Showing papers on "Westernization published in 1993"

Saudi Arabia: Government, Society and the Gulf Crisis

Abstract: This much-revised edition of Professor Abir's Saudi Arabia in the Oil Era now includes consideration of both Gulf Wars. Abir examines the social and political forces that have shaped Saudi Arabia, including the impact of Islam and of Westernization, drawing heavily on Saudi sources. There is also essential analysis of regional security dilemmas and of the country's prospects in the post-Gulf War era.

From Post-Communism to Civil Society: The Reemergence of History and the Decline of the Western Model

Abstract: For virtually all the major schools of Western opinion, the collapse of the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe and in the Soviet Union, between 1989 and 1991, represents a triumph of Western values, ideas, and institutions. If, for triumphal conservatives, the events of late 1989 encompassed an endorsement of “democratic capitalism” that augured “the end of history,” for liberal and social democrats they could be understood as the repudiation by the peoples of the former Soviet bloc of Marxism-Leninism in all its varieties, and the reemergence of a humanist socialism that was free of Bolshevik deformation. The structure of political and economic institutions appropriate to the transition from post-Communism in the Soviet bloc to genuine civil society was, accordingly, modeled on Western exemplars—the example of Anglo-American democratic capitalism, of Swedish social democracy, or of the German social market economy— or on various modish Western academic conceptions, long abandoned in the Soviet and post-Soviet worlds, such as market socialism. No prominent school of thought in the West doubted that the dissolution of Communist power was part of a process of Westernization in which contemporary Western ideas and institutions could and would successfully be exported to the former Communist societies. None questioned the idea that, somewhere in the repertoire of Western theory and practice, there was a model for conducting the transition from the bankrupt institutions of socialist central planning, incorporated into the structure of a totalitarian state, to market institutions and a liberal democratic state. Least of all did anyone question the desirability, or the possibility, of reconstituting economic and political institutions on Western models, in most parts of the former Soviet bloc.

Is demographic uniformity inevitable

Abstract: Globalizing processes of industrialization and Westernization are creating a retreat from diversity in human experience. The paper discusses whether population trends are reinforcing this process and draws on findings about growth rates, the family and urbanization in Western countries. East and Southeast Asia and Latin America. The extent to which counterbalancing forces, including cultural resilience, are curbing homogenization is also examined.

Transformation of child socialization in Korean culture

Abstract: Korean society has experienced various changes in industrialization and in value system, which result in a dual value orientation‐traditional familism and individualism from westernization in child socialization. This paper attempts to review child socialization and to compare aspects of modern families with traditional families, especially in accordance with family ideology.

Politics and ideology in the Islamic republic of Iran

Abstract: That the Iranian revolution of 1979 was genuine can hardly be contested. But its rather rapid metamorphosis into an Islamic revolution was as much the product of the ulama's political shrewdness as it was their political fortune. Leaving aside the causes of their ascendancy to power, the inevitable consequence of their reign has been an impressive politicoideological Islamization of Iran. It all began shortly after the election of the first president, Abol Hassan Bani Sadr, in January 1980. Though at first the drive was thought to be a transient cultural backlash caused by half a century of modernization and westernization under the Pahlavis, it soon evolved into a vigorous campaign with clear structural ramifications.

Tradition, modernity, and Confucianism

Abstract: As is well known, concern with "otherness" is a prominent theme in contemporary Western thought, particularly in that strand of Western thought often labeled as "postmodern." Under the aegis of post-struc? turalism and deconstruction, a concerted assault has been mounted on self contained notions of "subjectivity" (the Cartesian ego cogito) in favor of a readiness to transgress individual or collective identities in search of radical difference and alterity. While generally applauding this "decentering" move, I have for some time been troubled by its incipient bent to vacuity: its tendency to celebrate a purely speculative otherness while stubbornly shying away from any contact or engagement with a concrete "other" (individual or culture). Reduced to an abstract gesture, postmodern open? ness quickly turns into a facile rhetorical or academic exercise an exercise which can readily be reabsorbed or reappropriated by conventional patterns of thought. In an effort to resist the peril of renewed self-enclosure, I have in recent years attempted to transgress the confines of "Western" philosophy in the direction of non-Western modes of thought and culture. In a sense, non Western or Eastern thought may be regarded as the concrete "other" of Western modernity, especially to the extent that attention is given to the deeper roots or long-standing traditions of Eastern culture. In the present pages, I want to sketch briefly some facets of my encounter with Chinese thought, particularly with the legacy of Confucianism. The concrete occasion for this encounter was an international conference held in June of 1991 at the University of Nanjing on the topic "Traditional Chinese Thought and Culture and the 21st Century." The central focus of the conference was the relevance and viability of indigenous Chinese traditions in the face of the relentless modernization and Westernization of the globe; among Chinese traditions, Confucianism clearly occupied the limelight of attention. (I might add that the Sixth East-West Philosophers' Conference, held in Honolulu during July-August 1989, was devoted to the cognate

The Process of Westernization: Adoption of Western-Style Dress by Korean Women, 1945-1962:

Abstract: This paper details the process of Korean women's abandoning traditional dress and its accessories for the more functional western dress. We analyzed the reported reactions of a sample of Korean women to their experiences during the acculturation period from 1945 to 1962. The 21 women selected for interviews had lived in Korea through the acculturation period and were now living in the United States.The findings generated from this study of Korean women's adoption of western-style dress during the acculturation period revolve around the variables of age and education, physical and psychological comfort, body image, societal and peer pressures, and clothing symbolism as ethnic identity makers. This exploratory study using acculturation as a framework for understanding the different reactions of Korean women showed that change has been dramatic and relatively swift, influenced by two major factors: age and educational background The adoption of western clothing by Korean women reflects their acceptance of th...

Between Civilization and Culture: Appropriation of Traditional Dwelling Forms in Early Republican Turkey

Abstract: Modernity outside the West is generally conceptualized with the aid of such dualities as civilization versus culture, international versus national, and modern versus traditional. The first part of each pair is associated with progress, scientific rationality, and westernization; the other signifies historical continuity and local identity. A close analysis of the appropriation of traditional dwelling forms by the Turkish architects of the 1920s and early 1930s renders this perspective problematic and raises significant historiographical issues. First, these architects' use of the traditionalist discourse as a means to assert modernity rather than to counteract it underscores the explanatory power of dualist perspectives. Second, the absence of any critique of modernity, urbanism, and capitalism from the traditionalist position in Turkey renders the latter significantly different from seemingly similar western developments such as the Heimatschutz movement in Germany. Having elitist rather than populist o...

Cross‐currents in teaching English in Singapore

Abstract: This paper examines the political, sociocultural and economic factors governing the teaching of English in Singapore. It reviews the changes which took place in the last ten years, showing how these changes were brought about through deliberate measures on the part of the government in conjunction with the free choice of the people themselves. Special attention is given to the ambivalent attitude of both the government and its people towards the increasing dominance of English in the island state. Whilst the government is anxious to promote the use of English to support commercial and technological developments for economic success, it is at the same time concerned about the effects of Westernization which may ultimately undermine the country's economic growth. Similarly whilst the people have, for pragmatic reasons, chosen English education for their children, they are concerned about the falling standard of Chinese in the society. This paper also studies the effects of the bilingual or bi-literacy policy in Singapore's education system and its impact on inculcating Asian cultural values.

Eating disorders in different cultures

Abstract: Summary The epidemiology of eating disorders in non-western cultures and among ethnic minorities in the west is reviewed. The evidence from case reports and the few epidemiology studies suggests that eating disorders are rare in thesepopulations. However, high rates have been found in Japan and among South Asian schoolgirls in Britain. The use of western questionnaires and western diagnostic criteria in non-western cultures raises major methodological issues. Questionnaires designed for western populations when used cross culturally, must be evaluated for linguistic, conceptual and scale equivalence. This will clan. whether the questionnaire is satisfactory, whether modifications are required, or whether a new instrument needs to be developed. The validity of western diagnostic criteria also needs critical evaluation, since eating disorders may have dtflerent characteristics in non-western cultures. The question has been raised whether eating disorders are culture bound syndromes, specific to modern western culture. High rates of eating disorders have been reported in groups undergoing rapid westernization. Whether eating disorders occur in cultures untouched by western influence is still unknown. However, there is considerable historical evidence for self-inflicted fasting syndromes occurring in Europe in previous centuries. The importance of current western attitudes towards dieting and body shape in the aetiology of eating disorders may have been over-stated.

Educating for Change in Attitudes toward Nature and Environment among Oriental Jews in Israel

Abstract: Like other industrial and developing states, Israel needs to instill into its population a sense of care for the environment. This is easier to achieve with Israelis from a European background than with the Oriental Jews. This large group, comprising about half of Israel's Jews, are going through a process of Westernization, which involves a radical change in their traditional attitudes in many aspects of life. Different programs carried out by the Society for Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) aim at educating this population, and especially the younger, Israel-born generation, toward a change in their views of and relations to nature and the environment. An account is given of the prevailing attitudes found in traditional Jewish-Oriental society, based on one hand on general Jewish religious sources and on the other hand on oral and written texts of the Oriental communities themselves. A limited comparison shows the existence of similar attitudes in other Jewish and non-Jewish traditional societies. ...

The state and cultural transformation : perspectives from East Asia

Abstract: Introduction - The state and cultural transformation in modem East Asia. Part 1 China: Cultural factors in the process of China's modernization China's development mode and her cultural tradition Different social and cultural types among Chinese national minorities Chinese family values - past and present Rural development and consequent cultural changes in China - a case-study. Part 2 Japan: The Westernization of clothes and the state in Meiji Japan The failure of modern Japan - the decline in traditional arts and culture Cultural transformation in Japan's industrialization - local adaptation to foreign silk technology The Japanese in colonial South-East Asia Perceptions of the state in post-war Japan The state, industry, and farmers - agribusiness in Japan. Part 3 The Republic of Korea: Characteristics of Korea's view of the outside world in the late Choson period (1392-1910) The state and culture in Korean development Building a strong state and development in South Korea Cultural transformation in rural and urban Korea. Part 4 The Democratic People's Republic of Korea: Conversion from a colonial agricultural state into a socialist industrial state The questions of nations and national sovereignty Experiences of state building in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea Cultural revolution and the intellectualization of society.

Modern Arabic Literature: Arab women writers

Abstract: WRITING IN THE WILDERNESS To assess Arab women's writings in the twentieth century, we must go back to the latter half of the nineteenth. The late 1880s were a time of turmoil in Egypt, the contemporary cultural heartland of the Arab world. There was a climate of openness and acceptance of the new. Egypt was attracting Arab intellectuals – including women like the Lebanese Zaynab Fawwāz (1850–1914) in 1870, Wardah al-Yāzijī (1838–1924) in 1899 and the Palestinian-Lebanese Mayy Ziyādah (1886–1941) in 1908 – who could not find such intellectual freedom at home. Many of these immigrants became journalists, thus overcoming their outsider status and becoming intellectually integrated into their new society. Persistent contact with Europe throughout the nineteenth century was beginning to have a profound effect in Egypt. The values and philosophies of this alien culture were being absorbed and slowly transformed into indigenous commodities. The novel and the short story became for the Egyptians, as for their European counterparts, forays into reality. Writers, using these genres, could begin to create themselves as subjects within their transforming social context. Women, too, were beginning to write. Contrary to what is generally believed, there were some women in the nineteenth century who were educated and could write.

The Emergence of the Secular Kingdom of God

Abstract: The ideal of modern science of mastering the forces of nature and the idea of progress emerged neither in the classical world nor in the East, but in the West But what enabled us to remake the world in the image of man? Is it perhaps that the belief in being created in the image of a Creator-God, the hope in a future Kingdom of God, and the Christian command to spread the gospel to all the nations for the sake of salvation have turned into the secular presumption that we have to transform the world into a better world in the image of man and to save unregenerate nations by Westernization and reeducation?