated a positive correlation to economic growth. They summed these up to conclude that there is a strong and robustly positive impact of cultural traits on growth.

In addition, the effect of economic growth are thought to be related to the elements of culture that affect production and investment decisions, efficient allocation of resources, technological innovation and openness to trade. Altman (2001) models the impact of culture on economic growth by arguing that work effort is maximized when the cultural environment stimulates cooperative work, which is positively correlated to labor productivity. In the same direction, Faria and Leon-Ledesma (2004) also argue that cultural values that emphasis hard work affects labor supply. In their views, work is like a habit forming. They indicated that in the case of habit forming, the labor supply is higher than neoclassical case and can further lead to higher level of consumption, capital stock and output.

Cozzi (1998) also asserts that culture affects technological innovations. He however points out that culture in itself bears no utility and that its survival is linked to its positive effects on productivity. Cozzi generated technological innovations as an externality in his model by the aggregate investment in bubble culture. In a similar study, Johnson and Lenartowicz (1998) investigated the relationship between cultural factors and economic growth. They concentrated on values like uncertainty avoidance, conservatism and hierarchy (economic freedom and economic growth). They found a strong and robust relationship between economic freedom and economic growth and weak uncertainty avoidance and high level of individual autonomy.

Yuriy and Roland (2010) in their preliminary research publication investigated the relationship between cultural variables and growth by constructing an endogenous growth model. They used individualism-collectivism as the main cultural traits and sought to predict how this trait has a bearing on growth. Their work was an improvement of Hofsede (2001) who used surveys among IBM workers in 30 countries. Yuriy and Roland expanded this number to 80 countries. Their results were quite similar to Hofsede’s work. They found a strong and robust relationship of culture traits on long-run economic growth. They conclude that individualism should lead more to innovation due to the social rewards and that this cultural effect may offset negatives of bad institutions on growth.

From the vast array of literatures, it is quite evident that our approach is different from the others. Our decision to aggregate the various cultural traits on the basis of reason affirms this notion. Our collection of more traits to form distinctive indices transcends what others have done.

CHAPTER THREE
DEFINITION AND AGREGATION OF CULTURAL TRAITS

3.0 INTRODUCTION

In this section, we seek to give a general picture as in the definition of culture as understood by several authors. We would move a step further by proposing and outlining our working definition by our own understanding of what culture is. On the basis of our definition, we then group the various cultural traits under the various level of rationality as mentioned in our introductory part.

3.1 DEFINITION OF CULTURE

To understand how culture can affect economic growth, we would attempt to define it in several ways in order to capture some of the traits as used. However, [6] culture just as we pointed out in our introduction is difficult to define. Its subjectiveness makes it a bit difficult to objectify. Nevertheless, in the light of these difficulties, certain writers have been able to define it to suit their various works or purposes. [7] This has brought some sort of enmity between historical economists and these scholars (culture writers) who are fans of culture.

These subjectiveness in culture definition prompted people like A.L. Kroeber and Clyde Kluchohn to list about 160 definitions in their work between 1871- 1951. Ian Jamieson surveyed 160 definitions of culture that were in use by anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists and others.

Earlier usage of the word “culture” has always been designated the cultivation or tending of something like “agri-culture”. It was during and after the 16th century that there were some modifications. There has since been an extension to include the cultivation of prestigious human qualities like mind, manners, spirit, sensibility and taste. The 18th century elite Europeans used the term culture to distinguish between the highly refined civil cultivation achieved by privileged western Europeans and what was generally perceived as the relatively primitive development of such human qualities both in non-Europeans and the poor. The term however received its first usage to signify a noun when it was used by a German Historian Herder implying that all peoples “had” a culture.

The term has since then seen changes from time to time. For instance, Tylor defined culture in the classical book primitive culture (1871) as ” that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, art, morals, law, customs and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”. Others such as [8] A.L Kroeber (1948) have described culture as consisting speech, knowledge, beliefs, customs, art and technologies, ideals and rules; what is learned from other man, from elders and what is added to it. In 1952, Kroeber and Clyde Kluchohn added new dimension to the notion of culture. They stated that culture consists of patterns both explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups including their embodiment in artifacts. They argued that the essence of culture lies in tradition- historically derived and selected, ideas and their attached values; a cultural system may on the other hand be considered as a product of action and on the other hand as a conditioning element of further action. Succinctly, culture is the total social heritage acquired by man as a member of the society. This definition argues that culture is shared and has distinctive forms or patterns that it shapes human behavior and its essence is the values embodied in the beliefs of the people.

Lawrence Harrison (1997) also tried to define culture in a simple manner. He stated that culture is a set of values and attitudes that guide the actions of individuals and the interaction of people within society. He defines ‘values’ as ideals or norms of behavior to which a society attaches importance, and “attitude” as ways in which people learn to respond to facts, circumstances and issues.

Others like Nobel laureate and economic historian Douglass North views and defines culture in the realm of institutions and institutional change. He views culture as “the transmission from one generation to the next, via teaching and imitation, knowledge, values and other factors that influence behavior”. Douglas continues to say that culture provides a language-based conceptual framework for encoding and interpreting the information that the senses are presenting to the brain.

Fukuyama (1995) defines culture as “inherited ethical habit”. He was of the opinion that this definition which draws on both culture and social structure comes closer to understanding the word. Huntington (1993) also defined culture on the basis of civilization. He argues that civilization is a cultural entity. Civilization according to him is the highest cultural grouping of people and the broadest level of cultural identity people have short of that which distinguishes humans from other species. He identifies language, history, religion, customs, institutions and the subjective self-identification of people as the major elements of culture.

We can infer from the above definitions and descriptions that culture as a subject matter is not that straightforward to tackle. However, it is also evident that there are a lot of commonalities in the definitions and opinions as shared by some of these writers. The sort of core elements some of them mentioned was quite similar and kept appearing in each other’s work. In this research work, we define culture simply as the implicit force that prompt individuals to behave in a certain rational manner (action). These implicit forces are the set of values imbued in the individual by learning. Defined this way, we can appreciate that culture does not only affect social norm but also economic activities like the propensity to consume and save, fertility choices, investment in education among other economic variables. These implicit force(s) are open to changes from time to time. We view this definition to be synonymous to the ones given by Max Weber, A.L Kroeber and Clyde Kluchohn and Lawrence Harrison.

Invariably, the complex and vast nature of culture as a concept involves a lot of elements which makes it too general to be captured by a single traits, idea or object. Thus when one intends to examine the role of culture on economic growth, one has to look for a proxy for culture. Previous studies to infer economic growth from culture have relied on [9] historical evidence without any quantitative backing. The end results of these studies have been criticized on the basis of its subjectiveness. We seek to use a cultural proxy that can be tested and validated to give a particular outcome.

3.2 AGGREGATION OF CULTURAL TRAITS

In aggregating the various cultural traits to form an index as described and defined by the various writers above, we sought to rely on the definition by [10] Max Weber (1978). Weber defined culture on the basis of rationality or action. Weber defines “action” as behavior invested with an individual’s subjective meaning and culture is “a segment on which human beings confer meaning and significance”-we can conclude that culture, in its very nature, is reflected in people’s action. All individual action may be oriented in four ways: instrumentally rational, value-rational, affective (especially emotional) and traditional rationality. [11] Our task hereafter is to identify the various traits as it’s related to the level of action or rationality mentioned.

3.2.1 Traditional Rationality

Traditional rationality or behavior is determined by long standing habits. They are actions which are carried out due to tradition, because they are always carried out in such a situation. An example would be putting on clothes or relaxing on Sundays. Some traditional actions can become cultural artifacts. It is expressed in terms of social rules, with violations interpretable as cheating – as defections from cooperative norms. If you want me to accept a belief from you, you are obligated to provide me with a certain amount of evidence. Traditional Rationality is phrased similarly to the customs that govern human societies, which makes it easy to pass on by word of mouth. Humans detect social cheating with much greater reliability than isomorphic violations of abstract logical rules. But viewing rationality as a social obligation gives rise to some strange ideas.

Here, we try to identify in our responses traits that fall under [12] TR. Possibly, as inferred from its definition above, our focus would be on democracy, belief, religion, obedience, respect, trust, faithfulness, thrift, hard work and leisure. Collecting a set of these traits would help us to come out with TR index.

3.2.2 Affective Rationality

Affective Rationality is strongly associated with strong feelings (emotional) for something. Emotions are an integral part of being human; we all express them and they shape the character and contents of our lived experiences. Emotion is functionally integrated alongside cognition in how we reason. Specific traits that relates to [13] AR include care, tactfulness, love, patriotism, religion, peace, revenge, loyalty, and confidence. Those actions are taken due to one’s emotions, to express personal feelings. For example, cheering after a victory, crying at a funeral would be emotional actions.

3.2.3 Value-Rationality

Value rationality is determined by a conscious belief in the intrinsic value of acting in a certain way. Value-rational action, wert rational is a social action which is taken because it leads to a valued goal, but with no thought of its consequences and often without consideration of the appropriateness of the means chosen to achieve it (‘the end sanctifies the means’). Specific traits that relates to [14] VR include hard work, confidence, frugality, generosity, grandeur and determination.

3.2.4 Instrumental Rationality

Instrumental rationality is determined by a consciously calculating attempt to achieve desired ends with appropriate means. This is direct opposite to VR. It is pursued after evaluating its consequences and consideration of the various means to achieve it. They are usually planned and taken after considering costs and consequences. Specific traits that fall under [15] IR are hard work, tactfulness, confidence, speech, thrift, discipline, commitment, worldly achievement.

CHAPTER FOUR
METHODOLOGY, MODEL SPECIFICATION AND DATA DESCRIPTION

4. INTRODUCTION

Chapter four introduces us to the methodology and model we employed. This section also exposes us to the fundament Cobb Douglas function and the extension of this function by Mankiw, Romer and Weil. The 29 countries involved in the research work are also introduced in this chapter. We also explain how we derived our cultural traits from the data collected. The build-up of all this brings us to our own model, the Solow augmented exogenous growth model.

4.1 METHODOLOGY AND MODEL SPECIFICATION

To account for the contribution of factor accumulation and measure the impact of the different factors in the economic growth, this paper employs the input-output data model. Capital from other forms of physical capital and human capital inputs and some cultural traits that produce output in the form of real GDP.

For this purpose, the model taken is the original Robert Solow (1956) model of exogenous growth with technological progress. The centerpiece of the standard neoclassical growth model developed by Solow is an aggregate production function of the form:

Yt = KI± t (At Lt) 1-I± 0Where Y is output, K is capital, L is labor and A an index of technology o

This research paper provides insights into the Political Organization, Gender Relations, and Beliefs and Values of the agrarian state and cultural practices of the Nayar people of southwestern India. By understanding the Nayar culture, people may better understand and appreciate cultural differences between the Nayar culture and that of their own.

In the essay, “Some Aspects of Nayar Life” Panikkar (1918) states, “The Nayars are at present an essentially agricultural population. The vast majority of them are peasant proprietors owning small farms. Rice and coco-nuts are the chief things cultivated, though in North Malabar pepper and card oman have also their share” (p.285).

It should also be noted that “states are much more complex and stratified than chiefdoms, so it is not feasible to rely solely on kinship as a recruitment method. In state systems, land ownership and occupation are at least as important as kinship as a system of organization; the state itself becomes a key institution of organization.” (Nowak, et al., 2010, ch.7.8, n. p.).

Of particular interest is the fact that the Nayar as with other caste societies, marry within their own caste. While this similarity with other endogamous societies helps to preserve the class of people, the Nayar marriage practices vary considerably from other agrarian states and caste for which I explain later.

Political Organization

The political system among the Nayar people has as with most cultures that have been the target of colonialism and capitalism, seen considerable change over last several hundred years. Much of the former kinship, matrilineal and political structures and systems of the Nayar culture have all but vanished. Kathleen Gough (1952), stated that “Later in the nineteenth century, more deep-rooted economic changes took place, and these have increased in momentum until all the traditional groupings of caste, village and lineage are dis-integrating” (p. 79).

The political and economic influence during the later part of 19th century by the British probably had the most notable impact on the Nayar people. European military forces and government structures as well as the introduction of machines played a significant role in the changing political and economic structures and systems as well as building of permanent roads and railroads.

The introduction of new trading opportunities, realignment of jobs, tighter controls to ensure peace, increased use of monetary currency, and broader reaching governmental jurisdiction across caste and villages played a vital role in redesigning the Nayar culture and politics as well.

Evidence of this breaking down of prior systems has been described as “The expansion of trade, the introduction of new technological devices, and the opening up of new occupations, produce new economic classes between which there is mobility, and which to some extent cut across the affiliations and ranking of caste. ” (Gough, 1952, p. 81). Through the elimination of caste ranking, socioeconomic and sociopolitical class rankings no longer limit Nayar people from changing class levels and limits have become more aligned with performance and education.

With the introduction of formal government, monetary systems, increased import and export as well as technological advances, the former Nayar methods of controlling the distribution of wealth, food and other trade labor as well as class distinctions have resulted in a more capitalistic society. Along with these changes, the Nayar people are increasingly integrating practices common in more advanced capitalistic and socialistic society forms of government, business, and family relationships.

Gender Relations

Anthropologists studying the Nayar society of southwestern India continue to struggle with defining certain aspects of gender relations in a western context. One such area of significant interest and difficulty is in contrasting Nayar marriage with marriage in western society and terms. While marriage may be seen by many as a cultural universal even in consideration of variations such as polygamy, the Nayar marriage purpose and experience is quite different from marriages in most other societies. Perhaps, such significant differences would be more understandable if a different term other than marriage was used to represent Nayar marriage.

One example of the differences in Nayar marriages as stated by Miriam Koktvedgaard (2008) was that “The Nayar of India practiced a form of non-fraternal polyandry in which several men were simultaneously the ‘husbands’ of one wife. Usually only the first husband underwent a ritual marriage with the woman before she entered puberty” (p.11). This cultural practice appears to be an extraordinary characteristic of the Nayar unlike most other marriage constructs. Not so much perhaps as a woman having multiple simultaneous husbands although rare, but having ritual marriages with a woman that has not reached puberty.

In order to further elaborate on the marriage of girls that have not yet reach puberty, I should explain that “Before a girl reaches puberty, a Nayar girl is married to a man as a rite of passage. The man she marries has no rights to the girl, and she has no obligation to him. When she is older, the girl is allowed to enter into other marriages and have children with those husbands.” (Nowak, et al., 2010, ch 7.8, n.p.)

Anthropologist suspect that by maintain a loosely committed marriage relationship with both men and women being sexually active with other mates or spouses, it allows men to stay away for long periods of time with little affect on the family system.

Another characteristic of the Nayar gender relationship was with regard to the definition of the domestic unit or nuclear family in that “The central Nayar domestic unit consisted of a mother, her daughters and their children; husbands and wife did not set up house together” (Koktvedgaard, 2008, p. 11).

While for some it may be difficult to show proper respect for the differences in marriage practices and to fully comprehend how the standard definition of a domestic unit that does not include a husband or father could exist, these are important distinctions remain.

Interactions by an outsider with beliefs that differ from Nayar gender relations and beliefs could easily produce criticisms or a sense of condemnation which could quickly derail otherwise honest attempts at gaining progress or cooperation. It has been recognized however that the influence of British colonization and the exposing of criticisms and by force that the matrilineal change to patrilineal form of family organization has been made.

Beliefs and Values

Over thousands of years of considerable influence by mainstream religious faith denominations such as Christianity, Judaism, and Hinduism, the Nayar have been substantially un-phased in adopting one of the recognized religions.

Evidence of the lack of adoption of a primary religion by the Nayar is stated as “Nothing shows so much the extreme persistence of primitive culture, even in the face of higher civilising agencies, than the wide and almost universal acceptance of spirit-worship, and the almost entire absence of religious life among the Nayars after at least twenty centuries of contact with Hinduism ” Panikkar, (1918), p.277.

While the Nayar do use Hindu temples for worship and ceremonies, the nature of these particular practices are not recognized under any Hindu creed or other religion for that matter. The Nayar belief in magic and spirit worship continues although they are recognized leaders in literature and music within their culture and subsequently would not be considered uncivilized.

Another characteristic of the Nayar people is where they fit within a caste society. “A caste is an endogamous social grouping into which a person is born and within which a person remains throughout his or her lifetime. It is an ascribed position.” (Nowak, et al., 2010, ch 7.8, n.p.). Within these groupings, marriages and other interactions which were tightly controlled even forbid physical touch across caste. With the capitalistic evolution and exposure to western culture, the adherence too many of the cross-caste practices continue to see change.

The impact on discussions or considerations concerning life, business or religion with Nayar people considering both the likely absence of common religious beliefs and belief in magic and spirit worship could be significant. Consider a Christian believer entering into discussion with a Nayar community by condemning Nayar core religious beliefs in hopes of collecting contributions for acquiring land for a new church. In this example, it is unlikely this approach would succeed given criticism of beliefs as a basis for support.

If religious beliefs vary as significantly as I have described, what is valued is also in conflict. These differences would then become obstacles in coming together towards common goals if not taken into consideration prior to presenting a position introducing mutually beneficial outcomes in which both parties increase items or results of value.

Conclusion

The Nayar depended largely on rice for food and to a lesser extent vegetables, fish, and poultry. The formation and growth of families was largely relative to the amount of land they owned and the class of house. The ownership or family structure that developed as a result was more of a community or corporate type of ownership model which was significantly linked to the women and her side of the family in years past.

The Nayar are heavily involved in politics and other forms of industrialized production observable by the number of local printing businesses while continuing their tradition of agriculture. In many ways, the Nayar people and culture has adopted many aspects of American and European culture.

By gaining a better understanding of the Nayar political organizations, gender relations, and beliefs and values, people from other cultures will better understand and appreciate the cultural differences. This enhanced awareness will be beneficial in helping to offer solutions to problems in government, business growth, housing, and as other forms of industry are introduced or sought out.

New ways of thinking can often illuminate new ideas that would not come to light using our conventional and most natural modes of reasoning. We can be stretched in dynamic ways by altering our methods or approaches to our thinking. Several methods of thinking include exploration of the unconscious, symbolic systems, radical Synthesis, hermeneutic analysis, among others. For me, the hermeneutic form of thinking has the most unsettling effect upon my mind. A hermeneutic approach has experience a revival in recent times in the wake of influential thinkers such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, and others. These hold a significant place in the present intellectual climate in the Western world. For this essay, I decided to use a hermeneutic approach to analyze a particular cultural phenomenon. Cultural phenomena are of vital importance for study since they represent aspects of human nature (en masse) that are impossible to extrapolate independently. Not only are they interesting to study, but they maintain continual interest for elites and common people alike. It is not a stretch to state that these phenomena successfully capture the population’s imagination. In this particular essay, I will look at the cultural phenomena of the celebrity using hermeneutic analysis. The hermeneutical way of thinking, in this case, won’t apply to a given text but rather to the social phenomenon of “celebritydom”. By thinking about social phenomena in a hermeneutical way, one can look at a subject that rarely gets such scrutiny and hopefully begin to find understanding as to why our societies are so enthralled by the celebrity narrative. The development of a new form of “celebritydom” can be understood in a new way by understanding the context, audience, media sources, and other hermeneutical factors. First of all, we will begin to think about the context of celebrities in the past.

There has most obviously been a shift in Western Society in the development of the celebrity. It has not been an overnight shift by any means, but it has been significant. The most outstanding example of recent changes in the nature of celebrity is the professional celebrity—a celebrity with little reason to be revered or famous. The prime example would be the infamous Paris Hilton. Although a notable heiress to her parent’s fortune, she has become a celebrity in her own right through self-promotion. There are countless heirs to various fortunes that will never be known. This kind of character, however, is unprecedented, even in the 20^th century. Most celebrities came into being through some sort of accomplishment, i.e. film, music, politics, sports, etc. Or, they became celebrities by association, such as royalty. The amount of coverage allotted to celebrity-esque storylines has grown exponentially. Entire television channels are devoted to the ceaseless coverage of celebrity’s lives. A whole subclass of photography has developed in the “paparazzi,” known for being the epitome of the dog-eat-dog line of work. Not to mention the countless “tabloids” that line the newsstands. These are some of the basic contextual factors that surround the modern celebrity phenomenon.

Another factor for thinking about this social phenomenon is the audience. The audience for the development of new celebrities that must be analyzed if one is to use a hermeneutical strategy. The audience for much of celebrity press and concern has largely not changed in type, but likely has changes in how broad the appeal is. It would have been impossible to imagine that Clark Gable’s personal life would have been known or a concern for Middle East youth fifty years ago. Today, however, in all corners of the world they not only know the names of key celebrities but also their storylines of gossip. I remember being asked in a remote village in Albania about the future of “J-Lo” and Ben Affleck’s relationship if they got married. Obviously this change has a lot to do with the digital revolution—opening up a large part of the world to a previously unknown celebrity world. It also betrays the fact that the same phenomenon is at work in these non-Western countries as is here in the West.

Knowledge and a pursuit of information about Western celebrities could also reveal an admiration of the culture of celebrities by the non-West, but often times these elements remain even in countries predisposed to hate the west. Although many citizens of these said countries likely separate the politics and the culture of the West, a large majority still do not. There is an effect of “can’t help but look” type psychology in regards to coverage of celebrities. Just like in the West, many in these societies likely think the coverage is superfluous and or wrong. Although a judgment has been made concerning the validity and morality of celebrity coverage many remain to have a working knowledge of the ins and outs of Hollywood love life. These ‘stories’ seem to do something for us en masse.

Using further hermeneutical strategies, we will now turn to the sources for the coverage of celebrity gossip and the like. If one is to exit the supermarket on a given day he or she is given the opportunity to be swiftly educated in celebritydom. The print media is a key source of information on celebrities. This seems to be chiefly centered on magazines; the newspaper medium seems to inadequately address the goals of celebrity coverage. The magazine provides the opportunity for vivid pictures, small pithy commentary, and quick entertainment. It is glitzy, stylish, and most of all fast. Whereas one may need to have some backround in Middle Eastern politics in order to find parts of the newspaper engaging, the celebrity magazine can bring the glamour and scandal of the celebrity phenomenon with little or no education. The celebrity magazine is an odd mix of “posed” shots of red carpet entries into various galas, possibly a celebrity interview/photo shoot, and scandalizing pictures kindly provided by the paparazzi. This seems to be a winning combination of glamour, personal interest, and scandal.

The second main conduit for the celebrity phenomenon is the television medium. As mentioned before, “E!” is an entire channel devoted to the coverage of celebrity life. This is not to mention the countless celebrity news shows, and their subsequent spoofs. Celebrity news shows use a similar format compared to that of their magazine cousins. The show usually features some sort of personal interaction with a celebrity, praising the glamour or character of a particular celebrity, and (of course) the mandatory scandal. These shows have produced celebrities in their own right out of the mere reporting on celebrities. The prime example is Ryan Seacrest. Seacrest is the epitome of the ultimate host, having hosted the top twenty for years on a radio station in Los Angeles, been an E! “anchor,” and most famously the host of American Idol. Seacrest has become a celebrity by merely reporting on celebrities. Both media types—that of magazine and t.v.—have worked in conjunction. One reports on the other and vice versa. One makes the other.

Using a hermeneutical strategy to look at the social phenomenon of the celebrity has brought to light several profound new ideas for me. The first is what celebrity coverage does for us. I have come to the conclusion at various times that humans have at all times needed a common narrative in their social relationships. In days gone by, this narrative could be sustained by regional parochial concerns. A village would find a bond in the fact that their story was shared, they lived close to one another, married into each other’s families, etc. The gossip and glory of a small town would sustain its people. Yet, as society has diversified, fragmented, pluralized, etc. it has lost that local connection that is vital for human connection. At the most basic social level, we need something to talk about—a common ground. Human connection is essential for the flourishing of human life. Celebrity coverage, professional sports, and other modern social phenomena seek to fill that void. In a time when we increasingly find our human contact in less connected or natural ways, such coverage give us a cultural common ground. We can gripe about the fortunes of Liverpool or quip about the Beckham family to absolute strangers and they will likely be able to track with our line of thought. Celebrity narratives give us a common ground for humor, social reflection, and allusions. In order to have fulfilling communication we must have some sort of shared story, even if these stories are plastic in nature. Our society has inevitably become more diverse, global, and connected. This has inevitably lead to an erosion of parochial concerns, and pushed us to socially evolve in order to maintain human connection. We have found common social narrative in the celebrity. Their story has become a common story for us. Their divorces, their cheating, their success, their money, etc., have all become a commentary about our own lives. This line of thought leads me to an additional hermeneutic conclusion concerning celebrity coverage and its reflective nature.

We are not interested in celebrities just because they happen to be successful but because they are reflective. Celebrities embody our hopes and dreams, fears and pitfalls, and desire for detachedness. The populace not only celebrates celebrity success, but also celebrates celebrity failure. There is a lust for failure as much as there is for success in the interest in these lives. It is interesting to note that the most famous celebrities are those where there are equal portions success and failure. This is important. Without adjoining failure these celebrities fail to capture people’s imagination. Too much success and too much failure both trigger a lose of interest in the given celebrity. Celebrities find themselves in a proverbial catch-22, trying to allow promotion while not being raked through the coals. The most successful in this respect have allowed both. The reality about celebrity coverage is that we are not interested because these people are necessarily glamorous (there are a lot of unknown glamorous people to be found). We are interested because celebrities create for us a narrative for self reflection and self understanding.

Having used hermeneutical techniques such as analyzing the context, audience, media sources, etc., I have come to some interesting new ideas and understanding about a key phenomenon in our society—the celebrity. In previous times, I have been rather perplexed as to why we care so much about these lives. Yet after thinking about the topic using hermeneutical analysis, I have come to several profound reasons as to why this is so.

A cultural myth is a traditional story that has a meaning attached to it. These myths have an effect in they way people lead their lives and even how they interact with each other. It is notable that myths have a role to play be it personally, or to the wider society. In as much as one may believe or doubt such myths, they still continue to exist in different ways, and are shaping destinies of many. Myths can be full of truth or falsehood and depend on the interpretation a person may prefer. Many societies and races in the world have diverse myths which may encourage or discourage certain patterns of behavior. Rituals and customs are explained in myths and their merits or demerits laid down for everyone to discern.

The Greek mythology (Detienne, 18) is most notable especially in the way they exhort ancestors to be like gods. Myths came before science and this makes it impossible to discredit them. Long time ago, people depended on myths to explain the mysteries of creation and they accepted them with a lot of zeal. Many other questions were answered including the origin of man and his eventual destiny after death. Evil is also brought under the scrutiny of myths and they expound its cause and reason for its existence. The rise of modern civilization can too be traced in myths ranging from agriculture to industry to settled life in cities.

The modern world has continued to embrace myths in one way or another. Modern technology has given rise to much development in mass media which in turn has enabled many myths from different parts of the world to be collected together for study. Books have been printed and availed to anybody with interest to read and either agree or disagree with the subject. From an individual to a community, some cultural myths seem worthy in the sense that they encourage or uplift the spirit (Wessels, 92). Others may not necessarily be so and may seem unrealistic especially if they are prejudicial or implying immorality.

Happily Ever After; the American society as any other society has not been left behind in embracing myths. Many of them believe that happiness can be sought and achieved despite the hardship one may go through. Happiness is attributed to material possessions whereby those who do not have ample material wealth are considered unhappy. The ideology of possessions can be traced through ancient myths some of which are still followed today. Hard work is associated to prosperity and lack of it therefore leads to a lowly life.

Studies have shown that happiness is not related to material or money possessions (Veenhoven, 5). The old notion which led many people to acquire as much as they could has been proven false. Traditionalists believed that it is out of what you possess that gives you the feeling of happiness. People then would strive so much in order to have money so that they may live the rest of their lives happily. In did not matter the means or the extent to which this was sought as long as one could proudly claim he had money. Americans forgot that happiness is never permanent and mostly is derived from being comfortable with what one has, however little.

Obsession with possessions created greed in American people which can never be satisfied. Someone even came up with a term “National Happiness”, a system that oversaw people overlook other important issues in order to acquire happiness. Ironically, this myth has wrought greed, selfishness and immorality in the Americans (Alesina & Tella, 3).

The Nuclear Family has been a basis upon which nations are built. The nuclear family is composed of a father, mother and their children. This family set up has been criticized for a very long time due to its lack of universality, essence and modernity (Chester, 111). Industrialization brought out the need to move away to work places and obviously the nuclear family was affected. When the heads of the family began moving to far away places in search of job, there remained a question as to whether those left should still be considered as a nuclear family.

The myth that every nuclear family should cater for itself has contributed negatively in its essence. Most Americans may prefer to be in such families in contrast that whole societies need to live together and cater for each other. Another aspect which makes the nuclear family fail is failure of it being universal. Since other societies in the world have extended families, the notion in Americans mind that only the nuclear family is perfect could be wrong. This is another cultural myth that has pulled back the Americans in their pursuits and has isolated them.

The western culture took the nuclear family as a symbol and went ahead to portray it in art and media. But statistics show that there has been a decline in the number of nuclear families in the America over the past few years. Divorces and remarriages are common and therefore the true definition of a nuclear family has eroded. This goes on to show that the ideal nuclear family that was projected was just another cultural myth which has no place in modern society. It becomes a myth in the sense that sometimes ago; departure from this family set up was seen as immoral and unhealthy by many Americans (Uzoka, 34).

Most Americans have shunned the extended family setup which encouraged communal responsibility, and have upheld nuclear families which promote individualism. The extended family comprises of the nuclear family and the relatives. This type of family is mostly concerned with building relationships which in turn play a role in the wide community. It is only when people begin to care for each other, the immediate community benefits as well as the whole country. It is therefore important that the Americans embrace extended family and break from their cultural myth of nuclear families.

Racial Stereotyping

There have always been contentious issues in regard to racial conflict existing between the whites and the blacks in America. The problem can be traced in the colonial times whereby black slavery was a norm. Blacks then were considered superstitious and primitive. Such a myth has seen them being oppressed for so many years that even now there exists a small percentage of whites who regard them so. They have also been associated with every negative aspect in society from crime, violence and laziness.

An important fact to note is that, were it not for a tradition of viewing black negatively, they too are human and have all the abilities as white have. The cultural myths have engineered a trend that is difficult to deal with in modern society. Some instances where these myths have brought about are cases where people are discriminated according to their skin color. They are denied jobs and other government services just because of their skin color. A recent case during Hurricane Katrina where the government failed to act speedily is a case study for this. It attests to the fact that cultural myths still have a place in the modern society; albeit the American society ought to shun this evil (Palmer, 75).

Americans have stereotyped many other races. The, Americans have stereotyped many other races and the most affected are the African-Americans. African -American simplification of individuals’ behavior is the African-American Stereotyping. They came about into the American culture from the period of colonial settlement, specifically after the collapse of Slave Trade. The minstrel of the earlier blackface illustrates blacks as ignorant, superstitious as well as naA?ve in addition to been joyous which are the same characteristics which were associated with the slaves. Additionally the African-American have been stereotyped as a race which consists of people who are only good at sports. The act of stereotyping has got to its peak in the media through movies in addition to television. The media has contributed in passing negative information regarding the lifestyle of African-American to the young people. Certain shows aired on the T.V channels demonstrate the false personalities about the African Americans. To make the matters worse, there is a specific video game which has been developed whose main character is an African American who plays only the role of killing, robbing alongside having sexual relations with persons. This indicates an example through which the media has been involved in stereotyping. It is because of these cultural myths that have behaved in negative ways towards each other. They have refused to move away from such myths ignoring the fact that such cause hatred amongst each other.

Mark Twain analyses myths in a perfect way by showing in the characters the effect myths can have on people. The main themes of past, slavery, chivalry are expressed well in the book. Self-destruction and or preservation are another aspect that is brought about by the book.

Hank Morgan is a prisoner who has traveled back in time to the sixth century and is sentenced to death before Arthur’s court because of his strange dress and appearance. Before the execution is carried out, he is able to buy his freedom by convincing the Arthur that he is a magician. He relies on knowledge that a sun eclipse will take place before he is executed and he convinces the King that he is the cause of it. Hank is given the highest title in the land and he does not fail to ridicule the people who fear him.

Morgan sooner learns about superstitions embraced by the natives and he capitalizes on his superior knowledge to outdo them. Through the magician Merlin, Hank is later discovered as a fake and people start to spread rumor about him. Using his wit he is able to outsmart Merlin again by “calling fire from above”. Hank uses his influence to bring about industrialization to that country and also set up schools.

She becomes familiar with the territory he begins to understand the people and their way of life, which are still much in superstitions and myths, and even befriends a girl named Sandy. Hank outsmarts Merlin again in rebuilding a broken water fountain and thus retains power and respect. He convinces all present on his ability to summon the demons. Morgan has a way with the native’s lives and together with the king he continues the hold of power.

Sandy gives birth to a baby with Hank and upon the child’s illness he is lured to leave the country thus leaving a gap in the country’s leadership. The King and Lancelot fight over Guinevere infidelity. The church provokes a revolt over Hank the people start a war. The story ends with the present day where Hank is found dreaming about his lover, Sandy, almost a millennium later. It is argued by some people that the book is an attack on American’s values which include materialism and technology. American sentimentalism about the past is also criticized (Twain & Thompson).

In conclusion myths, however good they might be still remain myths. In the modern society, we should be keen to understand the truths about life and work together towards a common goal. The real goal in our cultural diversity should be to see everybody gets food, clothing and shelter and that they can fit in every situation.

Twain in his book looks in the effect myths have on our culture and day to day live. The mythic Arthur is associated with the past in contrast with Hank who symbolizes the present. The church is also brought into perspective and is seen as an evil and an enemy which conspires with political figures to oppress people. Slavery as another social menace should also be done away with. Slavery was embraced by many people in the past since they saw in it a way to get cheap labor and monetary gain. It becomes a cultural myth that Americans now should abolish.

Magic is contrasted with reality in form of industrialization. People in the past relied on magic to achieve their needs but the book shows that such a myth can be done away with through use of technology. Industrialization should be a factor in civilization rather the magic of yesteryears. Many more achievements can be found by training people since human nature allows it. Training determines the behavior of a society unlike when people rely on myths. They are then able to differentiate between what is right and wrong (Umland & Umland 25).

Besides stereotyping being hurtful, it is wrong as well. Even though the stereotype can be correct in some occasions; relentlessly putting an individual down on the basis of predetermined perceptions cannot assist in motivating one to succeed. Stereotyping only gears people to lead lifestyles of hatred and in some situations stereotypes victims live in fear.

It should be noted that all these myths have had a place in American society and some have tarnished its name. Americans should therefore move away from negative cultural myths, as discussed above, in order to continue as a nation. Above all, all other nations look towards America for guidance and support.