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Most modern neoclassical economists have ignored the important role played by culture in explaining fluctuations in economic behaviour, hence, they were more concerned about economic variable such prices, output, interest rate etc. However, culture (values, norms, believes and religions) have a profound influence on economic behaviour (Hogeland 2003:2). In contrast those interested in the matter, consider that culture explain differences in economic outcomes however, they face challenges of finding a credible technique to show that the influence of culture can be separated from institutions and economic variables (Tabellini 2007).

In the recent two decades economists became seriously concerned about the effects of culture on economic behaviour and found that culture (religious beliefs, values and preferences) has a significant positive relationship to economic growth. However, the economists find it difficult to explain because they are mainly concerned about economic measurements and because of the broad complexity of culture that makes it difficult to measure and test. Therefore, to overcome the situation variables that include normative values (beliefs, religious, ethnicity, etc) were included in the model as proxy variables. The results suggest that causality between culture and economics is likely to go two way directions, that is, culture may influence economic behaviour and economic behaviour may also affect the culture (Qin, Shuhao, Heerink, & Futian 2008).

In common sense or stylized facts also suggest that culture indeed influence economics behaviour. Thus, government policy toward economic growth may be successful or a failure in different geographical areas dues due individual behaviours influenced by cultural backgrounds.

Therefore, if we can not test the role of culture in economics we cannot assure its implications on economic behaviour (Greif 1994). However, in recent years better techniques have been put in place to identify systematic differences in individual values, beliefs and preferences. These new techniques are now able to measure and test the influence of culture on economics behaviour.

This paper examines the effects of culture on economic behaviour by using proxy variables of culture such as trust, respect, self determination and religious beliefs. The paper will try to answer the question “does culture influence economic behaviour?” To answering this question the paper will provide some theoretical back ground including: definitions of terms in section two, section three discuss empirical evidence, relationship between culture and institutions etc….

Definition of terms

The definition of culture is very broad and complex. However, according to Tabellini (2007) culture is defined as “individual values and convictions about the scope of application of norms of good conduct, is an important channel through which distant political history influences the functioning of current institutions”. Similarly, Qin, Shuhao, Heerink, and Futian (2008) define culture as “customary beliefs and values that ethnic, religious, and social groups transmit fairly unchanged from generation to generation. In other words, culture is a system of shared beliefs, values, customs, behaviour, and artefacts that the members of a society use to cope with their world and with one another, and that are transmitted from generation to generation through learning”. However, culture that is inherited by an individual from previous generations rather than voluntarily accumulated, such as religion and ethnic background, can largely be treated as exogenous for that individual’s life.’

A Religion is defined by Nath (2007) as “a set of common beliefs and practices generally held by a group of people, often codified as prayer, ritual, and religious law. Religion also encompasses ancestral worshiping or cultural traditions, writings, history, and mythology, as well as personal faith and mystic experience”.

However in this paper culture will be referred as the customary beliefs and values that ethnic, religious, and social groups transmit fairly unchanged from generation to generation.

Historical Perspectives on Economics and Culture

The debate on culture as influencing economic behaviour started with the classical economist such as Adam Smith and John Mill who used culture to explaining economic phenomena. The former in the Theory of Moral Sentiment advocated that culture is an important factor in explaining the Wealth of Nations and the later regarded cultural behaviour as more important than the pursuit of personal interest. In contrast Karl Marx advocated that the technology changes determine the kind of structure dominant in the culture. That is “the hand mill produces feudal society and steam mill produces capitalism (Marx 1859). Moreover, Weber (1905) regarded religions as a key factor for economic development. He defended that protestant religious taught that the creation of wealth should be regarded as a duty. Weber also recognized that culture plays an important role in influencing in pursuing wealth through production and establishment of markets.

Other researchers’ non economists such as Hirschman (1967) also found a link between culture and economics, and culture causes differences in economic output within and across countries. Banfield (1958) suggests that culture is reason for underdevelopment in Southern Italy, that is, the pursuit of narrow self interest by the population contributes to underdevelopment of the region. Consequently the Italian government imposed identical forms of governance within the country, however, the areas with poor government intervention continued to perform poorly.

In the late 1990s and early 2000s neoclassical economist went beyond the formal institutions into informal ones and started considering explicitly culture as a key factor to explaining economic phenomena. Therefore, Fukuyama (1996), Landes (1998) and Guiso, Sapienza & Zingales (2006) emphasized the link between culture and economic outcomes. In their studied they found that cultural factors such as honesty, trust, tenacity and tolerance drive to success of countries economies.

Empirical evidence

Studies conducted by Guiso, Sapienza & Zingales (2005) found that beliefs and religious are highly correlated to trust, thus, when it is associated with savings, taxation or trade it turnout to impact positively the economic outputs. Similarly, Tabellini (2007) studied the effects of culture on economic development in Europe and found that religious values and beliefs have a significant impact on economic success.

Weber advocated that culture have a significant influence on economic performance. He further argued that protestant religious contributes greatly to the capitalist accumulation. Likewise, Landes (1998) and Putnam (2000) found that culture (beliefs and values) explain the differences in economic performance across countries. However the later put more emphases in the role played by social capital (trust) in stimulating trade and government efficiency.

Carroll, Rhee, and Rhee (1994), studied the effects of emigrant culture on savings in Canada and fund that culture affects savings behaviour. Barro & Mc Cleary (2003), Tabelline (2009) studied the effects of culture on economic growth. The former stressed more on the degree of religiosity by capturing the church attendance and religious beliefs in hell and heaven, they found that the magnitude of church attendance and the degree of religious beliefs explain significantly the differences in growth performance across countries. Thus, the religious belief matter to explaining growth. The later, emphasised on the degree of trust across European countries and found that regional variation on trust explain differences in growth rate. Algan & Cahuc (2007) demonstrated that cultural behaviour toward families has an impact on employment patterns of different regions in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries. They also show that civic culture and ethnicity has an influence on the structure of the labour market institutions including employment benefits and protection.

Relationship between culture and economics behaviour

In general most of the studies done on culture and economics found a relationship between culture and economics, however, they confronts with the problem of causality since it is likely to go in both directions. According to Becker (1996:16) “Individuals have less control over their culture than over other social capital. They cannot alter their ethnicity, race or family history, and only with difficulty can they change their country or religion. Because of the difficulty of changing culture and its low depreciation rate, culture is largely a ‘given’ to individuals throughout their lifetimes.” likewise, religious practices respond slowly to economic conditions (Botticini & Eckstein 2005).

Culture affects economic behaviour in different ways, however, this paper will focus on production, institutions.

Culture and Production

Norms and values of groups or individuals varies significantly not only within or across cultures but also within regions, industries or sectors, that is, countries can be more open to trade or be more flexible in decision making than others, and can also allow external influence. Firms may have more or less hierarchical structure than others, for example the British economy had a decline in the growth rate in 20th century due to the fact that the middle an upper class values did not consider practical education and technological innovation (Fernandez 2006).

In Latin America, the population was characterised as having the “culture of poverty”, thus, the poverty was not a result of structural economic problems but caused by social beliefs that dominated the groups, they would prefer not to engage into economic activities (Barro & Mc Cleary (2003). Similar cases occur in some areas Mozambique where although the population grow and hundreds of cows and goats they would prefer not to eat or even sell due to cultural beliefs. Other studies focussed on studying how culture of elite are as compared to poor and found that some elites would prefer leisure to investment thus, impacting economic outcomes.

Culture and Institutions

Studied found that social capital or culture affect the way institutions in different countries are set and managed that is institutions are dependent on the problem faced by each societal groups including cultural beliefs and preferences, individualists or collectivists (Greif 1994) . For example in post war Japan and Korea engaged into industrial policy to encourage economic growth whereas adopted economic planning bureaucracy, however this kind of institutions are not inclusive to the entire populations and is vulnerable to promote rent seeking. Similarly, institutions set in Latin America and Africa were also not effective compared to the North America counterparts. However, empirical results suggest that causality effect is likely to go in both directions. That is culture affects institutions and institutions also affects the evolution of the culture (Fernandez, 2006).

Conceptual Link of Culture to Growth Performance

Hypothesis 0: Culture impacts on economic behaviour of societies with high degrees of trust, respect, and self-determination.

Hypothesis 1: Culture has no impact on economic behaviour of societies with low degrees of trust, respect, and self-determination.

The above definite of culture (section 3) helps in understanding how would culture affect economic outcomes. According to Porter (2000:14) economic culture are “the beliefs, attitudes, and values that bear on economic activities of individuals, organizations, and other institutions”. Therefore, the variables that compose the culture (trust, respect, self determination and religion) can constrain the economic behaviour and function as rules governing the interaction between individuals, employment, market operations.

Trust

Trust influences economic performance in different ways. According to Boettke (2009: 437), Knack & Zak, (2001), trust affects economic outcomes through decrease in transaction cost, thus when an individual is trustworthy he reduces the monitoring cost and secures property rights. Moreover, high degrees of trust are consistent with high economic performance and development. In contrast lower degrees of trust would result in lesser trading networks and small market operations caused by the increased monitoring and transaction costs. For example trust is mostly relevant when the transaction involves unknown counterparts (Fukuyama 1996, Francois & Zabojnik 2005).

Using data on relative trust within the European countries Guiso, Sapienza & Zingales (2006) studied the effects of trust for bilateral trust among the European counties and found that, countries that trust each other tend to trade more goods and financial assets as well as engage more in direct investment compared to other countries, thus, impacting in the economic performance of the countries. In summary, under circumstances of good environment (trustworthiness) individual would dedicate their time in economic activities whereas under poor environment (untrustworthiness) individual engage into unproductive activities due to lack of incentives.

Self determination and Respect

Self determination is a measure of control over individual determination of their actions. If individual can control their choices, that is, predict success or failure as a result of own actions, then, they will be more innovative, and would invest and work more hard and carefully for greater returns. Therefore, high degrees of innovation combined with high levels of productivity would lead to high growth performance as well as economic growth (Tabellini 2009, Coyne & Williamson 2009)

Respect, is also an important factor since it measures the morality within individuals and societies. High degrees of respects imply high levels of tolerance and lower level of respect would result in poor interaction within individuals and societies. Therefore, high degrees of tolerances connote acceptable attitudes towards trade partners, thus, boosting and increasing the market and increasing economic performance. In contrast lower tolerance would reduce economic interactions and trade can be hindered (Platteau 2000). Moreover, Coyne & Williamson (2009:13) state that “in societies with lower levels of social capital, and hence lower levels of respect, the extent of the market will be limited to close kin and friendship networks.” Clearly, higher degrees of respect should increases economic outcomes.

Religion

The impact of religious on economic can me measured by the rate of church attendance and the religious belief about afterlife in hell or heaven. Individual who attend churches at regular bases tend to build better economic attitudes (respect and self determination and trustworthiness), thus impacting positively on economic outcomes. Similarly, those groups who believe in heaven and hell also tend to participate effectively in church services so as to build confidence on heaven, thus influencing positively economics outcomes through trust, respect and self determination (Barro and Mitchell 2004).

Weber in his study on the rise of the capitalism found that the industrial capitalism developed rapidly in the protestant Europe and North America. He also fund that Hinduism and Buddhism were promoting asceticism, thus, hindering technical innovation and impeding adaptation of foreign innovation, therefore not promoting economic growth and development of these groups. Similarly, Williamson (2009) asserts, that the failure of India to achieve a successful development rate was due to laws of Hinduism that do not allow individual motivation and commitment to perform secular roles. However, there were some Hindu who did not abide with the rules of the Hinduism and show an inclination to economic activities. These minorities are the ones who boosted the modern Muslim in Indonesia.

Moreover, religion also affects economic behaviour through, honest, work ethics and openness to people. For most religious hard work is a norm and should be done diligently. Additionally, work helps people to stay away from immorality, unproductive activities so that they maximize their time in economic activities. Being unproductive is connoted to evils. That is religion increases economic growth through promotion of positive attitudes towards, trust honest and self determination, and reduction of corruption and criminality (Guiso et al. 2003).

Religions may also impact negatively on economic behaviour through restriction on credit markets, profit, resources accumulation, as well as interest. Some religious may allocated massive time and resources on church activities including the construction of cathedrals, thus, deviating resources from economic activities (McCleary 2008). Similarly Beed and Beed (1999) argue that some fundamental Christian and Islamic terrorists promote violent and intolerant behaviour and civil unrest among Christians and non Christians, which impact negatively on the values and norms of secular economics.

Conclusion

This paper attempts to answer the question “does culture influence economic behaviour? The paper found that yes Culture affects significantly the economic behaviour. Cultural behaviour also shapes the structure of institutions in a country. Culture affects positively economic performance through trust, respect, self determination religious and institutions. However, it faces problems of causality, thus it is likely to go in both directions from culture to economics and from economics to culture.

Trust affects economic behaviour through decrease in transaction cost, thus when an individual is trustworthy he reduces the monitoring cost and secures property rights. Moreover, high degrees of trust are consistent with high economic performance and development. In contrast lower degrees of trust would result in lesser trading networks and small market operations caused by the increased monitoring and transaction costs.

Self determination promotes innovation, investment and hard work and diligence for greater returns. Therefore, high degrees of innovation combined with high levels of productivity would lead to high growth performance as well as economic growth. Moreover, high degrees of respects imply high levels of tolerance and lower level of respect would result in poor interaction within individuals and societies. Therefore, high degrees of tolerances connote acceptable attitudes towards trade partners, thus, boosting and increasing the market and economic performance.

Religious beliefs also have a causal relationship with economic behaviour. It promotes economic growth through teaching of positive attitudes towards productive activities including hard work, trust, respect and self determination and absenteeism from unproductive activities. For example Barro and McCleary found that religious beliefs are important factors to explaining economic behaviour and to a certain extent why some nations develop than others. For example Protestantism in Europe and North American has boosted economic growth in these regions through promotion of capitalism. In contrast other studied found a negative effect of religion on economic. Thus, Beed and Beed found that Hinduism and Islam hindered growth and development of South Asia through promotion of violent behaviour.

Somalia was formed by the union of Italian Somalia and the British Somaliland protectorate, after gained independence in 1960. The main legacy of colonial rule was a centralized system of government which the military, under General Mohammed Siyad Barre, seized in 1969, after nine years of democratic elections and amid accusations of corruption. Barre adopted an anti-tribalism policy of ‘scientific socialism’ advocating popular participation through local councils and worker committees’.. It has been now without a central government after its last president Despot Mohamed S. Barre fled the country in 1991. Following, the fighting among warring groups and clan leaders resulted in the killing, raping, and displacement of the Somali community in whole especially in Mogadishu and Baidoa that led hunger of thousands of persons, which made later on an Intervention led by the United Nations peacekeeper.

Due to, without central administration system for the last four decades, and still the country is under different factional leader, thought there is a so called Somali federal government, but it controls less than 30 percent of the capital of the country and at the sometime, according to UNICEF Reports of 2010 ”indicates that the half of the population of estimated 3.6 Million people lives in a state of humanitarian emergency and over 1.5 million is burdened by violence and instability, extreme poverty, food insecurity due to drought and high prevalence of child protection violations, especially recruitment and use of children and youth in armed conflict as well as other form of sexual violence” .

Surprisingly the regions which called themselves by a state that succeeded from the rest of Somalia, like the Somaliland, have achieved a lot in aspects including political, security and economical development.

Somaliland has achieved many things that are including the recent free and fair election which was historically and that same in took place in 2003, April 14. With the emphasise on Security council report that states ”the presidential election- took place in Somaliland on 14 April 2003. That the three candidates representing three political parties were Somaliland’s incumbent -president, Dahir Riyale Kahin of the allied people’s democratic party (UDUB); Ahmed Muhammed silanyo, a veteran politician of the solidarity party (Kulmiye); and Faysal Ali Warabe, a civil engineer from the diaspora, of the justice and welfare party (UCID). On the 19th April the national electoral commission announced that incumbent ‘president’ Dahir Riyale had won the election by a margin og 80 votes out of almost 500,000 cast. and the recently election took in 26th June 2010 peacefully according the report issued by IRI-International Republican Institute ”Somaliland citizens remain committed to developing democratic institutions and carving out a peaceful, self-sufficient nation in the Horn of Africa. For Somalilanders, the upcoming presidential election is a crucial step in their nation’s democratic development.”. However with this discussion the paper will look deeply in the case Somalia conflict and will it narrow toward the women regardless which situation they are the pre and post conflicts.

The Conflict, Political and Security Impact on Somali women

This paper will focus the political history of Somali conflict, and this was very clear that the fighting had begun in the late 80s was mainly limited to the north. Where then the civil war spreads toward the south and middle regions including the capital of Mogadishu until the fighting engulfed the whole country. Resulted the overthrown of Barre’s regime in January 1991.

Somali was under military regime that has been leading the country from 1969 to 1991, creates a platform of balanced gender in Somalia, ”and number of international conventions were adopted relating to the rights Somali women including the convention of the elimination of all forums to discrimination against women, but none has been signed or ratified”.

Somali women were enjoying at that time their roles as a citizen. Barre’s administration issue law that made both gender to be the same under the law, and give the women same right and opportunity as men do and that led women to became and hold such as the highest ranks in the administration, their ranks were varies from profession to profession such as colonels, pilots, ambassadors and as well as judges.

This paper will argue that gender was equal under the Somali law thought there was a cultural and religion misconceptions within the Somali society that were in place. The emergencies situation discourses in Somalia due to the civil war and famine have created less struggles toward in the long and short-term on human development and the empowerment of women. The prolonged civil war, food insecurity and the Islamic secularism threat have turned into the women more vulnerable to political and economic insecurities than men.

According to the June 2003 report of the Secretary General to the Security Council, which states ”that about 400,000 Somalis are refugees are in the neighboring countries while up to 370,000, are internally displaced have no basic human life support such as water, health and school facilities”. Women and children are made the majority of the internally displaced persons living in camps within the country and as well the neighboring countries.

While this paper argues that women became more stronger than they were, and the reason is that the life without the basic human support are entire critical to the human life to lives and the females faces daily such horrible man-made disaster and that they undergo daily consequential problem, which made them to be very strong and endurable to condition.

Somali women become more productive as their husbands, brother and sons joins the warring militias and being absent in their supporting, and with this reality women have gained greater responsibility in the micro economy in the country. Of course the larger businesses are controlled and run by men, but ”Recognition by women of the necessity of petty trading has also led to some co-operation, including that between women from different clans which will be important in future periods of peace and reconciliation. Women have pooled their resources and strengths, increasing the potential of their livelihood strategies. Women with some education assist illiterate women and groups have established small co-operatives. In many cases women are forced to hire men, often relatives, to protect their stores, sleep in shops and warehouses, activities which are socially precluded for women” (Bennett et al 1995).

Human rights violation and the violence against women

The challenge of civil war can be summarized as follows. Civil war imposes high costs on the warring people, especially the poor countries, and will impose even higher costs on future generation. It effects on education, health and infrastructure of the country, but it is wisely agreed that civil war causes not only destruction and wiping out of a complete generation, but also the impact on the sustainability on human and economy development. The wars are key that creates the human right abuses, violence against human and deeply effected on women and children, and it is therefore, widely known that militias and other gunmen in Somalia rapes women and girls of opposing clans and other vulnerable groups, particularly the internally displaced people such as the minority group of Bantu, Midgan, Tumal, Yibir, Bravanese and also wealthier Benadiri communities and according to a report issued on Wednesday 24 November 2010 ”minorities such as the Bantu and Gaboi suffer even more than the general population in war-torn Somalia, and this recently published news report reveals that, these groups suffer abuses including summary executions, beheadings and rape. This because they are not protected by the traditional powerful clan structure, quoted from the minority right group international. The Mark Lattimer, the group’s executive director, point out that the worst is definitely in south central Somalia, where much of the territory is more controlled by al shebaab, by Islamist militia, there are acute human rights abuses, including a great problem of the curtailment of religious freedom. Many traditional Somali Muslim religious practices are being suppressed by al shebaab. Who follow a very exclusionary ideology; He adds that his group has noted widespread rape as well as executions, torture, forcible displacement and expropriation of land.”, and this is why the ”conflict has led decreased mobility for Somali women due to the threat and fear of rape” .

So that human rights abuses in Somalia are unaccounted for and those who pay the prices are the minority clans especially those who do not have support with strong clan or military strength.

Women who have been raped suffer health issue related during their forced sexual assault. The stigmatization causes that the women cannot contacted or consulted with doctors after they have been raped, unless they have other serious injuries and this is a difficult to conceal by the doctor whether they have raped or not. Regarding to the Human right watch reports in 1994 that ”Somali women who have raped face not only the physical and psychological trauma of rape but also the likelihood of rejection by their families. The strong cultural stigma is attached to rape in Somalia. In numerous cases, families have begged UNHCR officials to take their daughter to another camp after she has been raped because of the stigma on the family”. Somalia Gender relation in pre-conflict Somalia was distinguished of culture in which men are the most powerful social system and that creates the gap between the genders in the terms of economy and political involvement.

Economic, security and rights

This paper will examine, that the Somali people has the highest illiteracy rate, and it is estimated that eighty percent are illiterate where ”17 percent of Somali children go to school and one in four men and 13 percent of Somali women are literate in today’s Somalia. A total of 81 percent can neither read nor write” (afrol news). And this indicates that Almost near now three generation of children has lost their education since the infrastructure collapsed in 1991.

The causative of the gender inequality in the educational system has vividly increased, where twice as many boys compared to girls entering primary school due to cash impoverished families choose to invest in sons over their daughters.

The other important issue that Somali community cannot survive economically is the narcotic chewing leave called Qaat. The Qaat has destroyed the relationship between the families and it creates that men usually consume this drug that they diverted the funds towards that addicted consumption.

Women and peace building

This paper examines the role and the participation of the Somali women and their traditional role. Traditionally in Somalia, women cannot stand for clans and are not even respected as a clan member that limits their involvement in the Somali political arena. On the other hand, this neutrality has given women greater opportunities to engage in cross clan coalition building. For example, ”at Arta Peace conference, women from different clan came together to form the sixth clan so women could participate formally in the peace negotiation”. Hence the Somali people are oral societies, both men and women, are highly regarded as orators. Women’s viewpoints are heard within the range of family and valued, even though, not frequently in community and public conferences. Women also lend a hand to the attempts for the peace reconciliation, by shaping the formal the ongoing peace and dialog processes, for example, ” marched up and down between the groups demonstrating and singing buraanbur or women’s poems”. Because, they are commonly have no problem and being envoy between the clans in the war. Somali women born naturally into one disputing clan and married into the other often deem loyalty for both clans and work firmly to lower tensions between them and at the same time women are dual connected morally with one tribe she is married and the one she born for, and this opportunity gives them to be free to move in the hostile areas.

and their involvement in Somaliland reconciliation ”women did everything we could stop the bloodletting that dragged on for a considerable time.” at the same time ”women were the wind behind the peace conference from A-Z in term of mobilizing the elders, in preparing the venue, the food, and in encouraging the participants to keep until the final peace accord was reached. So that they have all the credit in making peace possible (Dr Adan Yusuf Abokor, personal communication)” beside, between the peace and hostilities participation, Somali women may work out the disputes at the family stage and ensuring good, decent and fair relationships between her daughters and their husbands. Somali women are very good at settling down family issue, when the situation sometimes reaches that the family to break out, giving the kids the priority and helping finding solution to the issue within the family. Culturally it is a women’s role to provide for guests to her household, foods, and other necessary that guest need for their accommodations, travel etc and it is very skilful performance that women help and contribute to the needy families more than men in Somali society.

On the other hand the ”reconciliation conferences which took place in Somaliland during 1992, have remained male dominated activities in which women did not take a direct role. According to Farah (1993), northern Somali women enthusiastically support local forums but this support is confined to providing tradition domestic service. In the south, where the UN have facilitated high profile peace conferences, women have been present. However, women’s presence doesn’t necessarily represent participation”

Many countries in sub-Saharan region in Africa have been plagued with ethnic and religious conflicts. Nigeria has not been immune to such conflicts. The country has and continues to witness high levels of ethnic and anti-sate violence. Ever since independence from Britain in 1960 the African nation of Nigeria has been torn apart by wars, violence and ethnic conflicts. This paper centers on the effect of such conflicts on Nigerian women with a focus on the conflict in Jos, the capital city of Plateau State. The city has continually been rocked by brutal and relentless riots in 1994, 2001, 2008 and most recently in January 2010. These conflicts have brought about extensive destruction of lives and properties. Most significantly, the conflicts have brought about gross human rights violations perpetrated against civilian populations, particularly women and children who apparently make up the most vulnerable group.

Considerable work has been done regarding women and armed conflicts. Much of this work has been done by institutions concerned with human rights violations, particularly violations against women. Unfortunately, much of this work has focused on sexual violence against women and has largely ignored other important aspects of violations against women.

The purpose of this paper is to consider and highlight a range of ways in which women are affected by armed conflicts (in addition to sexual violence). Using responses from interviews conducted with women who have experienced the most recent conflict in the capital city of Jos in Nigeria, we argue that there is a wide range of ways in which women are affected by armed conflict. For example, armed conflict exacerbates inequalities. These inequalities continue even after the conflicts cease. Our findings show that women experience economic hardships during and after conflict. Furthermore, women are excluded from peace building initiatives that take place during and after armed conflict.

Keywords-Armed conflicts, ethnic conflicts, human rights violations, religious conflicts, and women’s rights.

INTRODUCTION

The frequency of conflicts leading to violence and extensive destruction of lives and property especially since the early 80s in many countries of the world can, without exaggeration, be traced to many factors. Some of these factors are political, economic, ethno-religious conflicts and land boundary issues. Most of these conflicts are often presented as either ethnical or religious in nature, and oftentimes both. However these research findings indicate that the underlying fundamental factor that facilitates such ethno-religious conflicts revolves around prevailing economic and political crisis. This is the basic podium for most of the recurring predicaments.

Unfortunately, ethno-religious conflicts remain the political, economic and social legacies of three decades which involves perceived marginalization, mal-governance and disrespect for the constitution. The greedy and selfish ways in which the Nigerian political leaders embarked on, in acquiring power at all cost, has overturned the true federal constitution negotiated by the founding leaders. This reveals some of the primary basis for the violent crisis in Jos, Plateau State of Nigeria.

BACKGROUND

In 2001, a major crisis occurred in Jos, the capital city of Plateau State in the northern part of Nigeria, leading to the destruction of properties and loss of lives. There was also another crisis in 2004, 2008 and the most recent in 2010. The causes of these conflicts are seen as political, ethno-religious and indigenes settlers’ dispute. In most cases, it is tough to describe the Jos crisis from just the ethnic perspective without observing the political, economic or religious aspect. They are not mutually exclusive.

The recurrent crisis in Jos especially the one that occurred in 2010 left a fatal impact on the society. Many people including women and children were killed. The 2010 Jos crisis recorded the highest casualty of women and children in comparison to the previous ones. About 500 women lost their lives in unpleasant circumstances while other women lost their husbands and children as well as their means of livelihood.

It is rather unfortunate and unlikely that the leadership of the present government will be able to take the bold step to make required constitution changes to douse the festering ethno-religious tension and violence in many parts of the country.

Nigeria is a complex society with a wide variety of religious and cultural allegiance and susceptibility. The least one could do is to come to terms with the reality of the multi-religious status and thus recognize and ensure that the rights of all Nigerians are equally protected. The city of Jos had deadly riots in 2001, 2008 and 2010, and the communal/religious crisis that erupted in Jos (Plateau) in 2001 still causes a lot of clashes in the State till date. It was shocking to many Nigerians that had nursed the notion that Jos was a safe haven for most Christians from other ethnic nationalities who fled from the States dominated by the Islamic Sharia laws. We also observed that most of the conflicts are located in urban areas, and that mostly women and their children suffered the most. Those not killed during the conflict are left to feed and fend for themselves and their children.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Many of these contestations between indigenes and settlers result in violence. As noted, Jos and most of the towns in Plateau State in 1994, 2001, 2004 in which the Beroms, Afizere and others who claim to be indigenes oppose the Hausa/Fulani tribes who are regarded as settlers from the era of the colonial masters who mostly came in to Jos town as miners and merchants.

Jos Crisis: A crisis triggered by inequality. It can easily be traced to the deep inequalities in the society.

In 2004, a state of emergency was declared in Plateau State (of which Jos is the capital) after which over 200 Muslims were killed in the attacks by Christian militia.

In the November 2008 crisis, over 340 people were killed and properties worth billions were burnt when Muslim opposition supporters went on the rampage over alleged election irregularities after they had heard their candidate to head a council had lost to a Christian.

In January 2010, being the most recent crisis, more than 500 people were killed mostly women after the Christians protested the construction of a mosque in a Christian area, and after Muslim protesters attacked a Catholic church.

It is ironic that such catastrophic and bloody encounters have occurred in Jos, a city which derives its name from an acronym for “Jesus Our Saviour”. Perhaps, the origin of Jos – a former enclave for colonial missionaries and its geographic location – aptly described by some as a “de facto fault line” separating Nigeria’s mainly Muslim northern part from its mainly Christian southern region.

Nigeria is a country of strong prejudice between indigenes and non-indigene natives and settlers, the Nigerian constitution even empowers this ethnic affiliation by giving credence to the “State of origin” and likewise some political appointments are based on ethnic and state of origin. The crisis in Jos is not immune to the “State of Origin” contraption – the Christians are the natives, while the Muslims are the settlers. Hence the belief remains that the natives are threatened by the increasing population and prominence of the settlers. The natives are neither too keen to share their lands with the settlers nor offer their hands in partnership on the political outfit. The settlers on the other hand, feel cheated and threatened too by the natives whom they feel have failed to recognize them politically and socially despite having co-existed for decades. The fact that the two are on the opposing sides of the religious divide certainly does not help. The cumulative effect of these factors – the aftermath of cultural and societal inequality is what has been happening in Jos over the years.

METHODOLOGY:

This research work is based on qualitative analysis methods. The principle method used is structured in-depth interviews conducted within and outside the conflict zones. Reports were drawn from rural dwellers and persons affected by the conflict including women and youths were interviewed at different times. Reports from government commissions’ inquiry and other investigation by setup groups were also utilized. The report of the Plateau Peace Conference 2004 was very useful for this paper. Reports from assigned committee at the Institute for Peace and Conflict Resolution after visits to the conflict town were also very useful for this journal work.

Some other researchers from the field who were also staff of the Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies similarly gave their report from the field work. Newspaper reports, textbooks and the web were also consulted for the completion of this paper.

ETHNIC AND RELIGIOUS VIOLENCE
IMPACT ON THE ECONOMY

In general, the political instability engendered by frequent communal disputes – riots, armed confrontation and breakdown of law and order – cannot be attractive for local or foreign investors. Jos, as it is right now from what we physically observed remains a ghost city with houses, market places, factories and company burnt down to ashes.

We had met with and interviewed a business tycoon, Alhaji Busari who was a car dealer and narrated his ordeal amidst tears. He said “how can this Jos riot be a forgotten incident to me when I practically lost all what I have worked and lived for in life in just one day. Billions of Naira was burnt down, the showroom where cars are parked for display was burnt down to ashes and all the cars on display were destroyed and burnt by the rioters”.

IMPACT OF THE CRISIS ON WOMEN

Gender is thus a socially constructed identity through which roles are assigned at different levels and which can differ according to culture and can be changed by circumstances such as conflict. While the entire community suffers the dire consequences of armed conflict and terrorism, women and girls are particularly affected because of their status in society and their gender. Parties in conflict often rape women with impunity sometimes using systematic rape as a tactic of war and terrorism.

A youth activist remarked as follows: The conflict inflicted psychological and emotional pain on both genders. However, the plight of women was particularly pronounced. There was the case of about twenty women and girls captured by the Boghom people and taken to a village called Kangyal in Kanam Local Government Area. The women and their daughters suffered the worst form of sexual abuse as their captors took turns on them every evening for three months. When they were eventually rescued, five of them were pregnant and tested positive to HIV/AIDS test.

THE IMPACT OF VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

This also has to do with violation of human rights of women, in such situation as experienced by women of all ages, who suffer displacement, loss of homes and property, involuntary disappearance of close relatives, poverty, family separation, disintegration and those victims of acts of murder, terrorism, torture, sexual slavery. These spell out the prevailing human right violations and policies of ethnic cleansing in the war-torn and occupied areas. These practices have created inter alia a mass flow of refugees. Such women and children become refugees that no longer have homes or houses over their heads i.e. they become internally displaced persons. According to the research findings, women make up the highest group of casualties.

The picture above shows women in Abuja carrying pictures of dead women and children. Mostly women and children constitute about 80 percent of the millions of refugees around the world. Other refugees including internally displaced persons are deprived of their properties, goods and also deprivation of their right to freedom of movement to return to their homes for fear and insecurity. The degree of insecurity and disorientation was identified when the Institute for Peace and Conflict researchers went to the refugee camps in Bukuru, Jos (a south Local Government Area of Plateau State) and were told that thirty-one pregnant women at the internally displaced persons (IDP) camps were delivered of their babies at different camps.

Reports from their spokesperson in charge of women in the IDP camps said in an interview “that the women who gave birth were earlier taking refuge at the police stations and premises of Bukuru central mosque before they were later taken to another house which was converted to serve as a temporary maternity”. Out of the 31 women that put to bed only two babies did not survive. However, the two mothers were in very good conditions. In a newspaper report, one of the nurses in charge of the maternity centers created mentioned that “some bullets were removed from some of the pregnant mothers’ bodies who were shot during the crisis and they had to undergo some operations to stitch them”.

THE WOMEN WELFARE: Feeding and Clothing

Lack of nutritious food in the camps is due to their population, although some Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) and United Nations (UN) have visited some camp grounds to enhance the supply and distribution of food stuffs and clothing. Different groups have surfaced to donate generously for the refugees. Other repulsive experiences include:

Snake bites in the bush while attempting to escape

High rate of widowhood

Loss of children

Premature births due to fear and pressure

Mothers abandoning newly born babies due to lack of funds and inability to survive

Forced marriages

This picture shows some illustrations of the impact of the conflict on women in Wase, Yelwa-shendam and Langtang south local government in Jos.

In an interview, Vonnan Dashe, president of the Gani community development association, on 5th November 2004 mentioned that, “Women were subjected to violence and hardship because they had to worry about the fate of their children. Some of their children actually got killed and others were wounded while others were raped by the attackers. They were not only physically harassed but also sexually abused and degraded”. It was also gathered from our research team that apart from the fact that women were raped, they were also divorced by their husbands, which facilitated a worse emotional stressful and painful condition. The resort to divorce by men whose wives had been sexually abused was a means of dealing with the humiliation acquired from the conflict.

EQUAL RIGHTS

Even though women were affected greatly by the conflict in obviously negative way, they have been unable to set up networks and support groups to enhance their empowerment in the aftermath of the conflict. This includes the ability to participate in politics and decision making forum. Most of their voices are heard through the voices of men or proxy groups. Women make an important but often unrecognized contribution as peace educators both in families and in their societies.

In addressing armed or sectarian conflicts, an active and visible policy of mainstreaming a gender perspective into all policies and programs should be promoted so that before decisions are taken an analysis is made of the effects on women and men respectively. Action should be taken to promote equal participation and opportunities for women in government both at the Federal, State and Local Government levels.

There were hundreds of women mostly dressed in black that took to the streets of Nigeria’s capital city of Abuja and also the central city of Jos in rallies against the Jos massacre. They subsequently demanded that the government put the necessary infrastructure in place to improve on the protection of women and children.

This research journal reveals to a large extent how women are streamlined in the policy making groups, politics and in general, all activities. Yet it has not told the whole story, the impact of conflict on women is too profound to be narrated. Most times, they live with the pain, agony, discomfort and under oppression for the rest of their lives.

A lot needs to be done, the bridge that cuts across religious, ethnic and cultural is to have women group work together. However they will need to be empowered through capacity building and enhanced controlled communication before such roles can be played. Women need to be equally represented in organizations so as to be able to contribute adequately in matters and issues that have to do with protection of women and their children during and after such conflicts.

CONCLUSION

It is clear from all the above that women must be involved in matters that has to do with the protection of women and their children. They must prove to the community that they are also relevant and that equality should be practiced when matters that has to do with them comes up especially in politics and decision making.

Women should be courageous and exhibit fearless independence in spite of all odds especially where human right issues are involved. Women are meant to bear the image of the community. In political matters, women should not shy away from their right and their voices must also be heard. In all, this must be the new wave. The culture must evolve.

In today’s society the concept of both identity and human diversity have become both an integral and important aspect of people’s daily lives. In the case of a counsellor’s role, where a mutually trusting therapeutic environment is conducive to the success of any outcomes of therapy, it has become paramount for today’s professional counsellor to acknowledge and address these issues when entering into any therapeutic relationship with clients.

With global migration easily available to many individuals, the World has become a profoundly multicultural, multiethnic and multinational place, with many millions of people moving to live within new cultures. As a result it is estimated that one in every 35 people is such an international immigrant. (Lago, 2011) Such a change in the demographics of potential clients for any counsellor/psychotherapist today has resulted in a high probability that they will come in to contact with individuals of differing race, culture, ethnicity, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs or other ideologies.

The issues regarding identity is invariably complex and can be continually changing (Kettle, 2004) and needs to be successfully navigated by the counsellor to ensure a mutually respectful relationship is created between them and the client in order for any therapeutically beneficial outcome to be achieved. If these identity issues are not addressed the effect could be very harmful and detrimental to any potential relationship due to the dynamics of power and control between the client and counsellor (McKenzie, 1986; Lago, 2011). This essay will describe the key issues of what it is that gives us our identity and what it means to be diverse.

A simple definition for diversity can be given as being ‘very different’ (Oxforddictionaries.com, 2012). It can however, be argued that it is much more than that. It is having an understanding that each individual person is unique and recognising those individual differences. For a counsellor and their client it is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual and discovering how they may affect both the counsellor and client in developing a healthy working relationship.

The advent of Rogers third force of psychotherapy, the client centred approach in the 1960’s, introduced the idea that the client should be both the focus and at the very centre of the therapeutic session (Rogers, 1957). This soon led to the concept that an acceptance of a client’s identity and culture is paramount to these aims being met. The term ‘the culturally encapsulated counsellor’ was introduced by Wrenn (1962) to critique a universalistic approach to counselling which soon came to be known as multicultural counselling, which today is regarded by many therapists as the fourth force in psychotherapy/counselling.

Multicultural counselling is what takes place when a counsellor and their client are from differing cultural groups. Cultural identity itself however is not simply defined by the colour of a person’s skin or the geographical location or even their ethnicity, it can encompass a multitude of factors. Gender, religious beliefs, social economic status, sexual orientation are all identity factors that a culturally encapsulated counsellor needs to be aware of, not only from the clients perspective but also to have a good self awareness of their own cultural identity. (Middleton, et al., 2011)

The issue of race and ethnic identity comprises of several factors which include an understanding of more than just what it is to black or white. A sense of identification with what whiteness means as compared to being part of a racial/ethnic minority group, including the importance of the difference between race and culture itself is critical to becoming an effect multicultural counsellor. It is vital that counsellors do not assume, for example, that all blacks or all Asians have similar cultural backgrounds. There are various ethnic identifications that exist within each of these racial groups such as language, religion, or gender roles and whilst it is true many of these ethnic groups share the physical characteristics of race, they may not necessarily share the same value and belief structures (Katz, 1985).

Some examples of these ethnic identifications can be seen in the cultural value system of many black Africans, where a great value is placed on the concept of family, especially their children, who are seen as a gift from God. There is a great emphasis on their sense of community and their place in it. Personal wellbeing becomes secondary to that of social conflict resolution, which is seen as more important, to ensure peace and equilibrium within the community. Another example can be seen within the Chinese cultural environment, where passivity rather than assertiveness is revered. Quiescence rather than verbal articulation is seen as a sign of wisdom and there is the role of the “all-knowing father” that the Chinese respect for authority bestows on them (Ching and Prosen, 1980).

The fact that traditional counselling therapies have been developed upon the research with predominantly middle classed white men indicates a propensity towards gender bias within the profession. It has even been reported that some professional counsellors have evaluated female clients as less competent than male clients (Balkin, Schlosser and Levitt, 2009). Aspects of gender can be also affected by religious attitudes from both the counsellor and client, either of which may have more traditional beliefs about specific gender roles and behaviour. There are also certain individuals or groups who adhere to religious fundamentalism which should be taken into consideration, which places women in the more traditional roles other than those chosen by more modern contemporary women. These fundamentalists have been seen to exhibit strong sexist behaviour in regards to issues of gender (Balkin, Schlosser and Levitt, 2009).

It is clear that religious identity has been shown play a pivotal role for both the client and the counsellor within the therapeutic process. It is suggested that highly religious people have a tendency to believe they have stronger moral attributes than those of non-religious people (Hunter, 2001 cited in Balkin, Schlosser and Levitt, 2009, p.420). In the case of a highly religious counsellor, such a bias could cause complications within the counselling environment in regards to issues such as homophobia, gender bias and racism. It could be argued that when faced with issues such as homosexuality, which is regarded as a sin in many conservative religions, it could give rise to problems with dealing with clients who fall into the gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender group for the highly religious counsellor (Balkin, Schlosser and Levitt, 2009).

A person’s gender/sexual orientation could be argued as being one of the more complex identity issues, with its anonymity and invisibility being a large factor that can create problems for both counsellor and client. Despite a growing public awareness of gender identity with the acceptance of trans-identified celebrities on popular television such as Graham Norton and Gok Wan, there can be a certain amount of confusion for the counsellor when working with transgender clients as the distinction between gender and sexuality is prone to being misunderstood. (Hawley, 2011)

Sexual orientation generally refers to a person’s sexual object choice, as in whether we choose to have sex with male or with females. As a result the options are to be straight (heterosexual), gay (homosexual) or bisexual. For most people the determination of sexuality is dependent on the gender of the individuals, i.e.: male/female, male/male, and female/female. However for some this is more complex for what if your gender was unknown to you? For some, this issue goes beyond the physical sexuality of their bodies; it is subject to behaviours, social acceptance and/or belonging to specific groups to which their allocated sex consigns them. (Hawley, 2011)

For the counsellor, it is important to be aware of the multiple possibilities that fall within gender/sexuality identification. Pre-judgement and bias is an all too easy mistake for the inexperienced counsellor to make about sexuality, with the arrival of a cross dressing client. Similarly the client themselves may be feeling terrified and in a state of bewilderment as to their own feelings, in such instances a open minded and understanding therapist would be considered a lifeline. (Hawley, 2011)

In an effort to address the diversity of clients in the counselling environment, a number of models have been introduced to the counselling professional in an effort to provide adequate training in the areas of race, culture, ethnicity and other areas of diversity as key variables in understanding the representations of psychological distress in clients (Moodley, 2005). Sue, Arredondo and McDavis (1992) states that counsellors who practice without adequate training or competence when working with clients from diverse cultural backgrounds are prone to practicing unethically and with potentially harmful actions, which borders on a violation of human rights.

Sue and Sue (1990) identified three areas in which a culturally skilled counsellor could become proficient in multiculturalism. The first is the process of becoming aware of their own assumptions about human behaviour, values, biases, preconceived notions and personal limitations. Secondly, is the attempt to understand and share the worldview of their culturally different client with respect and appreciation and without imposing any negative judgments. Thirdly and finally, a culturally skilled counsellor is someone who actively develops and puts into practice appropriate, relevant and sensitive intervention strategies utilising skills when working with their diverse clients. However, since the publication and formal adoption by the American Counselling Association of the Sue, et al. (1982) multicultural counselling competencies (MCC) model, some researchers have noted that little empirical research has been carried out to evaluate the model itself (Chao, 2012).

Patterson (1996) states that multicultural counselling is generic in nature and as such all counselling is multicultural. It is not hard to accept the uniqueness of each individual client when you consider the infinite number of combinations and permutations of identify. As such to try and develop a different counselling technique for each one would be an insurmountable task. There appears to be an emphasis on the difference in values between diverse cultures, but it should be acknowledged that so many of these different values are actually customs, lifestyles, habits, social norms and as such common to many different groups and even considered to be universally accepted values (Patterson, 1996).

The success of the exsisiting models within counselling/psychotherapy should not be so easily abandoned in an attempt to become more culturally diverse. Any compromise of the westernised therapeutic psychological models should be limited as has been suggested through the intervention of a more multicultural approach when working with ethincally diverse clients, for diluting the process would surely lead to a less effective service being provided (Patterson, 1996)

Sue & Sue (1990) acknowledged that the core conditions such as unconditional positive regard, respect and accpetance of the individual, an empathic relationship of understanding the clients problem from their own perspective and allowing the client to explore their own core values and reach their own solutions are counselling qualities that may trancend culture.

Rogers (1957) claimed that there are five basic qualities that all counsellors need to become an effective counsellor and as such create an effective therapeutic relationship. The nature of this relationship has been well established within the counselling environment and is the same, regardless of whatever cultural, ethnic, gender or social group a client belongs to.

Having respect for clients, trusting them to make the right decisions, take responsibility for themselves. Genuiness, where the counsellor acts like a real person, not coming across as the all knowing expert or using a battery of techniques on the client. Empathic understanding for a client is more than simply having the knowledge of the group to which they belong. It is being able to use this knowledge to enter the clients world by invitation through self disclosure by the client, which is related to the degree of respect and genuiness displayed towards the client. (Rogers, 1957; Patterson, 1996)

It is essential that communication of these qualities is perceived and felt by the client during the threapeutic process in order for them to be effective. The understanding of cultural differences in both verbal and non-verbal behaviours can overcome some of the difficulties encountered when dealing with culturally diverse clients. It can also be said that these qualities are not only essential for an effective counselling environment but also facilitate all interpersonal relationships. Being neither time-bound or culture-bound thay can encompass all issues of identity within the counselling environment. (Patterson, 1996)

In many international countries such as Britain, intercultural communication takes place. This is all about ‘the interpersonal interaction between members of different groups, which differ from each other in respect of the knowledge shared by their members and in respect of their linguistic forms of symbolic behaviour'(Karlfried Knapp 1978). It can be analysed to prove that there are many different ways in which the world works, in order to show how intercultural communication happens in day-to-day life. Although this report is going to be evaluating four of them which are, high context/low context, individualism/collectivism, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity/femininity.

High context/low context is a type of cultural coordination that can be understood in various ways. This image shows the majority of the countries on a scale ranging from high to low context. Whatever the situation may be at hand, high context cultures depends on their speech and behaviour. This is explained as a theory from Hofstede (1980) stating that, high context conversations consist of the sender pre-planning what they have to say, in order for the receiver to understand. There is evidence in China of this, because before they meet up, all of their discussions take place beforehand. Once they have met, which is officially known as a ‘ceremony’; they would make whatever they spoke about beforehand approved. On the other hand, in low context conversations, the sender may say there dialogue in short-form, although the receiver would still understand. In contrast to China, America and Germany don’t have a discussion beforehand, but inform the participants in the meeting. Generally in high context cultures, information is carried out through body language. From this, people are likely to understand the discussion without much explanation. In some cultures, looking at people in the eye is normally used for people to have a straight forward dialogue. A good example of a high-context experience would be the Japanese tea ceremony. As shown in this image (Copyright © 1990 by Japan National Tourist Organisation), this is a traditional cultural activity; therefore everybody who takes part knows what to do. Also the shared experience shows that every citizen would know what is included i.e. ‘the tea house, the flower arrangement, the calligraphy scroll, and the ceramics.’ (F.E. Jandt, 2001).context.gif (550A-185)http://www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/japan/tea.jpg

Also, individuals in the Arab culture feel that if they use too little eye-contact in their conversations, they may find it impolite. Conversely in the USA, the best way to bond with people is to have eye-contact with them. Even in the English culture, a certain amount of eye contact is essential, but too much makes people uncomfortable.

Problems often occur when workers from high and low context cultures, have a work-related conversation with each other. This may happen as citizens from high-context cultures familiarise themselves to their families, friends and close colleagues. In this group, everyone knows what is going on, as they regularly communicate and exchange information about everything. On the other hand, in low-context cultures the people do not get along with others in their daily life. So therefore they do not get a chance, to go out and meet new people like citizens from high-context cultures. Also, they are never able to create a close relationship with the people they meet, as their conversations happen in a long-winded way. In professional situations they only talk about the necessary information that is needed in order to complete the job; this doesn’t happen constantly.

When dealing with people from a high or low-context culture, each person has to notice the origin culture of the speaker. This is to be able to avoid any confusion, and it allows everybody to have longer or future conversations.

Individualism/Collectivism

Individualism/Collectivism is the concept of how people make important and useful decisions. A decision can be made in two ways, either as a group (collectivism) or as an individual (individualism). The main difference between the two would be that, ‘in an individualistic cultures, “people are supposed to look after themselves and their immediate family only,” while in collectivistic cultures, “people belong to in groups or collectivities which are supposed to look after them in exchange for loyalty” (Hofstede & Bond, 1984, p.419). Although nowadays, Masakazu (1994) defines modern individualism as “a view of humanities that justifies inner beliefs and unilateral self-assertion, as well as competition based on these”.

An example of an individualistic culture would be people in the USA; they are likely to only take care of themselves and their direct family. Normally to be able to create a close relationship, you would like to know more about the person’s personal life i.e.: their occupation, their achievements in life, where they live etc. Although, this doesn’t occur in individualist cultures, as surveys show that the most unique and everlasting characteristics of the United States character are independence and individuality. The country also allows citizens in the country to have the freedom to be an individual, which is what their passion is. In theory Patterson (1991) has believed that this passion is related to the country’s history of slavery.

In contrast, collectivistic cultures mainly look after other people and understand their characteristics (Gudykunst, Gao, Nishida, et al., 1992). They also try to avoid situations where they hurt people, either physically or mentally (Kim, 1994). This may be because in collectivist cultures, they expect people to fit into groups. http://www.watchmesavetheworld.com/wp-content/themes/Nomad/timthumb.php?src=http://www.watchmesavetheworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/P1040042-1024?768.jpg=300=720=1

Let’s start by unpacking the concept of “collectivism” and its ideological counterpoint “individualism.” In simplest terms collectivist societies place the primacy of the group over the primacy of the individual, vice-versa for individualist societies. Archetypal examples of collectivist societies include communist China and Russia, and Scandinavian countries with strong social services programs. Examples of archetypal individualist societies include the United States, Japan, and Germany. Of course, this is all a massive oversimplification of a complex concept. In reality, levels collectivism break down over political, social, educational, and even technological dimensions. A country might be highly collectivist in one dimension, and not at all in another, or it might comprise various sub-cultures that are far more or less collectivist that the country taken as a whole. Notwithstanding the breadth and depth of this subject, I want to focus on a few particular facets of Moroccan culture that most powerfully indicate the presence of a collectivist mentality: meal consumption, the educational system, and received wisdom.

Examples of collectivism in social interactions abound, but one of the most obvious is in food preparation and consumption. With very few exceptions, meals are eaten out of a large common dish, using bread as utensils. Vegetables and sauce are eaten first, and meat is eaten last, often divided up by the person who cooked the meal to ensure an equitable share for each participant. This is an easy contrast to western eating, where individual portions, utensils, and ever increasingly, individual meals are the norm. Moroccan families will almost always wait for all members of the family to arrive before eating. If you are anywhere in the vicinity of a meal as it starts, you will inevitably be invited to eat. Every invitation that you get to join a person or a family for a meal is absolutely sincere, and they will expect you to come. These examples point to the prevalence of collectivism on a the level of an individual or a family, but collectivism in Morocco is equally prevalent in the aggregate, and sometimes with less copacetic results.

An example of this culture would be in Japan. In this society people are dependent on one another, which is the main indication that shows that Japan is a collectivistic culture. Groups are formed in which citizens will hold onto all the way through their lives. It would also be their back-up and protection for whenever they are in need for unquestioning dependability. This brings a joy to the group, as well as the need to connect with others. This has a great importance as the difference can be defined with what is said in public and the truth. – wrong

Nevertheless, people in individualistic cultures apply the same standards to everything whilst relating to everything and everybody. This is compared to collectivistic culture citizens, who treat member of their in and out groups with different value standards. Individualistic culture members are more worried with the simplicity of their conversations (Kim, 1994) and view this as an important issue for effective communication (Kim & Wilson, 1994) compared to collectivistic cultures. Another comparison between both types of cultures, is that individualistic people notice direct requests as their most effective strategy in order to complete their goals, while members of collective cultures are the opposite (Kim & Wilson, 1994). In completion, it can be understood that the stress in individualistic societies is based on the individual’s personal goals and achievements, whereas the complete opposite is the where the stress is based on belonging to groups in collectivistic cultures.

Uncertainty avoidance

Uncertainty avoidance looks at a degree to which cultures feel defenceless due to doubtful situations, also the point to which they try to avoid these. It shows that to a certain point a culture pushes their members out of their comfort zone, to be able to see how they deal in situations which are unknown, surprising and different from usual. Uncertainty avoidance can either be high or low. The main difference is that, citizens normally show their emotions more in high compared to low uncertainty avoidance cultures. This may be because in low uncertainty avoidance cultures, people have lower stress levels as well as they don’t mind either disagreeing or taking risks compared to people in high uncertainty avoidance cultures.

Uncertainty avoiding cultures have a chance of reducing the chance of any risky situations happening. This is by having strict laws and rules, which have safety and secure measures. An example of high-uncertainty avoidance country would be France. This is because their organisations approve having strong establishments and in general discourage risk taking activities taking place. On the other hand, Britain and Norway are countries which have low-uncertainty avoidance. They will follow a more flexible structure and encourage people to have diverse views.

In the ‘Uncertainty avoidance by Country’ graph (Appendix 1), it shows 12 countries and how much uncertainty avoidance there is in each country. It can be analysed, to be able work out that U.S.A is known to be highly debateable so that is why they have a low rank of 46 on uncertainty avoidance. Even though India is less avoidant of uncertainty compared to U.S.A, they still have scored a reasonably high score of 52. Interestingly, of the G-8 countries, only Canada (48) and the U.K. (35) had relatively low scores like the U.S.A. On the other hand, Russia (95), Japan (92), and France (86) were out of the range, when comparing to other countries as they have scored extremely high for uncertainty avoidance.

Masculinity/femininity

In all of the countries around the world, everybody has an opinion about gender inequality. Always questioning themselves as to why there may be more masculine or feminine. Therefore it can always be identified, that in every culture and society around the world there is a gender disproportion. In general, it is normally specified that some responsibilities or jobs are assigned to women. Even in religious ways, allocation of different social responsibilities goes to men and women. Not just in family households, the whole social system becomes a characteristic, as it leads to unequal distribution of control, respect and properties. It shows that in principals, everybody cares about this situation compared to showing their concern for individuals and their quality of life. In other words, “Masculinity is the opposite of femininity; together, they form one of the dimensions of national cultures. Masculinity stands for a society which social gender roles are dearly distinct: men are supposed to be more modest, tender, and concerned with the quality of life.” (Source: Hofstede, page 262).

A main example would be India and Malaysia. Between these two countries, India has a high male portion of citizens in their society, compared to Malaysia who has a high female portion. In these cultures, one gender is normally controlled by the other. There is known to be six types of gender inequality which are; mortality, natality, basic facilities, ownership, household and special opportunity.

One of the main types of gender inequality is to do with basic facilities. In India, boys have a greater opportunity of having an education compared to girls. Girls are also unable to showcase their talent and also take part in social events that take place within the community. Not just in these sorts of situations, parents also favour their sons to enter higher education. In their opinion, this may because they believe their sons need to earn a good education to be able to take care of their future families. Also for future families, ladies are expected to be a good housewife, but this doesn’t need a lot of knowledge, as they are able to study this information from their mother. Even if women try to finish their studies, they are only able to continue on, with the condition that they must come from a rich family. Alternatively, in Malaysia their cultures are more caring. As in their education system, women and men are allowed to have an education, yet anybody can be defeated in the act. This shows that based on Malaysian culture, gender unfairness does not exist.http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3815/3529/320/basic%20facilities.0.jpg

Another type of gender inequality is to do with household work. As in India, it is mainly known for men to go to work and earn a living, and then for women to stay at home looking after their children and do the housework. This is a disadvantage, as women will never get the chance to be able to experience the outside world. This links from the fact that, they are unable to have an education as well. Then again in femininity countries such as Malaysia, women have the freedom to be able to choose the jobs that they favour. Also, they are capable to gain more experience, by furthering their studies whilst overseas. Elsewhere, when it comes to housework, men also share the load. This helps the family a lot, as both parents are able to work and help with the financial matters.http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/3815/3529/320/Household%20inequality.0.jpg

Conclusion

Overall, it is essential to understand that there are many differences in people who come from other cultures. The main difference is that in all the countries around the world, there may be an issue with cultural coordination, how people make important and useful decisions in their life, how people may feel doubtful in various situations and the way gender inequality occurs.

It can be understood that a role of individualism-collectivism is low-and high-context communication. (Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey, 1988). Also when looking at gender inequality, pain is more familiar for people in masculine cultures compared to feminine cultures (Gudykunst & Ting-Toomey, 1988).

Therefore, everybody must be careful whilst having a gathering with people. This is because by not knowing what culture they come from, problems may occur easily due to the way the person communicates, their attitude towards conflict, the way they make decisions and the how they approach to knowing about life.

Appendices
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This assignment is going to discuss the roles and purpose of British welfare state. This assignment will look at what welfare state is and the problems which society faced in the past century about the poor people. Also, the first administrative unit of Britain alongside with how poor law passed and the beverage report.

This assignment is based on roles and purpose of welfare state. The United Kingdom welfare state was established in 1942 by William Beverage due to the Second World War which caused social problems to the British citizens. The Government stepped forward as to provide for its people by introducing Welfare State as a way of controlling these problems. Welfare state is a response to social problems whereby government undertakes the responsible to safeguard the health and well-being of its people, particularly those in financial or social need, by means of grants, pensions, and other benefits (Leistering & Walker, 1998). It is based on the principals of equal opportunity, equitable distribution of wealth and public responsibilities of people that lack provision for a good life.

The origin of the welfare state was from the 16th century. Britain expected the worst when the Second World War broke up in 1939. Due to war many people were affected by social problems such as poverty and many lost their jobs which resulted in high unemployment. The majority of the people were living in overcrowded poor housing facilities such as (slums) because council houses were not enough. Diseases were spreading because of lack of clean water, and sick people could not have money to seek treatment and this resulted in many people dying. Due to these events the government policy brought a change towards the care that was provided for the people. Welfare legislation was developed to make sure that everyone had access to quality of life due to the world war (Spicker, 2012).

The idea of the Elizabeth law was based on the plan that the government was in charge on administration and control of poor relief. Elizabeth government realised that they would create some system to support people. Parish was the first basic administrative unit in Britain to take responsibility for the people who were poor and also had control to force people to pay a local tax to assist the poor. People who could not work such as old people and disabled were provided with accommodation in parish houses and also given money called the ‘outdoor relief’. However, this caused an impact on the increase of the cost of poor relief. The outdoor relief pay which was given to assist the poor in tough times and by doing this it was regarded as encouraging workers to remain inactive undermining the 19th century principles of thrift and hard work (Frohman, 2008). It was also argued that that the poor law encouraged the growth of poverty (Spicker, 2012).

In 1834 a new Poor Law was introduced. People assumed that it was a good idea and they welcomed it thinking that it would lessen the cost of looking after the poor. People thought that beggars were going to be taken off the streets and for those people who were poor they were going to be encouraged to look after themselves. This poor law encouraged people to be independent and to help themselves by making ends meet. The new Poor Law ensured that those poor people who were housed in workhouses were getting some assistants in terms of clothing, food and money .Children were offered schooling when they entered the workhouse. In return for this care, all workhouse paupers would have to work for several hours each day. However, these workhouses were a system of encouraging poor people to work. The new poor law also help children who entered the work house to be educated it also ensure that the less privilege to get house in return.

In reaction, the poor law of 1834 introduced a poor relief which imposed the principle of’ less eligibility’. This new system act took a much harsher line towards help for the poor people whereby strict rules and regulations were put in place for people to follow (Harris, 2004). Families were separated and were not allowed to see each other. The Law stated that no healthy person was to be given money or other help from the Poor Law authorities except for people in a workhouse, and the unemployed benefits was to be provided as a last resort. Conditions in the workhouse were deliberately made harsh, in the hope that the poor would move out and seek work elsewhere (Hothersall & Bolger, 2010).

The new welfare state gradually replaced the 20th century the poor law. During 1906 a liberal government was elected and introduce some reforms.1n 1908 an old age pension came to existence which allow pension to be given to people over 70’s, from 1925 pension were paid to men that is over 65 and to women over 60.

The national insurance act was passed in 1911 and all employees were made to contribute from their wage and the aim was to build and also for every worker who felt sick was entitled to free treatment were given to every worker that feel sick. The contributions were to help the workers in future in situations when they become ill or out of work. In 1920 the scheme was extended to most people but not all work houses became unnecessary and then poor law was abolished.

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In 1941 an enquiry was established to plan how best it can be to shape up the welfare state. Beveridge held the opportunity as to start again the script, and then redesigned the contours of British welfare. By accident the report of the publication of his report was delayed and was produced in November 1942. Although largely a creation of ideas including Beveridge’s which had been around for some it was a successful to tackle social problems such as the five giants.

In 1942 William beverage prepared a report called the Beveridge regarding the welfare of the individuals on how the government could help people in poverty and also to reduce inequality. This report focused on how the government should find ways of fighting the five ‘Giant Evils’ of ‘Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness which was caused by world war. The government was committed to provide care for the people of Britain to ensure that everyone had quality of life. The 1942 Beveridge report started in the introduction of welfare state, and involved the main changes and these included the national insurance based on 3 assumptions such as family allowance, National Health Service and full employment. The welfare state was produced to promote the provision of services for the public not only a response to poverty. Implementing Beveridge was immediately seen as part of winning the peace and also served as the blue print for the British welfare state (Hothersall & Bolger, 2010).

In 1945 when labour government was elected new services were introduced by the labour government and these included family allowances (Laybourn, 1995) and this created debates regarding the welfare state within current governments. The government introduced the Education Act 1944 which tackled lack of schooling. The 1946 National Health Act was concerned with improving the quality of health among the population. The 1946 National Insurance Act was created to cover all personal risks such as unemployment and illness. The NHS started operating and it provided a service to the population at a low cost. The 1945 Housing 1948 labour government extended the social security and a program of free medical care, Housing, Education and the Welfare of the Children. The National Assistance Act 1948 means- tested for people in lower income below a standard set by government and for unemployed people. The 1948 Children Act was also another important element. After 1948 the key elements of the welfare state was understood as social security, Health, Housing, Education and welfare of children (Lowe, 2005).

In the 1950 the government took over and slashed the help which was given to the poor and the sick. This created the provision of welfare state services to become more problematic and the interventions of the government caused further problems on that time. This then made the distribution of income more imbalanced and although they attempted to make the poor more hardworking and self sufficient it didn’t work.

The rolling back the state was revolved around the need to cut public spending as a way of reducing impact on public affair. Thatcher (1979-97) promised to reduce taxes and to lower the level of public spending and less state intervention. Thatcher opposed a welfare system and the welfare state began to break down resulted in retreat for housing and pension. The conservative government discouraged individuals and families from relying on the welfare state and promoted business and private enterprise. The Conservative changed the balance of welfare expenditure towards health and social security at the expense of education and housing. Thatcher revolution was less radical and the welfare spending remained stationary between the late (1970).

Thatcher stated that welfare spending was weighing down the international competitiveness and also creating a ‘dependency culture’ which also was supported by the government and acted to cut back the welfare state (Clasen, 2003). They were some cut back in Housing such as in building, maintenance and subsidization, as a way of driving up local authority rent levels (Maclennan & Gibb, 1990). In Social Security welfare bills were introduced by cutting entitlements such as Unemployment Benefit and people were pushed on to means-tested support (Clasen, 2003). Under Child Support Scheme absent parents were required to contribute towards the child maintenance as a way of serving some of the welfare state money. The conservative government regarded NHS as a burden on the economy despite being popular since 1980 and was named as the ‘internal market’. As a result the NHS and Community Act were created in (1990) and introduced so many changes. This act recommended the introduction of a split for those who purchase the service and those who provide the services. The aim for that was to control costs and make the system more open to patients (Propper, et al. 2008).

When new labour came into office in 1997 and welfare remained in the top priority. Welfare reform was a new labour agenda which led to a change on the welfare state. Regardless of Conservative critics of the welfare, new labour argued that new welfare policies were needed to improve poverty, inequality, health and education. The main aim of labour was to develop the NHS by rebuilding it and also promote choice for the patients and also free of charge. However, the white paper was published and health reforms were discussed which led to the Health Act (1999). This new policy brought change and encouraged cooperation and partnership between NHS and other care providers and it abolished the internal markets which were introduced by the Conservative government. Labour introduced the’ Welfare -to-work’ a policy for employment aiming at helping people to work and support themselves especially young people, single parents and those out of work. Another issue was to tackle the social exclusion of underprivileged people who had no access income and also to social institution. Those people from poorer families in work were to get benefits increase through Tax Credits. Labours approach was to try to cut down the amount of child and pensioner poverty (Baldock, Mitton, Manning & Vickerstaff, 2012).

After 2010 the welfare state was identified by the incoming of the Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition there was change in the areas such as: healthcare, schools and social security.

In conclusion the welfare state was developed due to the number of factors contributed by world war such as unemployment, sickness and poverty.

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Many theorists state that the development of 19th century sociology was the response to the dramatic social change of the time. The social upheaval caused by Enlightenment, and the Industrial and French revolutions caused social theorists to develop sociology as a method of explaining, analysing and understanding the social upheaval following these events. Sociology could explain the reasons behind increasing public discontent with traditional values, aristocracy and religion, and also sought to understand and rationalize new societies that subsequently emerged. The nineteenth century was also the century in which sociology would become recognised as an academic discipline.

Sociology is defined as ‘The study of human social life, groups and societies (Giddens, 1989).’ French philosopher Auguste Comte (Waters and Crook, 1993) coined the term; he considered sociology the ‘final stage in the historical development of ideas (Babbie, 2002).’ Sociology involves describing and analysing how forces, such as social, political, economic and cultural arrangements shape and, influence behaviour and, the impact they have on individual identity construction (van Krieken et al. 2000). Sociology then, has society as its subject matter (Najman and Western, 2000).

The assertion that sociological theory arose in the 19th century as an attempt to explain social change can be examined by assessing the influence of historical events, occurring immediately before, during and following briefly that century, had on the development of sociology. The Enlightenment, and the French and Industrial revolutions prompted sociologist to query or challenge the social, economic and political composition of the time. Berger (1970) stated that sociology evolved through the need for understanding the confusion that followed these events.

The French revolution began in 1789 as the result of political and social unrest. The underlying factors that influenced the revolution were the corruption of the ruling government regime that led to worker impoverishment. Additionally, to the extortion of taxes from the peasantry and, the hierarchies insistence that they and, the religious sectors remain the owners of political power. This insistence prompted the public to revolt against the ruling regime and the clergy (Giddens, 1997:6-7), the result was the expulsion of the Bourbon monarchy and the establishment of the first republic. The religious sector also suffered with the overthrow of the Divine Rights of Kings, which previously formed the crux of religious belief during this period (van Krieken et al, 2000:23). The sweeping changes that resulted from the French revolution impacted upon the emergence of sociology because there became a sudden need for intellectual awareness in order to cope with the ramifications of the changes that had taken place (Berger, 1970:55).

The second transformation to occur during the period was the Industrial revolution in the late eighteenth century. This revolution began in Britain and subsequently ‘spread throughout Western Europe and the United States in the nineteenth century (Giddens, 1997:7).’ The Industrial revolution was a time of massive technological change, before this people had simply produced their own forms of sustenance by way of the barter system or living off of the land (Bilton et al, 1996:33). They were now faced with rapid movement from traditional rural areas to urban areas due to a need to obtain employment and earn a wage to survive. Sustaining their previous lifestyles was no longer possible (van Krieken et al, 2000:23).

Sudden urbanisation brought on by the revolution lead to changes in living and working conditions. There was a decline in the number of workers and a reduction in adequate living conditions. Unequal income distribution followed, due to the mass production of goods required to obtain a surplus that could support the lagging economies. The social and political upheaval created by the industrial revolution heavily influenced the work of earlier sociological thinker Karl Marx. Marx believed that under capitalism society would be divided into two classes, the ruling class who owned the means of production (bourgeoisie) and the workers or the oppressed who would be forced to sell their labour (proletariat) (Grabb. 1984:20-21). The result according to Marx is the exploitation of the workforce by the bourgeoisie through the modes of production (Crompton, 1998:27). In turn Marx believed this would lead to what he called the ‘alienation’ of the workforce, where workers would become disenchanted and no longer be able to derive any pride or satisfaction from their work (Grabb, 1984:24). This revolution spawned some of the most influential sociological work in history. The impact of sociology’s emergence in the nineteenth century because of social change is no more evident than in Marx’s class analysis.

The social forces that lead to the two revolutions provided the context in which sociology would emerge and prosper during the nineteenth century, as a means for understanding the new societies that were being created (Waters and Crook, 1993:7). A further social movement that influenced sociology’s emergence was Enlightenment.

Enlightenment not only helped to influence the French and Industrial revolutions it was simultaneously influenced by them. Enlightenment was a period during the eighteenth century that was committed to the rise of human knowledge and rationality in evaluating society (Waters and Crook, 1993). During this period, there was an increase in the belief in science that sought to challenge traditions and more specifically religion. The objective was to replace them with rational and scientific principles (van Krieken et al, 2000:23). Sociologists such as Marx, Weber, and Durkheim believed that the changes, which heralded modernity, would make religion obsolete (Giddens, 1997:349). This belief in secularisation made it possible for people to pursue a belief in science and to seek the solution to societies perils through the application and progress of human knowledge (Bilton et al, 1996:37). The idea that sociology was a science based on the same principles as the natural sciences led to the appearance of positivism. Positivism brought with it a way to apply the methodology used in the natural sciences to the study of society (Haralambos et al, 1996: 17). The two revolutions and Enlightenment signaled the arrival of modernity and with this newfound existence came a need to understand these events and the impact they would have in the future (Giddens, 1997:7). Thus, sociology was finally gaining academic legitimacy.

Sociology was not recognised as an academic discipline until the late nineteenth, early twentieth century (van Kneken et al. 2000:24). Two of the founding fathers Emile Durkheim and Max Weber are credited with transforming the study into an academic discipline. Before being recognised as a legitimate field of study, sociology was practiced outside of the academic realm (van Krieken et al. 2000:24). In part, sociology was made an academic discipline because people expected that this newly discovered insight could help explain why society changed during the great transformation and could advise on how to improve it (van Krieken et al, 2000:24). The late inception of sociology as an academic discipline may be one of the reasons that sociologists argue that its appearance in the nineteenth century was the result of social forces prevailing at the time. The assertion that sociology appeared in the nineteenth century due to the social forces prevailing at the time is also evident when comparing structuralism favoured during modernity to post modernism.

Although sociology is already an established academic discipline in contemporary societies, current social forces are still transforming it in the same way that it was created to explain and understand them. The structuralist perspective that developed during sociology’s initial stages presumed that individuals were the product of their social world, with fixed identities and a universal set of norms and values (van Krieken et al. 2000:22). Structuralism seeks to explain human actions as being produced by social structures.

This is in stark contrast to post modern theorists who believe that people shape their own lives and whilst social structures do play a part in an individuals life chances they are by-no means the sole determinant. Post modernists believe that people are able to create and control their own lives (by way of free will and alternative lifestyle choices) more extensively than their earlier counterparts (van Krieken et al, 2000:22).

The notion of positivism that was so widely advocated during Enlightenment has fallen by the way in contemporary sociology. Academics in the discipline now believe that human beings cannot be studied in the same way as the natural sciences because the complexities of sociological framework and findings cannot be understood in comparison with the natural sciences (Giddens, 1989:17). Durkheim’s idea that sociology should not be concerned with an individuals subjective interpretation of society (van Krieken et al, 2000:24) has given way to an avid interest in how people perceive their social world. Moreover, the meanings they attach to that world. A concept known as interpretivism (Bilton et al, 1996:494).

Traditionally, structuralist sociology addressed economic issues and how they affected society; this has changed in the post-modern era because of other movements that have formed. For example, the feminist movement, which led to a shift in sociological thought from the economic aspects to analysing how cultural aspects impact on society (van Krieken et al, 2000:28). Postmodern sociological thought has also had to contend with prevailing social forces. Increasing globalisation has produced a need for understanding how and why various forms of consumerism and, consumption have influenced not only society but also, how they create and affect popular culture. Additionally to understand how the growing interaction between the markets and ideals of other countries, influence our own society (van Krieken et al, 2000:28-29).

A further aspect of the change from structuralism to postmodernism is the fact that contemporary sociology does not focus purely on social forces. Rather it is also concerned with how individuals construct their identities. Post modernism does not assume that identities are fixed. Nor does it assume that there is a single set of norms or values present in contemporary society. Social factors are no longer considered the only issues that shape, an individuals life chances, there are broader issues of a biological and psychological nature that are central to a persons identity construction (Bilton et al, 1996:7-17). The agency or free will aspect of an individuals life facilitates greater choice in life direction. Traditional notions of marriage, sex roles, religiosity, conceptions of gender and family have changed and are specific to the individual (van Krieken et al, 2000:22).

The comparison between structuralist sociology and postmodern sociology illustrates that sociology as a discipline has evolved from its initial form because of contemporary social forces that have materialised. The comparison attempts to demonstrate not only how social forces have changed sociology over time but. It allso shows how social forces prevailing in the centuries leading up to the nineteenth century could account for the emergence of sociology during this period.

Anthony Giddens (1989:25) suggests ‘that sociology emerged as a distinct intellectual endeavour with the early development of modern industrialized societies, and the study of such societies remains its principle concern.’ Thus, sociology continues to survive for the same reasons it emerged, to analyse and explain social phenomena.

In summary, there are numerous reasons that sociologists argue that the appearance of sociology in the nineteenth century was itself a result of social forces prevailing at the time. The majority of which can be traced back to the French and Industrial revolutions, Enlightenment, and sociology’s acceptance as an academic discipline. Sociology gained momentum during this period as an intellectual alternative to explain the struggles that were taking place in the French revolution. To explain how and why the changes during the Industrial revolution occurred and the affect they would have. These revolutions along with Enlightenment hit society with such force and resulting turmoil that even today they remain firmly entrenched in discussions about the origins of sociology. Sociology found its place among this turmoil by way of the awareness it could provide in analysing and evaluating the new societies that were being formed.

The argument that sociology appeared in the nineteenth century because of social forces prevailing at the time gains further legitimacy when considering that it was not accepted into the academic sphere until this period. The social, political and economic upheaval generated between the 17th and 19th centuries accounts for the appearance of sociology largely because it was thrust into prominence during this time and subsequently gained notoriety as an academic discipline.

Feminists fight for the equality of women and argue that women should share equally in society’s opportunities and scare resources. Through the ages woman were seen as the production of children, mothers and wives, they do the cooking, cleaning, sewing and washing, they take care of their husbands and are largely excluded from high-status occupations and from position of power.

Patriarchy is a society in which the oldest male is the leader of the family, or a society controlled by men in whom they use their power to their own advantage and is the inequality the women experience within the family and background.

It is important to outline that not all feminists believe in the same concepts, that is some feminists come from different branches and they have their own ideal concept and ideologies.

The development of feminism has led to attention being focused on the subordinate position of women in many societies. Most Feminists tend to see society as divided into different social groups which are:

Marxist Feminist

Marxist feminist focus on social institutions of private property and capitalism. Marxist see the male domination as the one who provides capitalism to the family while the woman will eventually stay at home to raise the children and supply of labour. Inequality does not stand from the economic system but in the patriarchy. Some argue that there is inequality, but it’s not man who is causing it or those women are weak but we analyse inequality with a boarder social system.

Example: Margaret Benston (1970s) argues that women’s labour power in family is unpaid and so they are seen as the secondary breadwinners of the family which result into cheap and easily exploitable labour. To pay woman for their work, even at minimum scale, would result into a massive redistribution of wealth. Men’s/ Labourer’s work must compensate for two people: their own wage and that of the wife. According to Fran Ansley she sees the emotional support given by the wife when her own husband absorbs his own frustration and anger with her.

Radical Feminist

There are many varieties of radical families, in fact this is a theory of or by woman. The patriarchal or the male domination is the most universal form of domination and society which eventually forms the widest, suffering and deepest female oppression in society, regardless of your economic background, colour, and class. Women’s oppression provides a conceptual model for understanding all other forms of oppression. E.g. the focus of Radical Feminists is largely on the violence that women suffer, and their social subjugation through violent behavior inflicted by men. They believe that this is what keeps women oppressed whether they are rich or poor, black or white, educated or illiterate. The focus of Radical feminism is therefore on fighting gender related violence. Separatist Radical Feminist state that there is no point in changing men’s behaviour or attitude, woman must be separated from men to lead non-exploitative lives.

Example: Delphy and Leonard (1992) see the family as an economic system and it revolves around labour relations in which men will benefit from. Feminists see the family as a way for men to dominate women, men are usually the head of the house hold and benefit from the work that gets done e.g. making dinner, cleaning, bringing up kids and so on.

Liberal Feminist

Liberal Feminism is based on gender equality which means that both genders should have equal pay, better working jobs condition, education, individual achievement etc. All people are created equal and should not be denied equality of opportunity because of gender. Liberal Feminists focus their efforts on social change through the construction of legislation and regulation of employment practices which should be set by society for girls and boys, and men and women. Gaining job opportunities and being paid and promoted equally in traditionally male-dominated occupations is an important goal to liberal feminist. Someone might ask ‘but what do woman want?’ Liberal feminism answers: mostly, what men want: to get an education, to make a decent living, to provide for one’s family. So, the primary obstacle to equality is sexism which means that there is a belief that the members of one sex are less intelligent, able, skilful, etc. than the members of the other sex, especially that women are less able than men.

In the above paragraph I described liberal feminism in theory of work that focuses more on issues like equality of workplace, in education, in political rights but it is important to outline that liberal feminism looks at situations which are more private. Example liberal feminists tend to support marriage as an equal partnership, and more male involvement when it comes to child care. Another example is that of domestic violence. Ending domestic violence and sexual harassment have to do with removing obstacles to women achieving on an equal level with men. Nowadays liberal feminist see that both genders are becoming equal and that it improved.

Example: Jennifer Somerville (2000) encourages realistic policies which results into gender equality. Some modern men are voluntarily committed to sharing in those routines necessities of the family survival, even though men do not take full share of responsibilities.

Difference Feminist

Some feminist writers might disagree with the above aspects. Instead, they believe that one’s experience might be different than that of another individual. For example: they do not believe that all husbands treat there wife badly or are equally disadvantaged in all types of work, or that looking after her children is a stressful thing. They only emphasis on the experience of womanhood by taking into consideration one’s variables e.g. beliefs, employment, race, religion etc. still they do believe that woman are oppressed but they do not see it as affecting all women. Example a white rich woman lives in a more comfortable setting than that of a black poor woman.

History shows agriculture as a male domination area due to its physically demanding characteristics. Even until the start 20th century, roles in a society were divided among genders with women playing the central, main role in home as a primary caregiver in the form of a wife and mother; whereas the man has a more public role of the bread winner of the family. Legally men had power over there family and make can decisions, while beating of a wife was never strictly legalized in the U.S, however men involved in domestic violence rarely got punished.

However, critics of this concept had emerged by the end of the 18th century. The concept itself is commonly known as patriarchy i.e. role of men as the head of family and hence dominant over women and children. By the end of the 19th century a movement emerged, which strived to give women the right of voting. Even so, up to the start of the 20th century, the concept of patriarchy was prevalent, and received wide support from religious elements as well.

Ideas suggested as an alternative to patriarchy gained wide support in the 21st century and only a small number of people think that women are subordinated to men. All kinds of gender disparity still continue to exist. Domination of male has not disappeared yet, but it is on the defensive and its foundations are crumbling. (Gornick & Meyers, 2009)

Definition

Inequality can be defined as “lack of evenness or social disparity”. It can also be defined as treating individuals unequally on the basis of their gender. It occurs from different socially assigned gender roles. (Inequality, 2012)

Meaning

Discrimination is due to gender roles assigned by the society to specific genders for example it is considered that women’s are not good in the tasks which demands physical strength like Armed forces, body building, weight lifting etc, and also which requires mental calculations such as mathematics, business and engineering etc.

Discrimination In the workplace

Discrimination is also present at work places, where equally qualified and skilled group of workers are paid more than the other group.

Human capital

This theory suggests that qualification, knowledge, experience, or skill of a person adds to his value as a potential employee. This was the reason in the past because there was a difference in the qualifications of both the genders. But today education, knowledge, experience and skills are similar, so this is no longer the main issue.

Pollution theory

This theory says that jobs where women are in majority offer low income than do jobs where men are present. When a large number of women enter in a job men go for other options. Women are considered not much skillful and competent person. So when they are hired to any occupation people started to dislike it. Men hesitate to enter in female dominated jobs, so they don’t like women to enter in male dominated jobs. (Goldin, 2002)

Income disparity is a part of occupational segregation, where occupations are distributed among groups of people according to their characteristics; in this case, gender.

Horizontal segregation

Occupational gender segregation occurs because men and women are thought to have different physical, emotional, and mental strengths. These strengths make them different from each other. According to these characteristics their jobs vary. Because of that manual work is given to males and non manual tasks are given to females. (Meulders, Plasman, Rigo, & O’Dorchai, 2010)

Vertical segregation

This segregation occurs because jobs which are considered to be prestigious, powerful, authoritative and offering high income are given to men where as women are excluded from holding such jobs. (Meulders, Plasman, Rigo, & O’Dorchai, 2010)

Since 1960’s women are entering in different occupations in large numbers because of that each is associated with femininity or masculinity. Certain jobs have become more inclined towards or against either gender. Occupations like teaching, nursing, and librarians have become female-dominated and jobs such as architects, electrical engineers, and airplane pilots are male dominant.

Continued existence of gender income disparity cannot be fully understood through occupational segregation and human capital theories.

A possible contributor of gender wage gap is Glass ceiling effect. This effect suggests that it is difficult for women to achieve a higher position or ranking in different corporations and organizations because men are preferred to have those positions.

The term glass ceiling implies those unseen barriers which exist in the society and with hold women from advancing. If the qualification, experience and abilities of the women are same these barriers exist even then. These glass ceiling effects are more in higher powered or higher income occupations, where very few women are holding these kinds of occupations. This also indicates the limited chances of women for becoming a successful person. Because of these reasons inequality of the glass ceiling is increasing day by day. (Lewis, 2012)

Statistical discrimination

This discrimination is also present in the workplaces. Statistical discrimination indicates that employers like to hire men more than women because females are more likely than males to leave their jobs when they become married or pregnant. So they are assigned with jobs which have low mobility.

In foreign countries like Dominican Republic, female entrepreneurs are numerically more vulnerable to fail in business. If they fail they often return to their home life. On the other hand, if men failed in business they search for more jobs rather than quit finding any and sit home.

There are always some exceptions:

According to a survey on gender pay inequality by the International Trade Union Confederation, female employees in the Gulf state of Bahrain earns 40% more than male employees. (Iversen & Rosenbluth, 2011)

Professional education and careers

In mid 1960’s gender disparity appeared to narrow. In 1965 5% of students in professional programs were female. In 1985 this number increased to 40% in law and medicine, above 30% in dentistry and business school. There are few women in boards of directors and in senior positions in the private sectors.

Customer preference studies

In 2009 a study was conducted by David R. Hekman and colleagues. They studied the reactions of customers to videos in which a service center was depicted with a black male, a white female, or a white male actor was helping a customer. More than 19% people were satisfied with the white male performance, suggesting that one of the disparity reasons is customer bias. That is why white men continue to earn 25% more than equally-well performing women and minorities. This was especially interesting since almost half of the customers were women and a similar number of customers belonged to non-white group of people, indicating that even women and minority customers prefer white men.

The results of another study indicate that people prefer white male doctors even if they are only as qualified and well performing as other women or minority doctors present. White male doctors are therefore paid more than the others because customers are happy and satisfied with them. It is suggested that to solve this wage inequality issue we should try to change customer thinking or biases. It cannot necessarily be solved by paying women more. (Hekman, Aquino, Owens, Mitchell, Schilpzand, & Leavitt, 2009)

Discrimination At home
Gender roles in parenting and marriage

According to Sigmund Freud gender identity is determined by biology. Some people agree with Freud, others argue that the development of the gender is not completely determined by biology, but rather the interactions of the young one with the primary caregiver(s) that is the mother and the father.

According to Freud’s contemporaries, gender roles are developed through internalization and identification during childhood. From the start, parents interact and treat children differently on the basis of their gender, and due to this treatment parents can instill different values or traits in their children on the basis of what is normal for their gender. This can be seen through the example of toys which parents give to their children to play. For girls toys such as dolls are used to give them the feeling of nurturing, and closeness. For males toys such as cars or fake guns are used to give them the feeling of independence, competitiveness, and aggression. (Scarlett, 2010)

Attempts in equalizing household work

Women are usually associated with house hold so they are expected to quit their jobs and look after their family. While men do the work (job). However, there are some women who choose to do work as well as to take care of their gender role for example cleaning the house and taking care of the family.

Women are considered as primary care givers to their family even if they are doing a job. Studies show that working women give an 18 extra hours a week to do her household or childcare related activities. On the other hand men give only an average of 12 minutes a day in childcare chores. (Ellen G. Friedman, 2004)

Gender inequalities in relation to technology

Although new generation knows a lot about technology, men are considered more skillful in technology. One survey shows that when men are asked to rate their technological skills like basic computer functions and online participatory communication they rate themselves higher than women.

Structural marginalization

This occurs on an individual basis when they feel as if they are not a [part of their society. Policies can affect people. For example, media also defines gender roles displaying young girls with easy bake ovens promoting them as housewife as well as with dolls that they can feed and change the diaper promoting being a mother. Today women are not the stereotypical a housewife and a mother when they go for a job they have to face the consequences with that. (Cleveland G. Shields, 2007)

Gender stereotypes

Cultural stereotypes are a possible explanation for gender disparity and also gender wage disparity. Women are associated with caring; loving and nurturing so they are given jobs which require such skills. These skills are valued culturally and are typically associated with domesticity, so occupations with these skills are not valued economically.

Men are considered as workers means they are expected to do the work outside home. So jobs held by them are valued economically and hence pay higher wages. (Smith & Cook, 2008)

Recommendations/Suggestions

Gender discrimination can be eliminated by the following ways (inequality, 2012)

Educating women equally as men.

We should include women in the mainstream of the society that is we should not isolate her from the society.

Employment should be increased for women.

Women should actively participate in politics and social activities.

We should arrange programs which condemn violence against women and promote social protection programs.

Parents should not discriminate among their sons and daughters. We should aware parents in this regard.

Scholarships should be given equally to girls as well.

We should aware people to stop child abuse and violence.

Activities like abortions should be stopped.

Politicians should do something about the development of Social welfare for women.

NGOs should try to eradicate Gender Inequality.

Educating women about technology.

Women rights should be given to them.

Giving those good positions and pays who work well, without any gender bias.

Conclusion

People should change their perceptions about this issue and make society more fair and just for all. All sorts of discrimination should be discouraged and training should be given to young children to change their attitudes by showing examples at home. There is no gender disparity in Islam. In fact Islam is the religion which condemns gender inequality. So by following the path of Islam we can eliminate this problem.

The conflict perspective is one of two major sociological theories. Also known as the “conflict model,” it gives sociologists explanations for happenings in history and in society.The conflict perspective was planned by Karl Marx (classical founders of social science) in the middle 1800s. It is totally based upon the work of Karl Marx even though there are many scholars who have contribute in developing this perspective. Marx believed that conflict defined the happenings of society. His conflict perspective believed that the class conflict and class exploitation as the major moving forces in history.

This view was revived by C Wright Mills, Lewis Coser, Raymond Aron, Dahrendorf and others. They see a society as held together through the power of dominant groups or classes. C. Wright Mills’s views, (the founder of modern conflict theory) in social structures are created through conflict between people with differing interests and resources.

Conflict Theory:

Conflict theory generally surrounds the idea that most struggles in society happen because of conflicts between different social classes or groups.

Each group struggles to achieve more resources and because resources are limited, they must struggle with other groups.

Groups try to protect their own interests, therefore blocking the progress of other groups.

Individuals have aggressive impulses and these impulses are expressed in all relationships.

Litarature review
Marxism:

Karl Marx (1818-1883): as a humanist, Marx wanted all individuals to reach their full human potiential. He belived that capatilism was economic system design to keep power in the hands of the few ,the owner of the means of the production, while the masses were forced to abide by a social system created by the privileged.Marx believed that all of history is characterized by an economics struggle between the haves and the have-nots. Marx was attempting to combine material and ideal factors or structural and cultural factors, and to illustrate their mutual relationship. The importance that Marx placed on using the historical method reflects his evolutionary ideas about human society. He explained how humans separated themselves from animals once they consciously realized that they could produce their own means of subsistence, rather than depending on what nature provided.

According to Marx, Class struggle became the next to be expected step in the historical process of human development. Marx stated that class distinctions are heavily influenced by the ownership of personal property. Marx believed that once the exploited became conscious of their plight and misery, they would unite in revolution. The new society would be characterized by communism which was to be the economic and philosophical force that would remove class struggle. Marx’s primary ideas of communism are described in the communist manifesto (1848), co written by Marx and Engels. In brief, Marx and Engels believed that the world would be a better place under communism. They believed that class inequality would end with the collective control of property and with the growth in size and power of the working class. The governmental abuse of workers would end with the take apart of government. [i]

Max Weber (1864-1920): Weber agreed with Marx that ecnomics was an important variable in determining power differential among individuals in society. However, he believed that social divisions were based on two other factors as well: social status and political influence. Weber believed that someone how possesses a great deal of social status and yet is economically poor can still hold power in society. Additionally, Weber argued that “social group would identify themselves not merely according to wealth, but more deeply by ethnic and cultural backgrounds, and by shared ‘styles of life’”. Weber belived that conflict underlies all social relations and determines power. The control of power is a critical element in conflict theory and power is a central aspect in Weber’s work on the types of athurity. According to weber, the distribution of power and athority is the basis of social conflict. [ii]

Elite Conflict Theory (C. Wright Mills): (1916-1962)

Like other cflict theoritists, Mills were deeply influenced by the idea of Karl Marx. Political power and class differences were the focus of Mill’s publications. Mill’s wrote that the working class is not a revolutionary class capeable of overthrowing capitalism. He did not believe that the rank-and-file workers were a militant force, and that they were more concerned with basic daily issues then with seeking loftier goals. Furthermore, Mills concluded that labor leader did not work in the best intrest of worker and were instead coopted by business and government. He believed that the lack of leadership, the working class could never become a revoluntary force.

Power:

Power is the critical element of analysis for all conflict theorists. Mills (1958b) described three types of power:

Authority: Power that is justified by the beliefs of the voluntarily obedient.

Manipulation: Power that is wielded unbeknownst to the powerless.

Coercion: The final form of power is where the powerless are forced to obey the powerful.

Mills acknowledge that in the modern era, power is more likely to be authoritarian. And yet, the reality remains that most people will always be relatively powerless.

The power elite:

Mills says about the power elite that the power elite is composed of men whose position enable them to transcend the ordinary environments of ordinary men and women; they are in position to make decision having major consequences.

Mills (1958b) explain the unity of the power of elite in psychological and economic terms. The members of the elite generally share a similar origin, education and life style, and because of their similar social type, they easily mix together. Additionally, they are the society elite so they share economic goals. Mills acknowledge that the power elite were not solitary rulers. From the Marxist perspective, Mills felt that the people were subjected to, “the will of the bourgeoisie”. History has shown that when extreme conservatism is meet with a dramatically change society, conflict is inevitable. [iii]

Parsonian Conflict Theory (Dahrendorf): (1929)

Dahrendorf 1959 believed that sociological theories should be divided into two parts: those that concentrate on issues of consensus and those that concentrate on issues of conflict. Dahrendorf believed that conflict and consensus are both evident in any society. In fact, there cannot be conflict unless some degree of consensus has already been established. When a consensus has been reached, conflict disappears, temporarily.

Dahrendrof 1959:162 refer his conflict theory as the “coercion theory of society” which can be reduced to a small number of basic tents:

Every society is at every point subject to processes of change, social change is ever-present.

Every society displays at every point dissensus and conflict; conflict is ubiquitous.

Every element in a society cause to be contributions its disintegration and change.

Every society is based on the coercion of some of its members by other.

Dahrendorr believed that power implies the coercion of some by others but recognize that in organization and associations, the power held by certain persons is lawful authority. In making a distinctions from Marx, however, Dahrendrof suggest that authority is not bound by property rights and therefore believed that “class conflict is best seen as arising out of a dispute over the distribution of authority in a given authority structure”. [iv]

Conflict theory of Randall Collins: (1941)

Conflict theory generally emphasizes the role of power that one group, or person. Kemper and Collins (1990) argue “that power and status are fundamental relational dimensions at the micro level of social interaction and perhaps at the macro level as well”.

Collins (1975) assumed that there are certain “goods”, namely, wealth, power, and prestige that people in all societies will pursue. Furthuremore, all people dislike being ordered around and will therefore that what they can to avoid the subordinate role. Thus, conflict is inevitbale, for everyone is in pursuit of scarce resources and the roles related to these desired resources. Collins (1975b) concluded that coercion and the ability to “force”others to behave a certain way are the primary basis of conflict.

Collins developed five principles of conflict analyses (Ritzier, 2000c:130);

Conflict theory must focus on real life rather than abstract formulation.

Material arrangement effect interaction. .

In some situation of inequality between persons, those who possess the power position generally attempt to exploit those who back resources.

The role of culture phenomena, such as beliefs, values, and norms believe must be examined in term of their interest, resources and power.

There must a firm commitment to the scientific study of stratification and every other aspect of the social world.

In his conflict theory, it is clear that Collins focus on individuals and their inner struggles reveals a micro orientation.Collins believed that sociological research should be aimed at solving concrete problems in the world. [v]

Feminist conflict theory:

Conflict theory has been used by feminists to explain the position of women in society. Feminist conflict theorists argue that women have traditionally been demoralized so that men can benefit from positions of power, wealth, and status. These theorists would argue that the conflict over limited natural resources is what led men to relegate women to domesticity. This interpretation of conflict theory also leads to the idea that men cannot be trusted to give power to women because this gift would conflict with their inherent nature. [vi]

Conclusion:

So it concluded that man’s struggle for power, be it family or work place, play group or politics, man wants to achieve the higher and authoritative position. It starts from personal level to national level. There are various groups and communities of people in society belonging to different classes, religions, and ideologies. All of them have different perspectives and values. The clash between these various perspectives leads to conflict between these groups. This conflict can arise from the desire to own the means of production, to own the power or land, or to own the realm of political power, and can be revolutionary. Under the conflict perspective we can say that the basic form of interaction in society is not cooperation, but competition, and this leads to conflict. Because the individuals and groups of society compete for advantage, there is constantly conflict for change. When there are large groups competing the outcome are often major social change. So conflict perspective is all about the differences between social groups in the society. [vii]