On the one hand, life has become more comfortable as technology and services of the advanced world made its way even into remote places on earth. On the other hand, the cultural and lifestyle changes that the new economic model ushered in had in one way left a stark question on whether the changes had come for good?? Many-times, I was reticent after reading anything about the cultural crisis in news papers. Recently, ‘The attack’ that killed three people in France is vey disturbing.
Someone has defined culture very simply “Culture is what is left over after you have forgotten all you definitely set out to learn.” Culture is the essence of our learning and education. It is no use discussing the many definitions. But I should like to state one more definition of culture, that which appeals to me most, according to this definition, culture is the style of social living. In every society, a style of social life is developed which is cherished by the people and regarded as “a significant human development, the core of which is the goal values which people seek to attain as defined in their religion and arts, and which have been translated into symbols and institutions, rituals, relationships, tools and techniques and their social order.”
In other words, broadly stated, there are two major aspects of culture. One is the material and the other is abstract. Some students of culture state that one aspect of culture is related to techniques and the other pertains to values. Interaction between techniques and values leads to the development or degeneration of culture, as the case may be. If either of the two dominates, equilibrium is lost and cultural crisis results.
Our cultural crisis today is the indicative of the dominance of techniques over values. While we have advanced in the realm of techniques of Production, techniques of Artificial Learning, techniques of Machine Learning but our values of life have not been strong enough to maintain the cultural homeostasis. What do we see around us? In the world we find of a great paradox. Atomic and hydrogen bombs devised by man are threatening our very existence. It is feared that there will be nothing left. In world history we have discovered many means to wipe out poverty, sickness and ignorance. We produce so much that no part of the world need remain poverty. We have the required techniques and tools to banish ignorance. And yet these enemies of humanity are still thriving. Why? Because we do not rise to the occasion, because our values of life are not in tune with times. the signs of the times indicate a cultural crisis.
The cultural crisis exists on all levels. The individual is a victim of fear and has lost his faith in himself. He doubts too much and has no ability to resolve his problems. Science suggest its own method of solving the problems of life. But these scientific method is more useful in matters which are static than in those which change from moment to moment. Human expressions are too dynamic to be examined by the scientific method. The reliance on the machine in the search of “Truth” is indicative of the depth of our cultural crisis. Man has lost faith in man and see what man mas made of man!
On the family level the crisis is seen in the lack of harmony between members of the family. The institution of the join family is disintegrating. It is not suggested that joint family is perfect in all ways. Nothing is perfect except perfection, from one point of view. But what is important to remember is that todays life brought us utter loneliness. The psychological support which is given in joint family in times is missing. If there is a conflict between husband and wife, there are no mediators at hand, with the result that life becomes unbearable for them and for their children, if any. It is gradually being realized that the individual in the group has better chances for sanity than when he is all alone. The development of group therapy and the psycho-drama is based on this hypothesis.
Our cultural crisis appears in all aspects of human relations. There is a crisis of character as well which we need to invest time, money and effort together. We need to educate values instead of techniques to our prodigy. Educate the importance of “Human Factor” in economic development. “Invest In Man” is a new economic expression that should be proffered during any cultural crisis!!
Note: Views are personal.
sivaayyala 