Term Paper on "Independence of Individual and Separation From Family Across Cultures"

Term Paper 7 pages (2234 words) Sources: 7 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Family Independence Across Cultures

Independence of Individual and Separation from Family across Cultures

Different cultures have different perceptions about independence. When a child is born it is dependent to the parent for most basic things. As it grows, he or she discovers and develops his or her own personality. Developments happen in all aspects, emotionally, mentally and physically. These aspects are responsible in differentiating an individual's personality in the society. A person achieves independence when he or she can make decisions on his life without depending on anyone to decide for him or her. Different cultures have different views on independence depending on factors such as age and gender. Several factors are considered in understanding the issue of independence in a culture in order to grant independence to a person in different cultures.

A determinant factor of the sense of independence is the background. It is, therefore, essential to look into the value of children and their bringing up experience in different cultures. The value of children differs in different cultures very much. In some communities, children are just part of wealth while in others children are the most important people in the society. These differences affect the lives of these children and their view of independence. With these differences, the qualities desired in children then differ from culture to culture depending on the value the community has on the children. Different communities desire different qualities from their children.

In most cultures, men are independent. Occasionally, they are goal oriented and determined. This makes them naturally the head of the family. Contrary to that, women are interdependent. They are communal and oriented towards others. They are usually attached to people around them either their friends or family. They do everything possible to please these people and are proud to be associated with them (Eagly & Steffen, 1984). These stereotypes affect the considerations of people in important tasks like hiring and employing people (Chou 162). Some companies for instance will reserve certain posts for a particular gender because they believe in these stereotypes.

Some of the issues regarding independence and inter-dependence are usually based on the cultures core values. They are mainly determined by what certain communities consider as valuable. Cultures fall into either of these categories Individualistic vs. Communal or Interdependent vs. Dependent. In America, the culture is individualistic. Therefore, the goals of this society emphasize on self-reliance and independence. Other cultures like the South Korean culture are more communal or interdependent. Therefore, their cultures mainly emphasize on societal duties and obligations and communal goals. According to the United Nations, men in all countries have a higher status compared to women. In the individualistic cultures like America, men seem to poses the most valued traits compared to women. However, gender stereotypes are not universal. They are determined by the cultures of different places.

In Turkey, there are different perceptions about culture. Two groups of people, the Muslims and the Turks, mainly inhabit Turkey. The fact that the two groups of people have different views on religion and culture has made turkey one of the countries with the most divergent cultures, globally. Among the Turks, women have their rights. As practiced here in America and most of Europe, the Turks are more individualistic. The Muslim community, however, follows strictly the laws of the Quran. Women are supposed to be submissive and dependent to their husbands. Consequentially, perceptions on independence have been extremely different. The Muslim perception of independence, mainly bases its arguments on the laws of the Quran, the core notion being men superiority over women. Women's main duty is to serve their husbands with respect and extreme obedience. The Turkish Muslim women have accepted their position as inferior to men. They, therefore, are contented with their position in society. However, a part of Europe has a culture similar to that of pure Turks. Interdependence is highly practiced, and individualism is downcast. Turkish women are equal to men and have equal rights unlike the Muslim society where women are inferior to men.

The modernization is a total social process associated with (or subsuming) economic development in terms of the preconditions, concomitants, and consequences of the latter (Taylor and Francis 2007). The modernization theory is a theory that suggests that the family patterns are likely to change to the western families as the world continues to develop. The theory was most famous in 1960s and 1970s. It suggests that, as the world develops, families further develop to be nuclear families. Many of the cultures in the world today have their families to each inter-connected to each other. As the world develops, they are likely to lose those ties as everyone seeks to develop himself first. Later, the large extended families disintegrate to small nuclear families that consist of the father mother and children (Saal, 1987).

As children grow, their desire for self-actualization becomes more emphasized compared to family ties. This leads to the disintegration of the communal system of these societies and the adoption of individualistic views in the society. Such a move increases the independence rate worldwide. Their parents alone, unlike the case in many societies where child raising is a communal responsibility, raise children. As a result, these children know very little about their background since they have little contact with the rest of their relatives as they grow up. When they grow up, they move out of their parents' home and continue with the trend. This practice develops a society where individual success is more important than family, therefore, developing a more individualistic society.

The western families are a good example of these separations. As the western countries were developing, the family ties changed significantly. The people moved from the communal perspective of individualism to the individualistic view of independence. The families broke from the huge extended families to the simple nuclear families. Most family at present consists of the father mother and children. When the children are of age they move out and go start a life away from their parents thus being more independent (Saal, 1987).

Kagitbasi, a Turkish psychologist carried out a research on the motivations to child rearing in turkey in the 1970s. His research showed different reasons that parents rear their young children. He argued that apart from the natural instincts that lead to parenting, there are other factors that contribute to child rearing all over the world. These motives vary from social economical to psychological. The social economic motivation is that children not only help in household chores when they are young but also provide security too their parents in old age. The psychological motivation is all about the joy, love, and pride. The economic motives are mainly found in the rural communities where parents rare their children when they are young and depend on them in old age. Therefore, the economic and demographic concepts influence child rearing in these communities.

The family model has kept on changing with the times. These changes will continue to happen as the world continues to develop. The family value of children based on material wealth is likely to decrease as the economy grows. The dependency based on psychology is likely to increase worldwide. Kagitcibasi highlighted three major family models. They are; the family model of total inter-dependence, the family model of independence, and the family model of emotional or psychological interdependence (Misra and Agarwal 252).

The family model of total interdependence is the family in which the child is useful in most of the ways. This model is more common in the rural areas the child is a helper when he or she is young. A child is supposed to participate in chores and other duties in the family. As one grows strength increases, therefore, takes on more difficult chores like farming. The children in this model are economic assets to the family. They provide economic value to the family. Activities such as farming, grazing, and other economic activities are left to the children. In this setting the more, the children one has the higher the economic value he has. These children, on the other hand, provide the much-needed financial security to their parents in old age. The children take care of their parents in old age. They inherit the land their parents own together with the responsibility of taking care of these parents. This set of dependency shows there is mutual benefit in child rearing. Both the parent and children benefit from each other (Phalet and Schonpflug 188).

The dependence model is more often associated with the middle class families. In this model, the parent takes good care of children from their early ages. It is the sole responsibility of the parent to take care of the children. Unlike the interdependent model where the children have an economic value, the children in this model add no economic value to the family. They rarely have any responsibilities that add to the family's economic basket. The parents have to strive to make sure that they have ample… READ MORE

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