essay on culture and development

Impact of Religion and Culture on Development Essay

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Introduction

Development, how religion and culture impact development.

This essay will define the meaning of development, its measurement parameters, and other development indicators. It then will identify some aspects of religion and cultural practices that interact with development; those interactions will then be quantified before finally assessing their individual impacts on the overall human and economic development. The questions that the essay is intended to answer are: What is development? How is development measured? How will people’s culture change upon development? What other factors apart from religion and culture affect development?

Development in a national context is defined as the improvement in a countries economic and social status. This is to say that the entire population in a given country has reached a certain standard of living where they are all comfortable in terms of management of their natural resources and in the creation of wealth. There are basically two types of development: Economic and Human developments. The former means the measure of how wealthy a country is and how that wealth is created, while the latter refers to the degree by which people get access to wealth (nutrition, health care, jobs, and political freedom, among other things).

Development indicators include Health-For a country to say that it is developed health-wise; it means that all its citizens are accessible to quality health care. The next indicator is Industry-Which tends to define the type of industries in a country (whether agricultural or manufacturing). Lastly is Education-The available institutions in a country as compared to the population. Also is the degree of literacy in a country.

The role played by religion in development is due to religious structure, organizations, and regulations. Economists have in the past neglected this role that religion play in shaping development. “Unless development economists acquaint themselves with the relevant socio-political literature, they will be working in the dark.” (Epstein, 1973, 6). It is common knowledge to all that a good education is a major ingredient required for any positive growth. This essay highlights those areas in education that are affected by religion. All the religions, be it Islamic, Hinduism, Christianity, or Buddhism, have doctrines that hinder education; such hindrances eventually impact development. Religious doctrines can either make or break human development, as illustrated below, by taking Christianity and Islam as examples.

Development is unlimited, and in a broad sense, means accessing whatever information is important for your advancement. Religious leaders have perceptions of the contents of the school syllabus. They oppose the idea that such things as sex education and all those subjects that are based on scientific theories should be scraped from the school syllabus. They also claim that girls have no right to education.

In the Christian setting, the children are taught that God is the Supreme Being and solutions to all problems lie with Him. They, therefore, have to believe only in their faith as the sole truth. One’s good life depends only on how well one follows the teachings. Such believers might get rooted so much in the beliefs and be tempted to make no effort to do anything but pray with hopes that prayers will improve their economic and social status.

Islamic teaching is compulsory at the lower levels of education, especially in the Middle East. Such teachings have their negative take on derailing development. For instance, teachers have to pass a religious exam before they are allowed to teach in Islamic schools. This is a form of discrimination and is in itself a milestone to the free passage of information. It is also a forbidden and a punishable offense for students to have free thoughts or to pursue any scientific advancement, thanks to the superstition that surrounds such acts. Another development indicator is freedom of expression and choice. The Islamic culture is male-dominated and teaches children that women are less superior to men and that they have no right of choice. In Islamic culture, women are ready for marriage at the early age of nine. They, therefore, drop out of school at lower levels. Women are pictured only as mothers and housewives. Such a belief in any society is an impediment to development (Hensman, 1987).

Islamic culture favors men more as compared to women. There is serious sexual segregation; whether in schools, workplaces, or in homes, women are separated from men. This is what (Azam Kamguian) calls “sexual apartheid.” Women are viewed as the source of evil and corruption in the community; they are the cause why men go astray. Their freedom of movement and to happily socialize is denied, their thoughts and minds are controlled, they are put under scrutiny by men from what they wear to what they say. That is a practice that never has and will never promote equality which is a major requirement in development.

Fertility influences the demography of a nation, and studies have shown that religion affects fertility (Lehrer, 2004; Mc Quillan, 2004). Other researchers argue that it as well plays a role in the political outcomes (Glaeser, Ponzetto and Shapiro, 2005).

Sex education in any school is religiously unacceptable, and most religious cultures prohibit acts like the friendship between boys and girls, which they perceive as secular. Since socializing is a component of development, such restrictions will only slow the rate of human development in every aspect; for any country to experience growth of any form, all sectors have to be coordinated and work as a unit. This coordination can never be achieved if different sexes are kept apart.

On a more positive note, we also find out that religion fosters trust among the faithful. This can result in a more cooperative behavior where people can accommodate one another in society. (Borooah and Iyer, 2005, 5) referred to this as “social capital,” where three aspects are emphasized: social networks, social norms, and social sanctions. (Ibid, 6) also examined the macro and micro consequences of religiosity and reported that several channels exist through which religious capital can impact economic growth. Some of which include; Exerting positive thoughts on human capital by promoting education among the believers and altering the way in which technology and human capital are used.

Religion, on the positive side, preserves the moral values required in a society. This would help in a situation where immoral acts brought about by the inversion by other cultures are not adopted because of the existing religious restrictions; such unaccepted acts will not be allowed to crop and get root into the society.

Several religious doctrines bar students from accessing important information by restricting them from holding onto certain beliefs and religious values. To spark a positive boost on the economy, the focus needs to be put both on the supply side(the structures of religious organization) and the demand side(preferences of consumers in religious economies). (Stark & Finke, 2000). Culture means the traditional practices of a particular people in a given society. Culture is said to be able to affect people’s preferences.

The way by which culture relates to development is by the tendency of various forms of tourism-another great indicator of development. Take the example given in (Robert 1993, 51) quoting (Valene Smith, 1997, 14: Ed. 1) “Hosts and Guests,” an anthology in tourism studies. “To be more negative than positive in impact.”

Strict observation of cultural practices from conservatives hinders any form of change, whether positive or negative. Culture is a natural conception of tradition-which in itself is a model of past practices. With good cultural practices, there will still be evidence of growth through tourism by the attraction of other individuals into the camp. “…culture is a process of ordering, not disruption. It changes and develops like a living organism; it does not normally ‘survive’ an abrupt alteration”. (Clifford 1988, 235). Modernization should therefore not be allowed to erode cultural identity.

“Culture can be wrapped and sold to tourists in the form of ancient sites, folk costumes, ritual ceremonies as well as the everyday life of ordinary people” (Cohen and Kennedy, 213).

Culture is that missing element in sustainable development (Michael L. Tan). Sustainable growth and development will be witnessed with good cultural interaction with governance and business in modern society. But to see this happen, there has to be cultural diversity and cultural freedom that allows for practice to develop this diversity. There need to be multicultural policies to spark development; people will therefore be free to be what they want to be and do whatever they want to do. Such policies should be able to recognize the relative cultural differences, a champion for diversity, and more importantly, allow for cultural freedom.

Societies that still embrace strong cultural values are stable. And stability is a major requirement in order to create a good foundation for development. People living in such a society have a strong sense of community bondage, and to add to that, they value both the inner and outer peace as well as respect for their relationship. Development, therefore, should be done within the context of the local culture in order to observe these norms and to make any new concept acceptable to the locals. Education has got its take on causing a shift in cultural practices. Those who have pursued education up to some level will tend to drop the activities that were practice by their ancestors and instead go for the more lucrative jobs. The ease by which this can be accepted in the community needs to be assessed to enable economists and other development partners to gauge the expected rate of growth and development of a given area.

In this essay, we have managed to identify those aspects of how religion and cultural practices interact and impact both human and economic development. Religion does this through its structural system, conservative leaders, organizational and regulations or doctrines. The overall perception of the religious leaders on secular matters touching on the economy together with economists’ ideas on religion, has been discussed in this essay. We, therefore, answered satisfactorily the questions laid on the introductory stage. It has elaborated clearly the meaning of development, how it is measured, its indicators, and how religion and culture affect it.

Examples of Christian and Islam doctrines were taken to give illustrations on the answers to the questions to be solved. From the facts in this article, it, therefore, will be right to say that….development in any sense goes hand in hand with religion and culture, and the two directly influence the measurements of development greatly. A compromise point should therefore be reached to help balance all the factors related to development indicators to reach a state that is considered to be comfortable to all. Before the introduction of any modern development in a community, the people live in harmony and look so happy. It is, therefore, a necessity to try before injecting a foreign practice into the people to get to know what aspects of the people’s culture lead them to be happy despite their hardships. When trying to bring development to a place, therefore, such aspects have to be preserved if development is to be appreciated and wholly accepted by the people.

We have to accept the fact that culture is a living thing, and like all other living things, its change is of the essence. This change is inevitable, especially as development takes root. A way, therefore, needs to be devised to gradually affect these changes in such a manner that it will not be too drastic to shake the very foundation that the culture was built. The indigenous people should devise a means to enable them to make a choice as well as to control the type of developments that affect their lives. Even though integrating education, health care, and better living standards will improve society’s condition, they still are supposed to be controlled and only introduced at the rate which can be accommodated by society.

Azam Kamguian Adapted from a speech given at the 5th symposium of the Arab Cultural Centre in London in 2000 and also at a seminar held by Save the Children in Stockholm.

Borooah & Iyer, 2005; “The Influence of Religion and Caste on Education in Rural India”. Journal of Development Studies 41, 1369–404.

Cohen Robin and Kennedy Paul: Global Sociology . Basingstoke: Macmillan Press. Chap.12, p.212-229. 213.

Glaeser, E., Ponzetto, G. and Shapiro, J. 2005. “Strategic extremism: why Republicans And Democrats divide on religious values”: Quarterly Journal of Economics 120, 1283–330.

Guiso Luigi, Sapienza Paola & Zingales Luigi, “Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?” 2006: CEPR Discussion Papers 5505, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

Hensman, Rohini. “Oppression within Oppression: The Dilemma of Muslim Women in India.” Women Living under Muslim Laws: Working Paper no.1, 1987.

Iyer, S. 2002. Demography and Religion in India . Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Kenworthy, L. Do social-welfare policies reduce poverty? A cross-national assessment: Social Forces, 77(3), (1999). 1119-1139.

Lehrer, E. 2004; “Religion as a determinant of economic and demographic behavior In the United States”: Population and Development Review 30, 707–26.

Marios. Cleovoulou “How does development affect culture?” 1998.

Michael L. Tan ” Mobilizing Truth for Integral Sustainable Development (ISD) 2004 | Pinoy Kasi, Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Paola, Luigi & Luigi Guiso, 2006. “Does Culture Affect Economic Outcomes?” NBER Working Papers; 11999, National Bureau of Economic Research.

Scarlett Epstein: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow , London: Macmillan, 1973; South India.

Stark, R. and Finke, R. 2000. Acts of Faith: Explaining the Human Side of Religion . Berkeley: University of California Press.

Stark, R., Iannaccone, L. and Finke, R. 1996. “Religion, science and rationality”: American Economic Review 86, 433–7.

Syed, Anwar H. 1997: “Islamic Models of Development”. In Howard J. Wiarda (Ed) Non Western Theories of Development: Regional Norms Versus Global Trends . Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers.

Wood, Robert E. 1993: “Tourism, Culture and the Sociology of Development”. Michael Hitchcock et al (Eds): Tourism in South-East Asia. London & New York: Routledge. P 48-69.

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CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT

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Cultural Identity Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Elizabeth Brown

No matter where you study, composing essays of any type and complexity is a critical component in any studying program. Most likely, you have already been assigned the task to write a cultural identity essay, which is an essay that has to do a lot with your personality and cultural background. In essence, writing a cultural identity essay is fundamental for providing the reader with an understanding of who you are and which outlook you have. This may include the topics of religion, traditions, ethnicity, race, and so on. So, what shall you do to compose a winning cultural identity essay?

Cultural Identity Paper: Definitions, Goals & Topics 

Before starting off with a cultural identity essay, it is fundamental to uncover what is particular about this type of paper. First and foremost, it will be rather logical to begin with giving a general and straightforward definition of a cultural identity essay. In essence, cultural identity essay implies outlining the role of the culture in defining your outlook, shaping your personality, points of view regarding a multitude of matters, and forming your qualities and beliefs. Given a simpler definition, a cultural identity essay requires you to write about how culture has influenced your personality and yourself in general. So in this kind of essay you as a narrator need to give an understanding of who you are, which strengths you have, and what your solid life position is.

Yet, the goal of a cultural identity essay is not strictly limited to describing who you are and merely outlining your biography. Instead, this type of essay pursues specific objectives, achieving which is a perfect indicator of how high-quality your essay is. Initially, the primary goal implies outlining your cultural focus and why it makes you peculiar. For instance, if you are a french adolescent living in Canada, you may describe what is so special about it: traditions of the community, beliefs, opinions, approaches. Basically, you may talk about the principles of the society as well as its beliefs that made you become the person you are today.

So far, cultural identity is a rather broad topic, so you will likely have a multitude of fascinating ideas for your paper. For instance, some of the most attention-grabbing topics for a personal cultural identity essay are:

• Memorable traditions of your community
• A cultural event that has influenced your personality 
• Influential people in your community
• Locations and places that tell a lot about your culture and identity

Cultural Identity Essay Structure

As you might have already guessed, composing an essay on cultural identity might turn out to be fascinating but somewhat challenging. Even though the spectrum of topics is rather broad, the question of how to create the most appropriate and appealing structure remains open.

Like any other kind of an academic essay, a cultural identity essay must compose of three parts: introduction, body, and concluding remarks. Let’s take a more detailed look at each of the components:

Introduction 

Starting to write an essay is most likely one of the most time-consuming and mind-challenging procedures. Therefore, you can postpone writing your introduction and approach it right after you finish body paragraphs. Nevertheless, you should think of a suitable topic as well as come up with an explicit thesis. At the beginning of the introduction section, give some hints regarding the matter you are going to discuss. You have to mention your thesis statement after you have briefly guided the reader through the topic. You can also think of indicating some vital information about yourself, which is, of course, relevant to the topic you selected.

Your main body should reveal your ideas and arguments. Most likely, it will consist of 3-5 paragraphs that are more or less equal in size. What you have to keep in mind to compose a sound ‘my cultural identity essay’ is the argumentation. In particular, always remember to reveal an argument and back it up with evidence in each body paragraph. And, of course, try to stick to the topic and make sure that you answer the overall question that you stated in your topic. Besides, always keep your thesis statement in mind: make sure that none of its components is left without your attention and argumentation.

Conclusion 

Finally, after you are all finished with body paragraphs and introduction, briefly summarize all the points in your final remarks section. Paraphrase what you have already revealed in the main body, and make sure you logically lead the reader to the overall argument. Indicate your cultural identity once again and draw a bottom line regarding how your culture has influenced your personality.

Best Tips For Writing Cultural Identity Essay

Writing a ‘cultural identity essay about myself’ might be somewhat challenging at first. However, you will no longer struggle if you take a couple of plain tips into consideration. Following the tips below will give you some sound and reasonable cultural identity essay ideas as well as make the writing process much more pleasant:

• Start off by creating an outline. The reason why most students struggle with creating a cultural identity essay lies behind a weak structure. The best way to organize your ideas and let them flow logically is to come up with a helpful outline. Having a reference to build on is incredibly useful, and it allows your essay to look polished.
• Remember to write about yourself. The task of a cultural identity essay implies not focusing on your culture per se, but to talk about how it shaped your personality. So, switch your focus to describing who you are and what your attitudes and positions are. 
• Think of the most fundamental cultural aspects. Needless to say, you first need to come up with a couple of ideas to be based upon in your paper. So, brainstorm all the possible ideas and try to decide which of them deserve the most attention. In essence, try to determine which of the aspects affected your personality the most.
• Edit and proofread before submitting your paper. Of course, the content and the coherence of your essay’s structure play a crucial role. But the grammatical correctness matters a lot too. Even if you are a native speaker, you may still make accidental errors in the text. To avoid the situation when unintentional mistakes spoil the impression from your essay, always double check your cultural identity essay. 

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Culture and Development

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• Oludele Albert Ajani 2 ,
• Adeoluwa Toluwa Adeniyi 2 &
• Isaac Akintoyese Oyekola 3 , 4  

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Cultural characteristics; Economic development; Nature of development; Political development; Social development

Culture refers to the wide spectrum of learned patterns of human behavior and it includes the way of life, the ability to live together, the framework of values, traditions and beliefs, as well as knowledge, art, and literature. In other words, culture is the heritage of a group of people living in a particular location, defining their distinctiveness including ideology, perception, values, beliefs, knowledge, material products, symbols, and behavior. Here, behavior means increased capacity, skill, and knowledge that makes life better for people in a globalized world.

Introduction

The concepts of culture and development were not easily linked together until in recent years when the two concepts became highly inseparable due to the emergence of some elements and ideas which emphasize their connection. One reason being that for any (sustainable) development...

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Cultural Diversity in the Digital Age: A Pillar for Sustainable Development

About the author, marie-julie desrochers.

Marie-Julie Desrochers is Secretary General of the International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity ( IFCCD ) and Executive Director of the Canadian Coalition for the Diversity of Cultural Expressions ( CDCE ). She is also a member of the steering group of the #culture2030goal campaign.

20 May 2024

T he preamble of the Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions , adopted by the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on 20 October 2005, includes the following statement: “[C]ultural diversity creates a rich and varied world, which increases the range of choices and nurtures human capacities and values, and therefore is a mainspring for sustainable development for communities, peoples and nations”.

As we prepare to celebrate the twentieth anniversary of the Convention, now ratified by 153 Parties , it is essential to recall the intrinsic links between cultural diversity, sustainable development and cultural rights. It is also necessary to seize this opportunity to rethink these links in a context radically different from the one in which the Convention was born, as artists and their professional entourages now operate in a highly digital environment, a dimension not explicitly referenced in the text.

Amplifying our diversity through technology is possible. The 2005 Convention could be a key step in achieving this objective if States firmly commit to updating their implementation efforts to reflect recent digital advances.

Addressing the digital divide to promote better cultural governance

One cannot discuss the challenges brought by digital technology to the diversity of our cultural expressions without first recalling the essential reality of the digital divide, a complex phenomenon that underlies many inequalities among nations as well as within them. Not limited to the question of access to the Internet or computer hardware, the digital divide notably also refers to inequalities in digital skills.

Although the risks are more pronounced where the digital divide is greater, technological developments challenge governance capacities in cultural matters in every country. For both governments and civil society, it is essential to develop and strengthen the skills needed to maximize the benefits of these advances while maintaining the ability to anticipate the challenges they bring.

Two important issues affecting the protection and promotion of cultural diversity deserve our attention: the question of discoverability of local and national content, and the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Discoverability: a lever for fighting homogenization

A handful of digital platforms operating in multiple countries now control public access to a massive amount of content. One might think that easy access to millions of works and productions facilitates more diverse consumption than ever before. This is not the case. Take, for example, a recent report published by the European Audiovisual Observatory, which shows the opposite effect. It reveals that on streaming platforms in Europe, American content is consistently overconsumed, accounting for 61.2 per cent of total viewing time, while the consumption of works from regions other than the United States and Europe only occupies 8.3 per cent of viewing time.

Between human curation and algorithmic recommendation, the “discoveries” made by various audiences on streaming platforms are heavily influenced by the tools developed by the companies operating the platforms, primarily to meet economic objectives.

This is where the concept of discoverability comes into play. The term is defined in a report published in 2020 as part of a joint mission led by France and the Province of Québec, Canada: “The discoverability of content in the digital environment refers both to its availability online and its ability to be spotted among a vast array of other content, particularly by someone who was not specifically searching for it.”

Achieving true discoverability of local and national content on digital platforms is essential to meeting the goals of cultural diversity. To achieve this, a variety of factors need to be in place, including the digital skills of cultural actors and the development of technological innovations. But above all, it will require raising awareness among the companies operating these platforms, which can only occur through the implementation of bold legislative frameworks like those we currently see emerging in some countries, such as Canada, as well as within intergovernmental organizations such as the European Union.

Generative artificial intelligence: legislating and building partnerships for responsible use

Over the past year, lightning-fast advances in generative artificial intelligence systems have brought about a major paradigm shift in the cultural sector. The definition of a work of art or the very idea of human originality has been called into question as these systems, which produce new content (text, sound, image or video), are developed from protected works used without transparency, consent or compensation, contradicting the principles of protection and promotion of cultural rights and the diversity of cultural expressions.

Legislative frameworks must quickly be put in place to reverse this trend. In addition to imposing the transparency necessary to allow creators to consent to the use of their works, and to be remunerated for this use, it is essential to recognize the human aspect of creation by refusing to grant new rights to productions generated solely by machines. It is also necessary to strengthen the protection of performing artists against the proliferation of deepfakes.

A responsible development of generative AI could enhance the diversity of cultural expressions. Promising projects are already emerging, including ones aimed at revitalizing minority or endangered languages. Of note are projects such as Masakhane , a grassroots movement working on building language technology for African languages, or First Language AI Reality , developed by Indigenous researchers in Canada in collaboration with Mila , an AI research centre.

These inspiring initiatives highlight the importance of building bridges between research communities and civil society to promote the emergence of AI for the benefit of all.

A Convention propelled into the future

In June 2025, a group of independent experts appointed by the Parties to the 2005 UNESCO Convention will present recommendations aimed at protecting the diversity of our cultural expressions in the digital environment. The International Federation of Coalitions for Cultural Diversity , with the support of its Canadian member, will contribute by organizing a day of conferences , underscoring the crucial role played by civil society in these matters.

The work conducted under the Convention by the Reflection Group on the diversity of cultural expressions in the digital environment, and the actions that will follow, are vital for cultural diversity, as well as for our collective future. Cultural rights and States' abilities to preserve their cultural sovereignty are essential for healthy democracies and true sustainable development. Specifically, as advocated by the #culture2030goal collective, it is necessary to fully integrate culture as a pillar of sustainable development by 2030 and beyond, starting with the development of a Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) specific to the cultural dimension of development.

More broadly, the key role that the cultural sector can and must play in this context should be more systematically promoted and recognized in all United Nations forums. In this regard, the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), and Summit of the Future , during which the Pact for the Future and the Global Digital Compact will be adopted, are opportunities that should be seized to further these objectives.

The UN Chronicle  is not an official record. It is privileged to host senior United Nations officials as well as distinguished contributors from outside the United Nations system whose views are not necessarily those of the United Nations. Similarly, the boundaries and names shown, and the designations used, in maps or articles do not necessarily imply endorsement or acceptance by the United Nations.  

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In April 2024, Pradeep Kurukulasuriya was appointed Executive Secretary of the United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF). The  UN Chronicle  took the opportunity to ask Mr. Kurukulasuriya about the Fund and its unique role in implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This is Part 1 of our two-part interview.

“Bee Engaged with Youth” to Safeguard Bees and Other Pollinators

As we celebrate World Bee Day on 20 May, let us remember how crucial it is to prioritize efforts to protect bees and other pollinators. FAO is committed to supporting youth, who have a key role to play in fostering the transformative changes and future initiatives and activities needed to save our bees and other pollinators.  

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Home — Essay Samples — Psychology — Childhood Development — Human Growth and Development

Human Growth and Development

• Categories: Childhood Development

About this sample

Words: 481 |

Published: Jan 31, 2024

Words: 481 | Page: 1 | 3 min read

Table of contents

Theoretical foundations of human growth and development, physical development, cognitive development, social and emotional development, environmental and genetic influences on human growth and development, lifespan development.

• Freud, S. (1905). Three essays on the theory of sexuality. Standard Edition, 7, 123-255.
• Erikson, E. (1950). Childhood and society. New York: Norton.
• Piaget, J. (1952). The origins of intelligence in children. New York: International Universities Press.

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