Impact of Religion and Culture on Development

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Development
How Religion and Culture impact Development
Conclusion
References

Introduction

This essay will define the meaning of development, its measurement parameters, and other development indicators. It then will identify some aspects of religion and cultural practices that interact with development; those interactions will then be quantified before finally assessing their individual impacts on the overall human and economic development. The questions that the essay is intended to answer are: What is development? How is development measured? How will people’s culture change upon development? What other factors apart from religion and culture affect development?

Development

Development in a national context is defined as the improvement in a countries economic and social status. This is to say that the entire population in a given country has reached a certain standard of living where they are all comfortable in terms of management of their natural resources and in the creation of wealth. There are basically two types of development: Economic and Human developments. The former means the measure of how wealthy a country is and how that wealth is created, while the latter refers to the degree by which people get access to wealth (nutrition, health care, jobs, and political freedom, among other things).

Development indicators include Health-For a country to say that it is developed health-wise; it means that all its citizens are accessible to quality health care. The next indicator is Industry-Which tends to define the type of industries in a country (whether agricultural or manufacturing). Lastly is Education-The available institutions in a country as compared to the population. Also is the degree of literacy in a country.

How Religion and Culture impact Development

The role played by religion in development is due to religious structure, organizations, and regulations. Economists have in the past neglected this role that religion play in shaping development. “Unless development economists acquaint themselves with the relevant socio-political literature, they will be working in the dark.” (Epstein, 1973, 6). It is common knowledge to all that a good education is a major ingredient required for any positive growth. This essay highlights those areas in education that are affected by religion. All the religions, be it Islamic, Hinduism, Christianity, or Buddhism, have doctrines that hinder education; such hindrances eventually impact development. Religious doctrines can either make or break human development, as illustrated below, by taking Christianity and Islam as examples.

Development is unlimited, and in a broad sense, means accessing whatever information is important for your advancement. Religious leaders have perceptions of the contents of the school syllabus. They oppose the idea that such things as sex education and all those subjects that are based on scientific theories should be scraped from the school syllabus. They also claim that girls have no right to education.

In the Christian setting, the children are taught that God is the Supreme Being and solutions to all problems lie with Him. They, therefore, have to believe only in their faith as the sole truth. One’s good life depends only on how well one follows the teachings. Such believers might get rooted so much in the beliefs and be tempted to make no effort to do anything but pray with hopes that prayers will improve their economic and social status.

Islamic teaching is compulsory at the lower levels of education, especially in the Middle East. Such teachings have their negative take on derailing development. For instance, teachers have to pass a religious exam before they are allowed to teach in Islamic schools. This is a form of discrimination and is in itself a milestone to the free passage of information. It is also a forbidden and a punishable offense for students to have free thoughts or to pursue any scientific advancement, thanks to the superstition that surrounds such acts. Another development indicator is freedom of expression and choice. The Islamic culture is male-dominated and teaches children that women are less superior to men and that they have no right of choice. In Islamic culture, women are ready for marriage at the early age of nine. They, therefore, drop out of school at lower levels. Women are pictured only as mothers and housewives. Such a belief in any society is an impediment to development (Hensman, 1987).

Islamic culture favors men more as compared to women. There is serious sexual segregation; whether in schools, workplaces, or in homes, women are separated from men. This is what (Azam Kamguian) calls “sexual apartheid.” Women are viewed as the source of evil and corruption in the community; they are the cause why men go astray. Their freedom of movement and to happily socialize is denied, their thoughts and minds are controlled, they are put under scrutiny by men from what they wear to what they say. That is a practice that never has and will never promote equality which is a major requirement in development.

Fertility influences the demography of a nation, and studies have shown that religion affects fertility (Lehrer, 2004; Mc Quillan, 2004). Other researchers argue that it as well plays a role in the political outcomes (Glaeser, Ponzetto and Shapiro, 2005).

Sex education in any school is religiously unacceptable, and most religious cultures prohibit acts like the friendship between boys and girls, which they perceive as secular. Since socializing is a component of development, such restrictions will only slow the rate of human development in every aspect; for any country to experience growth of any form, all sectors have to be coordinated and work as a unit. This coordination can never be achieved if different sexes are kept apart.

On a more positive note, we also find out that religion fosters trust among the faithful. This can result in a more cooperative behavior where people can accommodate one another in society. (Borooah and Iyer, 2005, 5) referred to this as “social capital,” where three aspects are emphasized: social networks, social norms, and social sanctions. (Ibid, 6) also examined the macro and micro consequences of religiosity and reported that several channels exist through which religious capital can impact economic growth. Some of which include; Exerting positive thoughts on human capital by promoting education among the believers and altering the way in which technology and human capital are used.

Religion, on the positive side, preserves the moral values required in a society. This would help in a situation where immoral acts brought about by the inversion by other cultures are not adopted because of the existing religious restrictions; such unaccepted acts will not be allowed to crop and get root into the society.

Several religious doctrines bar students from accessing important information by restricting them from holding onto certain beliefs and religious values. To spark a positive boost on the economy, the focus needs to be put both on the supply side(the structures of religious organization) and the demand side(preferences of consumers in religious economies). (Stark & Finke, 2000). Culture means the traditional practices of a particular people in a given society. Culture is said to be able to affect people’s preferences.

The way by which culture relates to development is by the tendency of various forms of tourism-another great indicator of development. Take the example given in (Robert 1993, 51) quoting (Valene Smith, 1997, 14: Ed. 1) “Hosts and Guests,” an anthology in tourism studies. “To be more negative than positive in impact.”

Strict observation of cultural practices from conservatives hinders any form of change, whether positive or negative. Culture is a natural conception of tradition-which in itself is a model of past practices. With good cultural practices, there will still be evidence of growth through tourism by the attraction of other individuals into the camp. “…culture is a process of ordering, not disruption. It changes and develops like a living organism; it does not normally ‘survive’ an abrupt alteration”. (Clifford 1988, 235). Modernization should therefore not be allowed to erode cultural identity.

“Culture can be wrapped and sold to tourists in the form of ancient sites, folk costumes, ritual ceremonies as well as the everyday life of ordinary people” (Cohen and Kennedy, 213).

Culture is that missing element in sustainable development (Michael L. Tan). Sustainable growth and development will be witnessed with good cultural interaction with governance and business in modern society. But to see this happen, there has to be cultural diversity and cultural freedom that allows for practice to develop this diversity. There need to be multicultural policies to spark development; people will therefore be free to be what they want to be and do whatever they want to do. Such policies should be able to recognize the relative cultural differences, a champion for diversity, and more importantly, allow for cultural freedom.

Societies that still embrace strong cultural values are stable. And stability is a major requirement in order to create a good foundation for development. People living in such a society have a strong sense of community bondage, and to add to that, they value both the inner and outer peace as well as respect for their relationship. Development, therefore, should be done within the context of the local culture in order to observe these norms and to make any new concept acceptable to the locals. Education has got its take on causing a shift in cultural practices. Those who have pursued education up to some level will tend to drop the activities that were practice by their ancestors and instead go for the more lucrative jobs. The ease by which this can be accepted in the community needs to be assessed to enable economists and other development partners to gauge the expected rate of growth and development of a given area.

Conclusion

In this essay, we have managed to identify those aspects of how religion and cultural practices interact and impact both human and economic development. Religion does this through its structural system, conservative leaders, organizational and regulations or doctrines. The overall perception of the religious leaders on secular matters touching on the economy together with economists’ ideas on religion, has been discussed in this essay. We, therefore, answered satisfactorily the questions laid on the introductory stage. It has elaborated clearly the meaning of development, how it is measured, its indicators, and how religion and culture affect it.

Examples of Christian and Islam doctrines were taken to give illustrations on the answers to the questions to be solved. From the facts in this article, it, therefore, will be right to say that….development in any sense goes hand in hand with religion and culture, and the two directly influence the measurements of development greatly. A compromise point should therefore be reached to help balance all the factors related to development indicators to reach a state that is considered to be comfortable to all. Before the introduction of any modern development in a community, the people live in harmony and look so happy. It is, therefore, a necessity to try before injecting a foreign practice into the people to get to know what aspects of the people’s culture lead them to be happy despite their hardships. When trying to bring development to a place, therefore, such aspects have to be preserved if development is to be appreciated and wholly accepted by the people.

We have to accept the fact that culture is a living thing, and like all other living things, its change is of the essence. This change is inevitable, especially as development takes root. A way, therefore, needs to be devised to gradually affect these changes in such a manner that it will not be too drastic to shake the very foundation that the culture was built. The indigenous people should devise a means to enable them to make a choice as well as to control the type of developments that affect their lives. Even though integrating education, health care, and better living standards will improve society’s condition, they still are supposed to be controlled and only introduced at the rate which can be accommodated by society.

References

Azam Kamguian Adapted from a speech given at the 5th symposium of the Arab Cultural Centre in London in 2000 and also at a seminar held by Save the Children in Stockholm.

Borooah & Iyer, 2005; “The Influence of Religion and Caste on Education in Rural India”. Journal of Development Studies 41, 1369–404.

Cohen Robin and Kennedy Paul: Global Sociology. Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. Chap.12, p.212-229. 213.

Glaeser, E., Ponzetto, G. and Shapiro, J. 2005. “Strategic extremism: why Republicans And Democrats divide on religious values”: Quarterly Journal of Economics 120, 1283–330.

Guiso Luigi, Sapienza Paola & Zingales Luigi, “Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?” 2006: CEPR Discussion Papers 5505, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

Hensman, Rohini. “Oppression within Oppression: The Dilemma of Muslim Women in India.” Women Living under Muslim Laws: Working Paper no.1, 1987.

Iyer, S. 2002. Demography and Religion in India. Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Kenworthy, L. Do social-welfare policies reduce poverty? A cross-national assessment: Social Forces, 77(3), (1999). 1119-1139.

Lehrer, E. 2004; “Religion as a determinant of economic and demographic behavior In the United States”: Population and Development Review 30, 707–26.

Marios. Cleovoulou “How does development affect culture?” 1998.

Michael L. Tan ” Mobilizing Truth for Integral Sustainable Development (ISD) 2004 | Pinoy Kasi, Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Paola, Luigi & Luigi Guiso, 2006. “Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?” NBER Working Papers; 11999, National Bureau of Economic Research.

Scarlett Epstein: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow, London: Macmillan, 1973; South India.

Stark, R. and Finke, R. 2000. Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Stark, R., Iannaccone, L. and Finke, R. 1996. “Religion, science and rationality”: American Economic Review 86, 433–7.

Syed, Anwar H. 1997: “Islamic Models of Development”. In Howard J. Wiarda (Ed) Non Western Theories of Development: Regional Norms Versus Global Trends. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Wood, Robert E. 1993: “Tourism, Culture and the Sociology of Development”. Michael Hitchcock et al (Eds): Tourism in South-East Asia. London & New York: Routledge. P 48-69.

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