Question

Merits and demerits of adopting western culture

Answer 1

Westernization is the conversion to or adoption of western tradition andcustom. Giving a unique denition to westernization will be dicult becauseit varies according to location. Therefore, the way i!ians adopt cultures andtradition in areas such as technology, law, politics, economics, clothing andlanguage will be di"erent from how the other #acic $slands nations adapt. $tbrings with it positive and negative changes that a"ects people eitherdirectly or indirectly. %y that means, this essay will be discussing theadvantages and disadvantages of Westernization in the i!ian culture. To begin with, westernization brought with it a lot of positive changes thatare now beneting the i!ian natives and the nation as a whole. &amuel #.'untington clearly stated that (%ecoming a modern society is aboutindustrialization, urbanization, and rising levels of literacy, education, andwealth. The qualities that ma)e a society Western, in contrast, are special*the classical legacy, +hristianity, the separation of church and state, the ruleof law, civil society -/, p0123. or e4ample, a village boy is beingeducated until he attained his degree and gets a !ob, he will help his familybac) in the village by improving their standard of living from a thatchedhouse to a much better one. Thus, as a result of westernization, nativepeople have been educated thereby increasing literacy level and it in turnimproves the standard of living.5dditionally, westernization also introduced a very reliable means of fasterand convenient means of doing wor). $t brought with it technology that isnow widely used in villages. Technology has improved the way wor)s aredone, faster communication and has been a reliever to most people. ore4ample, farmers are now using tractors to help in ploughing the eld andalso transporting the products to the mar)et in truc)s. %efore it used to ta)ea few days to travel from the village to the mar)et but with improvedtechnology, travelling from the village to the mar)et will only ta)e 671 hours.  Therefore, it is a positive adaptation because it has lessened the burden tomany villagers and manpower is not overused.$n contrast, westernization also has its disadvantages in that8 it hasminimized ethical and moral values. This resulted from adopting westerncultures and tradition. #eople tend to lose their own cultures and traditionand are evident in the way some people conduct themselves. or e4ample,news and reports of criminal activity will be on the news almost every day,this is because people want to imitate what they see in western movies.+onsequently, culture and tradition is slowly fading away and ethical andmoral values are forgotten.urthermore, technology also has its disadvantages in the communities andhouseholds in particular. $t can brea) marriages and families are torn downand can be mentioned as indelity. or e4ample, before the spread ofwesternization, indelity was something that was severely treated andspo)en against in i!ian communities, should a man or woman cheat on his other spouse, that person will be brought to the village square and ogged, bu tnow all you see are married men engaging in the act and still say that thereis absolutely nothing wrong for a man to cheat on his wife. 5s a result, it is now considered a norm when a married man or woman is caught committing adultery or being unfaithful to his or her legal partner. To conclude, there are always to sides to a coin. &o, westernization  brought with it positive and negative changes that are acting the local people inone way or the other. Therefore, the positive impacts are to be embracedand closely monitor the negative impacts of westernization because it will bea contributing factor to the loosing of one:s tradition and customs. 12 stated that Westernization is a loaded gun pointed at the head of thisplanet. 'enceforth, if we are not careful, we are bound to lose our traditionand culture.