HIG Understanding Cross-Cultural Psychology Eastern and Western Perspectives | | Bblioteka Uniwersytacka iii @© SAGE Publications London © Thousand Oaks © New Detrons iferences in Ester and Western Cultres = Cs] Understancing Cross-Cultural Poycolopy Individualism - communalism: collectivism Although American psychologists prefer to use the word ‘collectivism’ because of its neutrality 1 prefer the word ‘communalism’ instead. A culture is not just ‘a motley crowd or a collection of people itis much more than that. In selecting ‘a word which is seemingly neutral in its social and political connotations, there is the implicit danger of reintroducing the old notions of ‘group mind’ which were abandoned several decades ago. Main features of communalism Family and community-centred society Indian (Hindu and Islamic) society, not unlike other Eastern societies, sa family- based and community-centred society (Abd al Ali, 1977; Basham, 1966; Farah, 1994; Flood, 1996; Kakar, 1981; Klostermaier, 1998; Koller, 1982; Lannoy, 1975; Laungani, 1997, 1998d; Lipner, 1994; Mandetbaum, 1972; Sharma, 2000; Zaehner, 1966). ‘Most Indians grow up and live in extended family networks. As Farah (1994) points out, “The family co Islam is the cornerstone and the mainstay of the community, as it has been to the Arabs before Islam’ (p. 161). A typical extended family usually consists of the mother and the father. The father, in ‘most parts of India and Pakistan and other Fastern countries, is seen as head of family. The extended family would normally include all cheir child smacried sons and their wives, and their children (if any), their unmacried sons, their unmarried daughters, and other relatives such as the father's younger brothers, their wives and children, the father’s widowed sister, all of whom ‘would live under the same roof. In such a family structure incomes are pooled and are redistributed according ¢o the needs of the respective members within the family. Tina family-oriented society any problem that affects an individual ~ financial, medical, psychiatric, or whatever affects the entice family. One's individuality is subordinated to collective solidarity, and one’s ego is submerged into the collective ego of the family and one’s community. A community in India has several ‘common features. People within a group are united by a common caste and sub-caste rank (iat). The members within a community generally operate on a ranking or a hierarchical system. Elders are accorded special status within the community and eheir important role is very clearly recognized. Elders, whether they come from cural areas or from large metropolitan cities, are generally deferred to. On important issues the members of a community may mect and confer with one another, and any decisions taken are often binding on the rest ‘of the members within the community. Inthe event of a person being percei-ed as being mentally ill, i initially falls upon che individual's family to look after land support the individual concerned. Should that become difficult for financial or other reasons, it then becomes the responsibility of the community _members, the family’s sub-caste, or jati, to offer support. However, it should be emphasized that for an individual to stay as an integral part of the family and of the community, itis expected that the individual will submit ro familial and communal norms, and will not deviate to an extent whece it becomes necessary for severe sanctions to be imposed ‘upon the deviane or, as an extreme measure, for the deviant co be ostracized, ‘The pressure to conform to family norms and expectations can and does cause acute stress in individual members in the family, leading, in some instances, to psychotic disorders and hysteria (Channabasavanna & Bhatti, 1982; Sethi 8¢ Manchanda, 1978). . The caste system Although in many respects Indian society i similar to most other Eastern societies, its unique distinguishing fearure lies in its caste system. Its origin dates back t0 ‘over 3500 years. The four castes in their hierarchical order are: Brahmins: the learned, educated elite; guardians of the Vedas, the priests. Kshatviyas: the noble warriors; defenders ofthe realm Vaishyas: the traders, businessmen, farmers, money-lenders. Sudras:eheie main function isto serve the needs of the upper thre. Members ofthe upper thee cases ate known as ‘wice born’ because their male members have undergone an initiation, a rite of passage. It is after the sacred thread ceremony that marks their “second birth’ ~ the rites of passage — that they are allowed to read and learn from the Vedas and participate in all religious ‘ceremonies. Ths rite separates the three highest castes from the Sudras, who are ‘not permitted such an initiation. ‘The Sudras are further sub-divided into touchables and untouchables. The touchable Sudras engage in occupations which are considered by the upper three castes to be demeaning and polluting: barber, hairdresser, masseur, cleaner, ‘water carrier, and so on. (I can still recall my own astonishment at learning, when I first came to England, the ‘celebrity satus’ enjoyed by a few hairdressers.) ‘The uncouchable Sudras (now known as Dalits) engage in activities which are ‘considered to be spisitually polluting: garbage collectors, those working in abattoir, in crematoriums, and so on. ‘Major features ofthe caste system ‘There are atleast five important features ofthe caste system:Understanding Cross-Cultural Psychology Hierarchy Pollution and Purification Performance of Rituals [Notions of auspiiousness and purity Development of identity Hierarchy: Since one is born into a given case itis virrually impossible to move from one caste into another, particularly from the lower into the higher. Its possible to move downwards, from the higher to the lower caste, through actions ‘which ate caste polluting. The sub-castes, within a given caste, also operate on a hierarchical model. Hierarchy consists of gradations; each sub-caste is graded, ranging from the lowes to the highest. Gadations of castes, to a large extent, are organized around degrees of purity and pollution, which include endogamy, commensality, and vocational specialization. Brahmins, who are at the top of the caste hierarchy, wield spiritual and ‘divine’ power. The Kshatryas come from the warrior caste, Most of the kings and noblemen of the past era came from the Khatriya caste; despite cheic temporal power, they deferred to the spisiual and divine power of the Brahmins, The Vaishyas, who constitute the bulk of Hindu society, belong to the trading caste and are normally in business, farming, and a variery of other commercial activites. Polltion and purification: ‘The day-to-day religious and secular behaviours ‘of Hindus make sense when seen within the context of parity and pollution Hindus view parity and polation largely in spiritual terms and notin terms of hygiene (Filippi, 1996; Faller, 1992; Lannoy, 1975). The status of a person in India is determined by his or her postion in the caste hierarchy and by the degree of contact with the polluting agent. Proximity to a polluting agent may construe a permanent pollution. This would mean tac certain occupa permanently polluting. Such a form of polation is collective ~ the ent semains polluted. Iris also hereditary. Pollution may be temporary but mul, severe, and permanent. One isin a state cof mild impury upon waking up in the morning, prior to performing one’s _morning ablations, when one has eaten food, when one has not prayed. Mil states ‘of pollution are easily overcome by appropriate actions, such as baths, prayers ‘wearing clean, washed clothes, and engaging in appropriate cleansing. and purification situals. Severe polltion eccuts when high-easte Hindus come ito Physical and/or social contact with persons of the lowest caste. Permanent Pollution occurs when 2 Hinds belonging tothe highest caste (Brain) mais a petson from the lowest caste, thereby breaking the principle of endogamy chat has lvays been regarded as one of the cementing factors that has held the caste systema together Ie is notable that over the centuries, the principle of endogamy has not been swept aside; it has continued to retain its steonghold over the Hindus all over (Cross-Cultural Diterencys in Eastern and Western Cultures, [FN India parsiclaly in che rural areas ofthe country, and oa large extent even in “Marriages are sill arranged and organized by the parents of prospective spouses. Although these of arranged marriages has undergone a modest change within Indian society, parcuarly among the affvent meters of sociey in the urban sectors ofthe country, arranged mariages ate il the norm, Performance of rituals: In Western countries there isa clear distinction beeween ‘he sacred and the secular. In Hinduism there are no sharp distinctions beeween the sacred and the secular. The lines ae blurred. This can be cbserved even in the most ‘mundane day-to-day activites, such as washing one’s hands, having a bath, carrying ‘out one’s morning ablutions, accepting drinking water ar food from others, or ‘offering tro others, and so on. Although seemingly trivial, they have deep-rooted religious connotations. To a Westerner unversed in te day-to-day ritualistic practices of Hindus, such behaviours would seem strange and even itrational. To a Hindu, however, they fall within the orbit of necessary religious ablutions, which he ‘or she has internalized from childhood and performs automatically So much of day- to-day Hindu behaviours influenced by religious belief thet its viewaly impossible to identify behaviours which might be sen as secular (Pandey, 1948/1969), ‘The ritual activity is addressed co sacred beings, such a8 gods or ancestors, Ninian Smart (1996) refers to such rituals as Tocused rituals’, where the foes is on ‘worship. Rituals cherefore are forms of personal communication with gods (Communication itself may serve different purposes: worship, giving thanks, asking for favours, expiation and atonement. Smart adds that a variant of the religious ritual is the yogic ritual where the performance of yogic exercises is seen as a means bby which a person seeks to attain a higher state of consciousness. Failure to perform the rituals lads to a form of spiritual pollution (Sharma, 2000). Flood (1996) points out that its rtual action which anchors people ina sense of deeper identity and belonging. The most important rituals are those related to bith, the initiation ceremony, marriage, which signals the beginning of the houscholder's lie, and the final funeral rites and after-death rites. ‘The daily life of an orthodox Hindu is beset with all kinds of polluting agents, as though they ie in wait and are ready to ‘pounce’ upon the person should his ot her vigilance drop even for a moment. But what protects a devout Hindu from pollution isthe detailed attention paid to performing che required rituals during the course ofthe day. As was stated earlier, the peeformarce of all che daily rituals ae internalized at an early age and become functionally autonomous Notions of auspiciousness and purity: In Western shinking, the notion of auspiciousness does not hold the same meaning as it does for Hindus, Muslims, and Jews ll over the world. In the West there are a few events (such as Easter, (Christmas) which might be construed as being auspicious baptisms, chrstenings, church weddings, sacramental rites, funerals, and so onUnderstanding Cross-Cultural Psychology Intndan pilsophy, th ewo words ‘spouses and py” are inert aetna reed to sab and past 2 sud. I Uist every langungeavpisonses ko zfs ro cme and eporal roc Nn 1967 To Hn hr an ips ine row a rune jury,veling, ndestaking pina, sarting 2 ne Boies Torints ow nda, mowbg it te hose ie of iy masige, tl, Mhnon aad other acts. Apart frm ine, awpiciousness ao ‘Soria with es beso geno: Vranas (or Bea) ez ely yan pgeimage to Vranas seen a8 Bing auspicious. Similar dot uae ver gol copper, bras ~ are aio considered to be auspcon. Theo span hemp i dineeay speech (Madan, 987) Poy ands oppste, purty (shud), ar sen 38 {Fetbun of pesons, objec, foods and plas. For instance, she (lied seer a empl commted are faa all oe bing pre Or the Ih and, coma with coin kinds of hun Beings (waste Hinds of ind) zens Dg pure, Soar esi lacs, such a abs, ‘eatin roid and rt Contact ads pollen iis therefore in he Shean of Hinde to avoid such impurts and purse those actions and et those foods hat ensite psi. Sfhemeicalaus and pecs performance of ites and ilo avoid polation and spinal contaminason sen as bing desirable for Hinds binds aod sachs the cate sje, hich ch provides 4 sense of comity EF longing, Bites and rials lege socal otder and uphold sca Trin worth poi our hat she majority fhe Hindi in ein tends by thon castrated nore on mater which are of importance (Dien fru in bin, barothl sarap, faneral sso emple igsimages and #9 eyo impac hat the mtn of pry and impurity ave om ih behaviour of Hinds fet me fo cesount, much tomy moran, an xpernce ht I ad when st ame Engl Box 3.1 ceteagle an wr sing inte clog ctor having nh. ne 11 fea are ees sda eg extr, gze eh ih e.Stgtayonn ny ptm ih was ora ia payed arcana wi he ood wrehictnlon porate tanedtome and asa had ed Sion ances He ee ou ran ard goes yp torarc .Ashe ‘ar thos oa stg Isoeamed ai ‘ross-CuturalDiflerenps in Eastern and Wester Cultures: TINY (Contoved) “Ano! What do you think you are doing?" ‘Fishing off your chips’ he epied, unperturbed. ‘But you cant! They ae impure. They ar contaminated. ve touched them. Wy ont! gt you another plate? I pleaded, ‘How can they be impure, you Tool Youve [ust eaten some of them! "Thats precisely why the ar impuret Because fve touched them: twas impossible to bridge the cultural gut that separated us| satin mortied ‘sence while Andrew ate the chips and discussed with se what he thought was the {nny side ofthis brie episode, What impressions my caleagues forma of mo, what ‘nd ofan idot my colleagues thought | was, kd not care to inquire, | had been ‘acting in accordance with ancient Hindu custom: one does not eat fod that has bean touched and eaten by another person. To do so Is to eat food which is impure, oF shud Development of identity: Identity in Indians, toa large extent, is ascribed and, toa lesser extent, achieved. By virtue of being born into one of the four hered- itary castes (this applies mainly co the Hindus who comprise over 82 per cent of ‘the total population of India) one's identity is ascribed at birth, An identity that is ascribed or ‘given’ to a growing child has the advantage of ‘security’ in the sense that the persons concerned ‘knows’ what is expected of them, But it also severely restricts the choices open to the individual. While personal choice is central to an individualistic society, itis seen as an exception in a communalistic society. (One's identity, to a large exten, tends to be a reflection of familial and social norms and caste expectations. Females are socialized into developing ‘floating identities’, for when she is born she is seen as a daughter; after marriage she is seen as someone's wife; then as a mother, and when her children get married, as a mother-in-laws finally, as a grandmother; and should her husband predecease her, as a widow. She appears to have no individual identity other than the changing identities she acquires through reflected role relationships. Her private petona remins submerged within these changing and confting With the exception of the caste system, which is a unique feature of Indian society, other colletivise cultures including China, Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran, ‘Turkey, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, Venezucla, and Colombia also share most ofthe Features described above (Hofstede, 1980; Matsumoto, 1996b; Ward & Kennedy, 1996b; Yang, 1997). For instance, Kuo-Shu Yang (1997) in his excellent analyses of the traditionalUnderstanding Croce-Cultural Peychology Chinese personality refers to the tight, close-knit bond berween the individual and his or hee family. He points out thae: Chinese fami disposes the Chinese to subordinate ther penal incest goals ‘ly and welt thir aly’ interes, goals lary, and welfare ro he extent that the amily primary and its members secondary. (p 245) ‘Again, Kuo-Shu Yang points out that in order to attain harmony within the family itis essential for the individual to ‘surrender or merge into his or her family, and as a result, lose his of her individuality and idiosyncrasies as an independent actor (p. 245). The ubiquitous power ofthe caste system ‘One needs to emphasize here that one’s caste origins are so strongly ingrained in the Hindu psyche that it is dificult for a large number of people to renounce it; one might attempt to do so as a cosmetic exercise, and for a variety of other Social and financial reasons, for wanting to seem modern, educated, rational, ‘and Westerniseds but more often than not, it rends to remain intact. Hinduism, unlike Islam and Christianity, is not a proselytising religion. But such isthe awesome power ofthe caste system that variants of the caste system have spread over to other religious groups, including Muslims, Catholics, and Sikhs, in certain parts of India, Although, in theory, these religious groups ‘would consider the very idea of caste as anathema to their own religious beliefs taste and caste relations creep into social practices and relationships in extremely subtle ways. In India, it is not uncommon ro notice that many ‘Catholis, in addition to their own Christian names, also have Hindu names, nd operate on a de facto caste system. Many Muslims too operate on a similar basis; their names are often indistinguishable from Hindu names. A person ‘unacquainted with Indian names would find it difficule to tell from surnames ‘such as Bahadur, Bhat, Bhatti, Bhimji, Chamar, Choudhary, Darzi, Ghani, Kamal, Mistry, Nawab, Raja, Rami, Sutaria, Shah ~ ro name but a few — whether the persons concerned are Hindus or Muslims, Parsees or Catholics! Even within Sikhism, which i a caste-ree religion, many Sikhs operate on a de facto caste system in certain parts of India and ‘Despite the inequities of the caste system, the heavy burden it imposes on people, and the appalling prejudices in terms of occupations, arcas of Tesidence, social and marital relationships, which it unleashes on people ‘f the lower castes, why has the caste system continued to survive? To examine this problem is beyond the scope of this chapter. It would need a separate book. ‘rse-CutralDitlerenges in Easter and Western Cultures [CT ‘Table 8.1 Major features of ncvduaism and communism Irate Emphasis on prsnal espns na loot steed erty acrbes Ansys elated oe sequiston ol ntly_Asicly may bo lee oe ergo ot a ‘eral and east restd ery Fay ferns ons hiearic! mode Enphats on oxendod tates Fay Hoopes ona hare ode! phason ruta (ane on Eruhas (and onepaten ecient eat Stl havo ta gon td Pekin anc purcaton seni i! * Poin an pueaon senna ‘hygiene ‘caste-related terms bee ‘align te be ss npr Aegon ae dinar ‘secular important octet cena dae uals, ay, ted be scar Religious a ya dominant en day 0-day eras ‘The major features of individualism and communalism are shown in Table 3.1, Let us now turn co the second set of factors. Cognitivism - emotionalism: cognitivism Cognitivism is concerned with the way in which the British (che English in particular} construe their private and social worlds and the ways in which they form and sustain social relationships. In broad terms it has been suggested by Pande (1968) that Western society is a work-and-actvity-centred society and in contradistinction, Eastern societies in general and Indian society in particular are ‘relationship-centred. Our constructions of ous social worlds are not accidental developments. They stem from our inheritance of our different philosophical legacies (Laungani, 2000d; Zimmer, 1951/1989). Rationality and logic Jn a work-and-actvty-centred society, people are more likely to operate on a cognitive mode, where the emphasis is on rationality, logie and control, which ‘extends tothe display of emotions and feelings. Public expression of feelings and ‘emotions ~ particularly among the middle classes in England ~ is often frowned