Identity, Culture, Soul

and Language in
Fukuyama’s Family
Values and Immigrants

Interdisciplinary studies course

Submitted to Professor Lutfi Hamadi

On Friday ,12 March,2021

Student Malak Wehbe

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Reading Family values and Immigrants is a great experience, if it is not read

alone, rather reading different resources or reading a review about any one of
Fukuyama's works. While reading Fukuyama's article, some deficits are
discovered: the article did not delve deeply into the collision with the
unfamiliar resulting negative mood and stereotypes, one of the identity issues,
moral language use in politics and the cravings of the soul: Thymos, Isothymia
and Megalothymia (Fukuyama,1993) .We were not given a detailed political
background, which is confusing, so it would be better if we start with one
(Fukuyama, 1993).

The more immigrants from non-western cultures arrive, the less Americans
feel comfortable with this exotic inclusion or as the conservatives describe:
their culture, status quo and socioeconomic order would be ‘threatened’ by the
increasing out-group members of the foreign cultures (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

The notion of the west as center and the non-west as a periphery leads to a
negative mood which marginalizes the unfamiliar stimuli and elevating their
own cultures as superior to others’ (Bandia,2006; De Vries et al, 2010).

Consequently, a social distance splits between the citizens and the immigrants
increasing the process of labeling every group ,especially the immigrants who
arrived illegally, through stereotypes: criminals, rapists, dangerous or
terrorists etc…(Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

Still, some citizens or liberals define the illegally-travelling immigrants as

people who have been trapped in poverty and corrupted environment and who
need help and support (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

As for philosophical perspective integrated with political cases through

language , the whole picture differs from the fusion of social studies and
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politics , for it includes moral foundations theory and the use of language to
demonstrate ideological attitudes toward immigrants ( Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

To delve into this notion, it would be better to take into consideration Haidt’s
definition of moral systems as a repertoire of values ,practices , institutions
and evolved psychological mechanisms which contribute into suppressing or
regulating selfishness for the purpose of adaptation (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

When the Americans practise their own values ,we need to look into the moral
foundations which are categorized into two sections: individualizing and
binding foundations (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

Fukuyama, in the article “Family Values and Immigrants”, did not define the
liberal and the conservative attitudes toward the immigrants according to
Haidt's and Graham’s moral foundations and he did not delve into the
Republican and Democratic valences according to the moral foundations
(Fukuyama,1993).

Besides, he did not point out the importance of the moral language use, its
effects on the society and its implications of political affiliations
(Fukuyama,1993).

Individualizing foundations constitute care/harm and fairness/cheating

notions, in which they focus on individual rights including the need for help
and support especially for the illegally-travelling immigrants and refugees
(Hoewe and Ziny,2020). This type of foundation is adopted by the liberals
(Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

On the other side, Binding foundations consist of loyalty/betrayal,

authority/subversion and sanctity/degradation notions (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).
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Binding foundations are adopted by the conservatives, who perceive the

illegally-travelling immigrants as a threat to social cohesion and order (Hoewe
and Ziny,2020).

Democrats predict that if the immigrants did not migrate , they would be
harmed and they describe the process as “cheating the immigrants out
of a future”, if they refuse to give a support (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

Whereas, Republicans disparage the illegally-travelling immigrants as traitors

which differs from their kind attitudes toward the legally-travelling
immigrants and describing them as loyal to preserve “the sanctity of law and
order against degradation” (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

Fukuyama did not portray a detailed image about immigration and its role in
affecting family values in his article , for example how the extended families
break down into nuclear families ; however, he only compared the family
values between the immigrants and citizens ending up praising the orient
culture which is based on the strong and coherent families
(Fukuyama,1993 ;Samovar et al , 2013,2010,2007).

“Ripping parents from their children at the border” to preserve the law
against degradation is labelled by the Democratic Representative Jerry Nadler
as “a war on the families ” which “cripples the agriculture
industry ,criminalizes undocumented immigrants , undermines public safety
and removes critical protection for families and children” (Hoewe and
Ziny,2020).

Therefore; it should be stopped for, as the Democratic Representative

Kathleen Rice points out, the immigrants are “fleeing poverty and oppression”
(Hoewe and Ziny,2020).
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Catherine Cortez , a Democratic Senator, chides the corrupted regime for

disrupting the strong ties among the family members and violating their family
values which strengthen the occupied societies (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

It is working out to conceal the illegally-travelling immigrants’ achievements

and contribution to the occupied communities from starting businesses to
creating jobs and opportunities; Democratic Senator Edward Markey suggests
that they even deserve the citizenship (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

On the other side, Republicans, including Representatives Lamar Smith and

Robert Pittenger and Senator Joni Ernst, call for this strict policy toward the
illegally-travelling immigrants, for they label them as traitors ,who contribute
to committing crimes against innocent American citizens who are neither
Democratic nor Republican (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

As a result, they crave for law enforcement to “keep [the] borders secure and
[the] citizens safe” (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

Democrats and Republicans differ in the use of the moral foundation

loyalty/betrayal in which the democrats assert a strong commitment to family
structures within immigrant communities and the United States and
the republicans, who embrace the notions of authority/subversion and
sanctity/ degradation, assert the control and power even if they oppose the
individualizing foundations (Hoewe and Ziny,2020).

Fukuyama did not offer much information about the identity in the article as
he did in his book “Identity ,The demand for Dignity and the politics of
Resentment” in which he discusses the relation between the human dignity and
the demand for recognition (Callaway , 2020).

It is a perfect topic to link it with politics including the ideology of modern

liberal democracies which, according to him, failed to solve the problem of
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thymos or the craving part of the soul for recognition of dignity (Callaway,
2020).

Megalothymia ,standing for the desire to be recognized as superior to others,

hinders Isothymia, which indicates the demand to be treated and respected
equally as others (Callaway, 2020).

When Fukuyama discusses identity in politics, we need to take into

consideration these three terms and dignity, whether it is collective or
individual, whether it is religious or national, for they contribute into
formation of liberal individuality, individual development and self-realization
(Callaway, 2020).

What the weak point is that Fukuyama points out that diversity cannot be the
basis of identity which resembles “saying our identity is to have no identity”
(Callaway, 2020).When no common values are found, the American national
identity weakens and the rights and the obligations of citizenship ,which are
based on autonomy, dignity and individual variation, are hindered
(Callaway,2020).

Fukuyama cherishes the identity for it creates attachment among the people
through common values and as Fong points out: they share a system of
symbolic verbal and nonverbal behavior, a sense of belonging, traditions,
heritage, language and similar norms of appropriate behavior ; all are
constructed by the society (Callaway,2020; Samovar et al , 2013,2010,2007 ,
p:215).

As for the dark side of identity, it leads to stereotyping, prejudice , racism and
ethnocentrism due to the lack of familiarity or similarity and the cognitive
and psychological structure which contains the perceiver's knowledge, beliefs,
and expectancies about a particular group of people (Samovar et al ,
2013,2010,2007 , p:231).
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Ethnic nationalism can be tricky by playing fake democratic rules to harbor

illiberal tendencies for the sake of unity and community; besides it threatens
dangerously liberal democracy including the values of domestic social unity
(Callaway,2020).

Fukuyama, being aware of ethnic nationalism, abdicated the membership of

US neo-conservatism due to second war is ignited in Iraq which polished his
liberal reputation and his advocacy to “more flexible, voluntary and inclusive''
political identities not related to “biological origins, nationality, cultural
background or religion” (Callaway,2020).

American constitution did not tackle human dignity directly, unlike the
German and South African constitutions which regard human dignity as “a
duty of the public authority” to protect and respect every individual and it is
the citizens’ “inherent rights” (Callaway,2020).

European concept includes protecting the high officials from insults and
diminishing the traditional dangers and excesses European ethnic nationalism
(Callaway,2020).Fukuyama describes the issue in US as problematic due to the
multiethnic and multiracial societies regarding what to count and what not to
(Callaway,2020).

Another weak point is that Fukuyama criticizes Bilingualism for the sake of
enhancing identity and avoiding diverse mix of different cultures ; it seems he
does not appreciate diversity which ,according to him, imbalances the national
identity, but its absence encourages nationalist prejudice, stereotypes and
racism (Callaway,2020 ; Takala2016 ).

Homi Bhabha describes every single culture as hybrid for it is influenced by

different cultures and languages (Pym, 2014, p:144). For example, “gothic”,
which means characterized by dark features, derives partly from late Latin
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gothi and “maisonette” is an imported old French word and it is derived from
“maison” (house) ( Merriam Webster) .

Before we delve into the social and cognitive benefits of Bilingualism and its
side effects, we need a brief definition of Bilingualism. Bilingualism is a
linguistic behavior exceeding speaking one language ; it might be two or more
(Aba,2020). Another definition written by Bloomfield is: “the native-like
control of two languages’’ (Aba,2020).

However, it has been proved cognitively a competitive advantage in workplace

and enriches the mind and opens the gate of new possibilities as the learner
learns to appreciate different cultures, different identities and different
languages and becomes more global-minded (Callaway,2020 ; Takala,2016 ).

Bilingualism deepens the bonds among the family members keeping “

children’s extended family closer” and strengthening social relations , also it
increases the interest of learning new languages helping the brain “to multitask
,memorize and learn new things more easily” (Takala,2016 ).Successful
bilingualism is characterized by being voluntary not imposing (Takala,2016 ).

There are no benefits without side effects. The monolingual's processing of the
native language is faster than that of the bilingual's (Takala,2016 ).Even the
monolingual catch the native speech more easily than the bilingual’s
(Takala,2016).

Usually statistics is not a static image for reality; it is dynamic and may change
over time . It is not strong evidence to conclude from (Fukuyama,1993). It is
correct that the oriental culture is founded on the respect and love for the
elderly, but it is false to expect all the oriental people do for it signals to a
sweeping generalization (Fukuyama,1993).
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References:

F. Bandia, Paul.(2006)." The Impact of Postmodern Discourse on

the History of Translation”. Charting the Future of Translation History,
Georges L. Bastin and Paul F. Bandia (eds), University of Ottawa
Press, pp:45-58. Retrieved
from https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt1ckpfkh.6

De Vries, M., W. Holland R., Chenier, T., J. Starr, M.and Winkielman, P.

(2010, March). Happiness Cools the Warm of Familiarity: Psychophy Evidence
That Mood Modulates the Familiarity- Affect. Psychological Science 21(3),
321-328. Sage Publications, Inc. on behalf of the Association for Psychological
Science. Retrieved from https://www.jstor.org/stable/41062208

Hoewe, J. and Ziny, M. (2020). Congress and Immigration Policy : Use of

Moral Language Surrounding the Trump’s First Term: The Year in C-Span
Archives Research (5).(103-128). Purdue University Press. Retrieved from
https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctvh9w11h.11
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Pym, A. (2014). Exploring Translation Theories. New York: Routledge. Print.

Samovar, L., Porter, R., McDaniel, E. and Roy, C. (2013, 2010, 2007).
Communication Between Cultures. (Eighth Edition). Wadsworth Cengage
Learning. Print.

Aba, O. (Jan. 2020). Bilingualism: Causes, Advantages and

Disadvantages. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338342415

Takala, E. (Jan. 2016).The Advantages and Disadvantages of

Bilingualism: The Story of Two Families [Bachelor's Thesis]. University of
Jyväskylä. Department of Languages. Retrieved from
https://jyx.jyu.fi/bitstream/handle/123456789/48509/1/URN%3ANBN%3Afi%3Ajyu-201601281322.pdf

Callaway, H.G. (Feb. 2020). A Review of Fukuyama, Identity, The

Demand for Dignity and the Politics of Resentment. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/339292363