UNIT -8

SELF - RELIANCE
Self – reliance: - means relying or depending on one’s own abilities and decisions in order
to make one’s way of life.

In short it means independence, self – sufficiency and self – awareness or it refers to

the situation where by individuals, groups or nations depend on their own resources and
skills to satisfy their basic needs.

But here we have to remember that no can be exclusively rely on his or her own
resources, knowledge and skills to produce goods and satisfy his /her needs. So that every
individuals or country would share something that is not exists in his / her own resources
and skills. Therefore we can say that there must be exchange of knowledge, skills and
resources and every country or individuals are dependent for the fulfillment of one ’s needs
and interest.

 Conditions that created discrepancies in

 Lake of or shortage of material resources
 Lake of adequate knowledge and skills.
 Leadership problem, lake of commitment, corruption.
 The prevalent culture of dependency.

Attributes of self – reliance

Self – reliance:- it is a remarkable level of dependency on one’s power, resources

and judgment. It is an attribute shared by both individuals and communities. These
are legitimate form of dependency. For example children will rely on their parent’s
resource.
Self – confidence: - it is essentially a trust in one’s self and ones intrinsic
competence which results in a high level of security. Self – confident person believe
in self-help and often have personal visional and ambitions.
Self – awareness: - it refers to knowing and understanding ones strength and
weakness or limitations as well as ones thoughts and feelings.
Recognizing other peoples potentials:- for example:- recognizing the abilities of
the disabilities, while understanding that “disability is not mean inability “

Characteristics of a self – reliant person

Good communication skill:-

 Inter personal skills: - they know how to relate to other people and how to resolve
problems.
 Decision making ability: - they are able to weigh up the issues and make a realistic
and positive decision.
  Skills to analyzes a problem: - They are positive about the problems and able to so
we the problem.
 Planning and goal setting: - They know how to plan and evaluate their progress.
 The last but not the least characteristics of a self – reliant person are:-
Determination , being realistic and being positive.

Symptoms of people who lake self – reliance

 Social withdrawal.
 Anxiety and emotional turmoil.
 Lake of social skills.
 Less social conformity and problem in inter – personal relationships.
 Inability to accept both compliments and criticisms.
 Absence of fakir assessment of one’s potentials and limitations.

Excessive self – indulgence ( the behavior or attitude of people who allow themselves
to do what they want or who allow other people to do what they want, but at both times
that is usually thought of as wrong or unhealthy.

-Reluctance to take on challenges.

- lake of vision and ambition.

- Failing to face other people.

- Reluctance to trust ones origin.

Benefits of self – reliance

 Independence:- free from control.
 It increased confidence in a healthy way.
 Self – actualization:- able to develop and express one’s self and reach ones goals.
 Respect and Recognition from other people.
 They get satisfaction and feel proud.
 Self – esteem:- it is the way one sees one self and how one behaves in accordance
with one’s self - image. It is to have high opinion of one self and implies self-worth,
self-respect and confidence.
 Self – concept:-it is a collection of beliefs about one’s nature, qualities and typical
behaviors.

State of congruence: - it is acting in accordance with his/her thoughts and

feelings.
 The importance of moral sensitivity in
Decision – making
Decision – making requires examining the pros and cons of the decision that you make.
We have to consider the morality of our decision in order to make a morally sound
action or decision.

One skill involved in making a morally good decision is sensitivity to moral issues.

Moral sensitivity: - means giving core and consideration of issues related to right and
wrong decision or

Moral issues surround us all the time. Many decisions we make should be based on
moral values.

For example: - when we dealing with abortion and HIV positive clients doctors should
see not only technical issues but also various issues of moral values, side effects and
risks have to be taken in to consideration.

 The following points are helpful to make morally good decision: -

 An awareness of the various parties who will be affected by the decision
taken;
 Sensitivity to the rang of values or principles which might be applied to the
issue.
 The advantages of discussing moral issues with others are: -
 Short – term gain: - It can provide insight or experience

: -It help to explore different moral dimensions.

 Long – term gain: - It can improve the quality of our moral decision –
making.

Making decisions with ethical considerations

There are a number of ways of making a decision with ethical considerations. We will look
at three: -

A. Ethical relativism
B. Utilitarianism
C. The right approach or Kant’s moral theory.
A. Ethical relativism: - This approach assumes that ethical values and beliefs are
relative to the various individuals and societies that hold them.

There is no objective right or wrong and the issues are often based on the
people subjective opinions

Morality in ethical relativism means a function of the moral beliefs, views, and
norms that people have.
 Here what is morally right and wrong is depend on the people’s beliefs, norms
and views.

 For example: - inoculating the child against a disease.

 If their community believes that inoculating is best for the child, the parents
also make the inoculation for the child.
 If society suspects the motives behind inoculation, the parent’s decision for
inoculation will not be positive.
B. Utilitarianism: - this theory sometimes named as the greatest happiness
principle as the outcome of decision is expected to provide the most pleasure
for the greatest number of recipients. It considers the consequences of a
particular decision ( actual benefit ). It considers the likely or actual
consequences of each alternative.
 For example: - Inoculating the child against a disease.
 A decision by parents would be made based on the fact that, if the
inoculation appeared to save many more children than would be
harmed by it.
C. The right approach or Kant’s moral theory: -
This approach is a non – consequential theory in that is not the end result of an
action that determines the decision but
May do what has good results, but if we do so far the wrong motive, then the act
has no moral worth.
It considers not only the motive but we must also do what is right ( the act itself
must be morally right )
 Here both the act and the motive are morally relevant.

For example: - inoculating the child against a disease.

 A decision by parents would be influenced by the belief that it is

right to inoculate children against disease, even if the outcome
results are damaging, the motive to do what is believed is good for
the child is the main consideration.

Dependency

Dependency: - refers to an attitudinal or behavioral manifestation

of reliance on others for the fulfillment of one’s needs. It is when
someone cannot function on his/her own. They need others to
think for them and do everything for them.
Two forms of dependency
I. Healthy dependency: - these are people who depend on
others but contribute something in return, based on their
capacity.
II. Unhealthy dependency: -there are people who are
entirely dependent on others without any contribution.
  Dependency theory: - the theory is derived from a theory of economic imperialism
and is also used as foreign aid programs.

The basic idea has been that major capitalist powers like the USA and the members of the
EEC have not really given up their colonial power but in fact exercise enormous political
control over Latin American, African and Asian countries.

This theory argue that the world market favors the rich industrialized countries which
import raw materials cheaply from poor countries and import – export imbalance.

Impacts of dependency
Psychological problems: -

 Lake confidence
 Feel inferior
 Refrain from forwarding their ideas e t c…..

Long – term economic dependency: -

 Refer to rely on his/her parents, friends.

 May develop a dependency syndrome.

A negative impact at the country level ( economic impact )

 If a country has a large number of dependents, then it can not achieve rapid
economic progress.

Social impacts: -

 A dependent person occupy a low social position; prestige and are not considered as
reliable and trust worthy.

Dependency in the International context

The problems related to dependency are not limited to the individual or country. They also
affect the relationship between poor and rich countries in the international context.

Many scholars and development theorists argue that poor countries remain poor because
their relationship with the rich and developed countries is characterized by Exploitation
and Dependency.

Why poor countries get poorer and remain dependent?

Here are some explanations and try to answer: -

 Profit extraction and dependency of poor countries

 More advanced countries control the market, and extract profits from poorer
countries for themselves, poor countries have lost the race and can not
benefit from trading in the international market.
  Debt and dependency of poor countries
 Poor countries become more dependent when they have more debt. This
situation allows the rich country that provides debt to dictate their interests
on the recipient country (poor)

International market and dependency of poor countries

 According to dependency theorists, poverty and under development in developing

countries are a result of the dependency of poor countries on the rich ones. This
theory argue that the world market favours the rich industrialized countries which
import raw materials cheaply from poor countries and export industrial goods at
high prices.
 Like the dependent individuals, the poor countries play very weak roles in
influencing international politics, and have weak bargaining powers.
 Poor countries are not completely free to formulate their policies independently,
because the powerful states may withdraw their support, when the policies made by
the poor countries do not suit their interests.