SOCIOLOGICAL EVOLUTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS

By T.H Shah

On the very outset, the world was not as we live in today.

Numerous religious, social, political and economic factors
caused changes thus revolutionising the whole structure of
human society. As the scenario of the world continued changing
with geographical developments in the universe, same has been
with human rights which came to be known as not individualistic
or regional but regarded universal in nature. This short paper
attempts to understand the human rights in following
perspectives:

 Religious Perspective
 Philosophical Perspective
 Reformation and Renaissance
 Modern political theories and human rights
 Media, civic education & Information technology

Religious Perspective

History of human rights is as old as man himself because they

emerged with the creation and appearance of man in the
universe. The first resident of earth is considered to be the
Adam as per three major religions of the world (Christianity,
Judaism and Islam). Adam and Eve appearance on earth brought
some principles or rules of life to prevent social disorder
revealed them to set up. The first criminal act in response
against the social order was the murder of Habeel at the hands
of Qabeel; and the dressing-down by the God and Prophet Adam
this inhumane conduct of Habeel lays the foundation of human
rights. The story is explained in the Holy Quran in 5:27-31)[2].
As per Hindu scriptures of Ramayana, the root cause of war
between king Ravenna and Lord Rama was the abduction of
Sitaji, a wife of Lord Rama; the war is supposed to be fought
between the periods of 7250BC-6250BC Lord Rama fought for
the matrimonial rights of Sitaji. In human rights conventions, it
is categorised in the rights to make family and marriage as per
ones own wishes. In Buddhism, concept and practise of the
Eightfold Path provides the base for the evolution of human
rights.

Commenting upon the ancient Egypt, Mr. Sean McLaughlin in his

book World Religions says “The Egyptians believed that it was
the Pharaoh who ensured the afterlife of the ordinary people: he
cared and provided for them in the afterlife as he had on the
earth. Even so, during the predynastic period, the dead were
buried with food and other equipment to assist them” It shows
that even under extreme totalitarian political structure, it has
been the responsibility of the state to look after its individuals.
The examples testify religions to be one of the factors of giving
concept of human rights as all preach establishment of such
social order aiming at peace and security of human life. To clear
the point, even the other isms not constructed by revelation or
divine guidance rather wrought by human reason stress upon
the protection and promotion of human rights. Humanism,
democracy, socialism or communism all strive for the
achievement of human betterment and reformation whether
social, economic and political.

Philosophical Perspective

Then comes Socrates (469 BC–399 BC), Plato (428/427 BC–

348/347 BC), Aristotle (384 BC – 322 BC) and later on other
philosphers; and the world catapults into an intellectual terrain
where it is nourished by ideas emerged from human reason
giving new dimensions to state and politics. The concept like
divine status of kings, citizenship, statecraft or governance,
rights and duties all assumed different forms. Socrates’
execution introduced awareness and consciousness amongst the
Greeks and the revolt against oligarchy in Greece led to struggle
for democracy, rationalism, secularism and independence from
obscurantism. The lessons of independent thinking by these
renowned philosophers even transformed the strict followers of
religions like Christians, Jewish and also Muslims. Emergence of
secular thoughts in most of the European countries where
separation line made between state and church is result of
independent thinking. Similarly, the Islamic philosophy is also
influenced by Platonic philosophy and King Harron-ur-Rasheed of
Abbassied Caliphate (Islamic dynastical period (750–1258)
patronized Mutazillah School of Thought (Rational School of
Thought in Islam) which later on laid the foundation for
understanding Islamic thoughts in rational firmament. In strong
dynasties, when people were ignored from political structure
and destined to live miserable life, then their reaction wreaked
tremendous loss to the kingly powers reducing their existence in
papers only. Roman Empire, Mughal Empire, Islamic Empires in
Spain and Turkey all crumbled down at the hands of the new
conception of rights as propagated by the writings of these
sages. Western Political thought are greatly influenced by the
Theory of Social Contract given by J.J Rousseau, Thomas Hobbs
and Thomas Hill Green. This theory lends justification to the
existence of parliament which is entitled for enacting laws for
the betterment of people so they live in peace and security. It,
thus, uniformed the way for collective preservation instead of
self-preservation of a particular group. This also is the objective
of human rights and if think deeply of all international
conventions on human rights as well.

Reformation and Renaissance

The cultural revolution caused by Renaissance which spanned

over 14th to 17th century influenced a lot each and every corner
of life. It left indelible imprints upon science, religion,
philosophy, politics, art and literature which have been
approached with humanism. Though humanism is laden with
various meanings in these subjects; but in current arena it
advocates human rights and gender equalities. In political affairs
these great intellectual movement introduced rationality equally
in religious spheres it liberated peoples from the evil jaws of
papacy who enslaved the peoples by treacherously hiding the
actual teachings of the Bible. Being unconscious and
unreceptive to the actual message of the Bible, the peoples
were bound to follow what flowed from Church or papal power
which absolutely allowed no religious liberty the hallmark of
which is independent thinking. It was the time of political and
religious bondage, ignorance and no human rights at all. The
main features of the Christendom were;

 Emphasis upon monasticism;

 Keeping teachings of the Bible hidden from the peoples;
 Customs like penance and purchase of forgiveness were
established for amassing wealth from poor peoples;

Result of this unawareness caused many misconceptions about

education; Mr. E.G White in his book The Great Controversy
writes that “Even the students in the universities were
deceived by the false representations of the monks and
induced to join their orders. Many afterwards repented
this step, seeing that they have blighted their own lives
and had brought sorrow upon their parents; but when
fast in the snare it was impossible for them to obtain
their freedom. Many parents, fearing the influence of
monks, refused to send their sons to the universities.
There was a marked falling off in the number of students
in attendance at the great centre of learning. The school
languished and ignorance prevailed.” In this way the
negatively perceived religious conceptions caused violation of
human rights. But later on the writings of John Wycliffe, Huss,
Jerome and the revolutionary tone of King Marin Luther
shattered all these chains. At the expense of their lives, these
reformers trickled down the actual essence of scriptures to the
peoples making them free both in religious and political spheres.
The emergence of secularism supplemented the phenomenon of
human rights; that is why in many political systems of the
developed countries international conventions on human rights,
the trends like use of contraceptive medicines, abortion, and
homosexual rights are recognised irrespective of what the
religion say about that.

Modern political theories and human rights

In modern times, the king is no longer the shadow of God on

earth, instead he is head of the state elected and ousted by the
ballot. The monarchical or kingly rules shattered with the
emergence of democratic values which has made the people
politically conscious of their rights. Therefore no one can say like
French king L'État c'est Moi (I am the State). The modern
political theories like individualism, utilitarianism, secularism
and above all the democracy has levelled the way for breeding
such type of political mind-set and also paved the way for the
protection of human rights in the states. It is result of these
political thoughts that even in strictly close political society like
Saudi Arabia and UAE, the voices against monarchical set- up
can be heard. Even the strong communist society of former
USSR could not withstand against the public pressures when
rights of the people were flouted. The communist regime of
China has accepted the rights of private property at the hands of
these political shifts. The overthrow of monarchy in Nepal is
result of same consciousness. That is why throughout the world,
the military or kingly regimes are not seen with appreciation. In
some developed countries, monarchy is just conventional in
nature with no special say in state affairs like England, Japan,
Norway and Denmark. To put it briefly, with the development
and evolution of political theories, the concept of rights has also
undergone tremendous change giving rise to international laws
and human rights conventions binding states to certain
international obligations.

Media, civic education & Information technology

Till the invention of printing machine, knowledge was restricted

and limited to a specific section of people who sometimes used
it for exploitation and social sciences has not yet taken the
sufficient place in human life as is the case now. Absence of
media both print and electronic has kept people ignorant and
world isolated. But the invention of printing machine and
modern developments in it gave new touch to sociological and
anthropological research which resulted in the massive
expansion of civic education. The publication of newspapers also
transformed people minds and played pivotal role in making
public opinion on a specific pattern. The Industrial Revolution
between seventeen and eighteen century gave new direction to
human thinking along with rendering the life comfortable. It
reoriented the relations among different parts of the world in the
form of trade or for dependence of getting raw material and
fulfilling industrial needs. This close interaction among different
regions of the world caused close nearness which in future
caused assimilation of diverse cultures. In present day which
can be regarded as an info-tech age, the human rights are fast
undergoing evolutionary stage causing tremendous
transformations even in many closed societies living on religious
structures. The current example is the recognition of the rights
of homosexuals in India by the highest judicial body and even
the government did not reacted against this evolutionary
phenomenon. To put it rightly, the civic education coupled with
info-tech has gone far towards in making the human rights
protected equally changing the normative structure of the
society.

Moreover, behind all these socio-politico developments, the role

of civil society organisations working purely on human rights
and policy interventions stands supreme. With their mass
awareness campaigns utilising media, they have lent specific
dimensions to the concept of rights. In future, the idea of world
government can assume concrete reality with forceful use of
info-tech and the coordinated efforts of these organisations.

References:

 The Holy Quran

 The Holy Bible
 The Great Controversies by E.G White
 World Religions by Sean McLaughlin
 Website: www.wikipedia.com