Necessity of a Mindset Revolution in

India
Media Ethics Research paper

FYBAMCJ

Radhavi Amre

203075
Executive Summary
Indian worldview has encompassed and enveloped a variety of ideas and influences from
divergent sources. Indians are both collectivists and individualists, hierarchically oriented
while respecting merit and quality, religious as well as secular and sexually indulgent,
spiritual as well as materialists, excessively dependent but remarkably entrepreneurial,
non-violent in principle but violent in practice and comfortable in shifting between analytical,
synthetic as well as intuitive approaches to reality. Such a coexistence of opposites often
causes inaction, hesitation and perfunctory action, but also equips Indians to be innovative
by continuously aligning their thought and behaviour to the demands of a milieu. The milieu
has an inner layer consisting of desh (place), kaal (time) and paatra (person), which are
embedded in the larger societal contexts of castes and classes, poverty, corruption,
fragmenting politics, conflicts and violence and unfolding global opportunities and
challenges. Cultural heritage permeates in all these. Indians function in this tiered,
multifactorial, dynamic space. Indians function in this tiered, multifactorial, dynamic space.
Indian mindset refers to the shared imagery of people about themselves which orients them
and make sense of and react to their immediate surroundings consisting of other persons,
objects, ideas and events. These images are composed of assumptions, beliefs, values,
norms and practices that people acquire in the process of interacting with the milieu. Beliefs
are the understandings of how things happen or how all things are related to each other their
subconscious and I am sure is that are taken for granted and I’m not proved or disapprove
values are importance attached to preferences for persons objects ideas are against norms
and standards to judge what is appropriate what most people do in particular situation they
are overlapping and interrelated constituting a mindset.

Introduction
The Indian mindset oscillates in this complex dynamic two tiered multi factors space. The
typical Indian Mindset tends to stick to a single narrative of things playing out in our social
environment. Anything that doesn’t follow this narrative is treated as foreign and something
abnormal as if its something that needs correction. Indians tend to fight for what they believe
while invalidating an entire belief system on someone who doesn’t adhere to their idea of
something. We have inbuilt biases which are etched deep into our thinking processes and
our behaviour and responses to certain behaviour consciously or subconsciously ends up
being influenced by them. India faces a number of challenges like illiteracy, corruption,
poverty etc. but the problem of having a rigid mindset and a backward mentality which is a
strong cause of most other problems is not talked about.

Inheritance of the ancient mindset

The mindset embodied from the ancient time a variety of ideas and influences that were
accommodated within the overarching indigenous pluralistic worldview. Indians are placed in
the contemporary societal frame and profile their major facets of their thought and behaviour,
then goes back to trace their roots in the ancient past with a purpose to see how the past
predisposes and the present guides Indians in their everyday life. We are deeply anchored in
the ancient thoughts and habits that are still resilient and helpful to understand, cope with
and excel in the globalising world. The most salient feature of the primordial mindset is a
pluralistic that allows additional influences to the old ones. Indians basically neither get rid of
the old ones nor reject the new. In this way they accumulate paradoxical beliefs, norms,
values and practices. They often smoothly navigate back and forth between them which may
often come across as unreliable. But in reality, Indians are highly sensitive and responsive to
contextual factors.
The example of The Manusmriti proves to be quite useful even though it is one of the most
controversial and quoted among the ancient texts. It prescribed a number of human values
such as patience, forgiveness, self control, honesty, sanctity, control of senses, reason,
knowledge, truthfulness, non-violence and so on. Simultaneously, it also legitimised a highly
unequal and unjust social code of conduct. It was overtly positive towards the Brahmins in
terms of the concessions made in fines and punishment while being extremely harsh for
sudras and women.

Influence and continuity of change on mindset

New and old ideas cannot coexist unless there is a reasonable degree of tolerance of
differences in the people's minds. Evidence of this tolerance lies in how diverse ideas from
different cultural sources were accepted into indigenous traditions. People prefer continuity
because they cannot place the social environment easily on the basis of their past
experiences and fashion their reactions to it with less uncertainty and risk of going wrong.
Continuity creates a comfort zone to carry on everyday transactions in habitual ways without
expending much energy or wasting time or other resources. As environment is attended to
the events are open acted upon threats are coped with opportunities are wailed of an
internal contradictions are reconciled people are compelled to doubt there is some shoes
and beliefs, set or add new norms or modify existing ones reinterpret or replace their old
values and think and behave differently in other words in mindset keeps getting modified and
restructured by rearranging the existing components as well as incorporating new ones in
order to enable people to adapt survive and prosper and prosper in a changing milieu.

Women’s issues prevailing due to the conservative Indian mindset.

The construction of masculinity presented in Indian/Hindu psychoanalytic account, in terms
of a victimized/feminized androgynous identity, is unaccept- able as it represents femininity
purely in terms of a castrated victimhood. Sinha (1997) argues that modern reconstructions
of masculinity are a consolidation of colonial as well as brahminical rationality, serving to
exclude, marginalize or completely appropriate the feminine within the masculine. In a south
Indian brahmin community, men who become possessed first 'become female', leading to a
ritual exclusion of women who are reduced to being passive observers.
The concept of Toxic masculinity has caused far reaching damage for both men and women.
Toxic masculinity refers to the notion that some people’s idea of “manliness” perpetuates
domination, homophobia, and aggression. All the cases of extreme exploitation against
females have originated from this mindset and the solution to this problem also lies in
understanding the thinking process of the society. Domestic violence, dowry deaths, honour
killings, female infanticide are the ultimate examples of how this ideology can prove to be
fatal.

Impact of Media
The mass media is in the business of affecting how and what people think. To believe that
people are able to disregard everything they perceive in the entertainment media because
the scenarios presented aren't literally "true," or because they are loosely staged simulations
of reality (as in "reality" shows), we would also have to believe that people disregard all
messages in advertising, since ads commonly present actors and models in simulated
situations. But that is simply not how the human mind works. In order for an entertainment
show or commercial to be effective, the audience must identify in some way with the
characters and what they are doing, even if some aspects of the situation are "unrealistic."
Social media gave access to varied opinions and thoughts of people of different cultures and
different regions. This has the power to make people broad-minded, to challenge
stereotyped views on particular communities and to develop mutual respect among people
of different backgrounds.
People are expanding knowledge through social media.
Most of the social media content creators encourage people to pursue career they love, to
take care of themselves, and to learn new skills etc. This creates a positive impact on human
behaviour.
This is an era of media saturation, content diversification and technological development,
where it is increasingly difficult even for those with an interest in understanding the world to
tell what is "real." In such an environment, there is little doubt that "fictional" media affects
how people think and act.

Possible ways of putting the mindset on a positive trajectory.

To begin with it’s important to have an awareness about the factors influencing our mindset
and why these biases exist within us. It’s absolutely necessary to have an understanding of
how our behaviour in the course of life is directly related to the prevailing mindset and we
need to dedicate both time and effort to make sure that this mindset of ours is on a positive
trajectory. Tolerance is the key to coexistence. It is an individual’s responsibility to develop
the most tolerant attitude towards communities, ideas, organisations and persons. Once the
concepts different from one’s own are tolerated, they must be respected. Choice and the
free will and courage to pursue that choice must be rewarded. Willingness to imbibe a
flexible mindset is a starting point of a healthy, inclusive and nurturing milieu. Making human
rights and well being number one priority over any traditions, narratives or norms that exist in
the society. Parenting forms the primary framework on which the entire belief systems are
built. Therefore it becomes necessary for the parents to have the right knowledge for
themselves to imbibe a biased free outlook to their children.
Compulsory counselling sessions should be curated for soon to be parents so that they can
make the upbringing of their child as liberal as possible.
Conclusion
This topic is given far less attention given its impact on our individual and societal lives. It is
of absolute necessity to attain a balance of ideas, freedom and individuality in a society. We
fail to see the effort and nurturing environment that goes behind a successful person,
organisation, society or an idea. The mindset of the society is a huge reason behind the
problems existing within the society. The solution to this lies in normalising discussions and
accepting that a conflicting mentality can exist within ourselves in order to correct it.
Revolutionary changes are needed in the light we see individuals and their choices. It’s a
silent crisis whose blows we keep facing in confusion.

Citation
Psychosocial Analysis of the Indian mindset - Jai B.P. Sinha
https://www.shethepeople.tv/blog/when-will-our-society-stop-shaming-modern-indian-girls/
https://www.storypick.com/need-a-change-in-indian-mentality/