Do Indians and people from other developing countries suffer from a general aspiration deficit syndrome?

 

Do Indians and people from other developing countries suffer from a general aspiration deficit syndrome?

Sujay Rao Mandavilli

 

What is aspiration? An aspiration is a fervent hope, desire or ambition to achieve or accomplish something in life. It also refers to the implicit and explicit desire to fulfill one’s desires, ambitions or dreams. An ambition which is a desire and determination to achieve success is always necessary if one wants to progress or keep moving forward. An aspiration deficit refers to a general deficit or lack of ambitions or aspiration. An aspiration deficit may lead to failure or stagnation. This may manifest itself at an individual level or at a group or a cultural level. This is because individuals are subject to peer-pressures and peer-influences throughout their lives. They are also influenced by their cultural values, mores and norms which would naturally vary widely from culture to culture. Therefore, individual mind-orientations would also be dependent on cultural-orientations. In a previous paper, we had also discussed concepts of mindspace, thoughtworlds, and worldviews, which would also additionally impact all these. All these concepts must be thoroughly grasped and understood because they go firmly hand in hand.

People can do well if they aspire to; they can surmount all odds if they have the will power to do so. We all know the story of American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer Helen Keller who was deaf, dumb, and blind but went on to achieve stupendous success in life. Bhimrao Ambedkar too surmounted all obstacles to achieve great success in life, transforming the lives of millions of people in the process. Another inspiring story is that of David Blunkett who was blind since birth, and despite coming from a poor family in one of Sheffield's most deprived districts, he rose to become Education and Employment Secretary, Home Secretary and Work and Pensions Secretary in the UK. The famous Indian Economist and Economic Advisory Council member Sanjeev Sanyal also described what he called a "poverty of aspiration", stating that most Indians aspired for lower end jobs  reflecting “limited aspirations".

Another related concept is that of “Symbolic violence”. The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu used the term “symbolic violence” beginning from the early 1970’s to describe how a dominant social group successfully normalizes the position of a subordinate group as being just due to their inherent shortcomings or weaknesses (often stemming from ignorance or lack of knowledge or education for example) – making the unjustified disadvantage appear natural, or even necessary. This is achieved by bringing the subordinate group to come around to the arbitrary criteria as being both objective and fair. No physical violence or abuse is however involved in most cases. We have had many examples throughout history, some of which are described later on in this article. We can cite the attitude of the otherwise brilliant archeologist Gregory Possehl towards some Indians to boost this case, as we have had first hand experience with him.

Blacks also generally lack aspiration deficit, and so do many, if not most Indians. The gap in real world  performance between various ethnic groups is highly unlikely to be genetic. There may be a lot of social and cultural factors involved. We had described Certainty uncertainty principle for the social sciences according to the principles and tenets of which certain factors must be weighed against certain factors. The name of the paper was “Elucidating the Certainty uncertainty principle for the Social Sciences: Guidelines for hypothesis formulation in the Social Sciences for enhanced objectivity and intellectual multi-polarity”. We had also extended the concepts mooted in the aforesaid paper to discuss racism. The name of the paper was, “Quashing racism: Presenting the ‘Comprehensive sociocultural persecution complex’ as a logical extension and a practical application of the Certainty uncertainty principle for the social sciences”. The term “Race” is of course, an outdated term. Modern scholars have used and adopted several other terminologies such as clines, ethnobiological identity, etc, and the origin of humans would itself be complex and nuanced requiring a multilayered and a multidimensional approach.  

As per the principle mooted in this paper, the variation in performance may be more reliably identified with social and cultural factors, (for example, there may be very few opportunities to pursue careers in science in developing countries) and only if these are eliminated, we can proceed to racial or biological factors. This is not only because the latter are much more difficult to prove, but because they can also be misused by mischievous elements. The Flynn effect must be borne in mind too. The Flynn effect is the substantial and long-sustained increase in both fluid and crystallized intelligence test scores that were measured in many parts of the world over the twentieth century, mostly due to nutritional factors. Eventually, other parts of the world may catch up with the west in this respect. People in some cultures may also suffer from an “Inferiority complex”, or a feeling of inadequacy. They may also suffer from a persecution complex which refers to either a justified or an unjustified belief that people are after them.  This may be partly justified because as we have observed over the years, people from developed nations want to maintain their status quo at least in science. This is what we meant by the “Comprehensive sociocultural persecution complex”. Let us now analyze some real-world factors which may lead to such complexes, and may also lead to real-world differentials in performance.

Caste system

A caste system also known as Varna or Jati, is a hierarchical system that originated in ancient India which is often attributed to Hinduism and the Vedas. The caste system refers to a social group into which an individual is born within this system of social stratification. The four main layers of the caste system are the Brahmins, or the priestly class, the Kashatriyas or the warrior class, the Vaishyas or the business class, and the Shudras who form the lowermost rung and echelon of society. Such as individual has limited to no social mobility, even though some mobility has indeed been observed and witnessed in both ancient and modern times. The caste system impinges on various aspects of daily, quotidian life including social and cultural mobility, matrimony, religious ceremonies, etc. The caste system is a general over-simplification as there were many patterns and exceptions observed across space and time. In accordance with the caste system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (this is known as endogamy), follow lifestyles linked to occupations prescribed for the caste, follow rituals assigned to a group, etc. At times, untouchability and segregation of basic facilities was also practiced, and this could extend sometimes also to visual pollution. This system was fought valiantly by Bhimrao Ambedkar also known as Babasahib Ambedkar, but exists in a diluted and in a highly whittled down form today.

Apartheid

The Apartheid  system is a now defunct system of government-institutionalized and government-mandated racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s, the system of apartheid was characterized by an authoritarian white-dominated political culture with limited to no rights for blacks and coloreds.  Segregation was also enforced in employment and housing. There were very few public facilities provided for blacks and coloreds, and even where these were provided were almost always of inferior quality. There were Indians in South Africa as well, and these occupied the middle rung in the apartheid-driven classificatory system, just one rung above blacks. Apartheid led to orchestrated international and domestic opposition, and some of the most influential global social movements of the twentieth century. It was also widely condemned in the United Nations and led to wide-ranging international sanctions on South Africa, eventually forcing it to dismantle the system. Among the leading lights of the Anti-Apartheid movement was Nelson Mandela who fought valiantly and heroically throughout his life to end the system.

 

Treatment of American Indians

Native Americans is named that is used to refer to indigenous native Indians who lived in North America including parts of present-day Canada and Alaska before white settlers arrived. There are an estimated five million of them today. These people are also sometimes called American Indians, or less often, First Americans. At its core, it includes peoples indigenous to the mainland forty -nine states plus Alaska; the indigenous peoples of South America are also sometimes referred as American Indians. The European colonization of the Americas that began in 1492 with the discovery of the Americas resulted in a steep reduction in the population sizes of Native American population on account of several factors such as diseases, persecution, enslavement and ethnic cleansing. Many native Americans were then pushed to reservation camps or territories that were earmarked for them. By 1871, their territories had been effectively derecognized, and they were bound to follow all federal and respective state laws as applicable, but with some significant exceptions.

Colonialism

Colonialism is a policy of official and systematized control and exploitation of people who are native to a particular region, and their resources by alien colonizers. Colonizers hold a monopoly over political power and often do not confer legal, administrative, social, cultural, or political rights to the oppressed peoples. Colonialism was introduced by European nations such as Britain, France, Netherlands and Portugal, and spread globally from around the fifteenth century to the mid-twentieth century, encompassing a significant part of the earth’s geographical territory and population. Colonizers mostly began as traders, and had trading rights conferred on them by local ruling monarchs. They eventually gained control of large swathes of alien territory, and established trading outposts and factors before becoming de facto rulers. These actions were often justified as “civilizing missions”, but had disastrous economic consequences and implications for colonies. Many colonies began to fight for their freedom in due course. India’s movement for independence famously began in 1857 with the first war of Indian independence but became a full-blown movement by the beginning of the twentieth century. In later years, Mahatma Gandhi famously led the movement, and India won its independence in 1947, triggering many such movements elsewhere in Asia and Africa.

Since then, there have been several movements to bridge the social and the cultural divide, some of which are as follows:

 

Civil rights movement

The civil rights movement was a prominent social movement and campaign that lasted approximately between 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish federal-sanctioned racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement across the country that was facilitated by Jim Crow laws, and viciously racist governments. Though the movement had its early origins in the Reconstruction era of the late nineteenth century after the Civil War and the abolition of slavery, it began in the modern sense of the term in the 1940s, and peaked in the 1960’s. This movement was marked by speeches, marches and boycotts with notable figures such as Martin Luther King, and Rosa Parks.

Black lives matter movement

Black Lives Matter is the name given to a more recent political and social movement that sought to highlight racism, discrimination, and racial inequality experienced by black people and to promote anti-racism. Its primary concerns are police brutality and racially motivated violence against black people. The movement began in response to the killings of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, and Rekia Boyd, among others, and increased in intensity after the murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin in the year 2020.

Reservation in India

 

The name “reservation”, which has a rather different meaning in the USA, is a government-mandated and government-enforced system of caste-based affirmative action in India which is based on the provisions of the Indian Constitution. According to this policy, the Union Government and different states in India sets a fixed and predetermined percentage of reserved quotas or seats, in higher education admissions, employment, political bodies, etc, for socially and economically backward people. While there has been a general widespread support for this policy among the general public, some see it as reverse discrimination and a resurrection of the caste system in a new form by discriminating against upper castes.

 

Affirmative action 

The term “Affirmative action” refers to a set of policies and practices followed by a government that aims to benefit marginalized groups. The premise for affirmative action is based on the nation that it may help bridging inequalities in daily life, jobs, increasing access to quality education, etc. These policies may vary widely from region to region, and take on many shapes and forms, but in some contexts they tend to be controversial.

Human rights in the former USSR

Human rights in the former and erstwhile Soviet Union were severely limited and curtailed. The Soviet Union was a totalitarian state under Lenin and Stalin, and was gradually liberalized by glasnost and perestroika schemes in the 1980’s, until it collapsed in 1990. Freedom of speech was highly suppressed and dissent was severely punished, leaving virtually no room for it in the long-run. Western values were sometimes referred to as bourgeois morality, and even history was sometimes significantly rewritten just to prove a point. Government propaganda was widespread and ubiquitous. Censorship against authors, writers and dissenters was all-pervasive and strictly enforced. 

Culture of poverty

Culture of poverty is a concept in social theory that states that the values and attitudes of people trapped in poverty, further perpetuate the vicious cycle of poverty, in which they may be consequently trapped even for generations. This may also be referred to a poverty-perpetuating value system. This concept first appeared in 1959 in a study among Mexican families by Anthropologist Oscar Lewis It attracted both attention and criticism in the 1970’s, and made a strong comeback in the 2000’s. It seeks to explain why poverty persists despite the formulation of antipoverty programs, and strongly argues that poverty cannot be understood on material bases alone. In the words of Anthropologist Oscar Lewis, "The subculture of the poor develops mechanisms that tend to perpetuate it, especially because of what happens to the worldview, aspirations, and character of the children who grow up in it". (Lewis 1969) Victorians also through that poverty could be attributed to cultural factors, and this is a recurrent theme in Charles Dickens’ novels. However, others emphasize the need to analyse structural factors along with the motivation of individuals. There is also a risk that this approach can be used to perpetuate cultural stereotypes biases and prejudices, and even unwarranted moral critiques of the poor. Lewis provided seventy different characteristics of the presence of the culture of poverty, which he believed was not shared by all the lower classes. According to him, people forming a part of the culture of poverty have a strong feeling of hopelessness, despondency and despair, besides a feeling of perpetual marginalization and alienation from their own society. He argued that this could not in most cases be attributed to racial or ethnic factors, and that there were many other factors at play. They often lack the vision, courage and determination to break out of the vicious cycle of poverty and may have a myopic, self-centric view of the world, mostly due to the lack of knowledge. He argued that people usually break out of the culture of poverty through better education, contact with other groups, and memberships of institutions. This is caused by, and further leads to a crisis of self confidence and low intrinsic and extrinsic expectations, what one might call the Golem effect. This concept evolved in the context of developing countries, but could be applied to developed countries too.  It consequently influenced work Daniel Moynihan and others during the war on poverty carried out during Lyndon B Johnson’s presidency in the 1960’s.

Other Anthropologists have sought to research poverty in relation to factors such as Family structure, and breakdown in family values, presence or absence of different types of welfare benefits, nature of employment and patterns of unemployment –frictional, seasonal, cyclical etc., quality of education, and desire for change arising from cultural mores, values and norms. A complete summary of various poverty measurement methods in common use has been compiled by the Mexican academic Julio Boltnivik. Another notable approach for poverty alleviation is Human capability approach proposed by Amartya Sen. This approach seeks to maximize human capability and potential to minimize poverty, and proposes various parameters to this effect.

According to most recent studies, poverty is caused not by lack of opportunity itself, but by a diverse set of other factors such as social and cultural barriers, absence of market-oriented skilling, the absence of relevant education systems, linguistic barriers, and the culture of poverty. This realization is one of the driving forces behind the science of Anthropological Economics that we had proposed and talked about.

Mind-orientations

We had proposed in a previous paper that individuals would have mind-orientations, and the following would be the basic Mind-orientation types. Each Mind-orientation type may be further subdivided into several types, though the latter is mostly left open-ended at this stage for further interpretation and elaboration.

-          Family orientation: In this case, the individual’s efforts are primarily geared towards the satisfaction of familial needs. This is perhaps the most common type of mind-orientation amongst a vast majority of people in different parts of the world, and particularly in traditional and conservative societies including India. Individuals with familial orientation may be adept or expert in making a living through various means, but these efforts are usually geared at satisfying the needs of the family, and are not a goal or an end by themselves.  Such individuals may be punctilious and meticulous, paying great attention to detail and execution. Such individuals may also be often empathetic to the needs of others, often putting their own needs next or even last. Family orientation is very common among women, but not too uncommon among men, either.  A Family mind-orientation has several tangible benefits which include the preservation and transmission of culture.

-          Employment or Business orientation: In this case, the individual’s efforts are primarily geared towards employment of business. I.e. satisfaction of livelihood needs, and all other efforts are subservient to these. Such orientations are common in many parts of the world, including developing and developed ones, and equate to a situation where livelihood is a passion or calling in life. Employment or Business orientation is very common among men, but not too uncommon among women, either. Employment orientation may be distinct from Business orientation, and the modal personal traits or attributes may vary in each case. The former may be marked by humility and attention to detail, while the later may be marked by brazenness and acceptance of risk.  An employment or business orientation has several economic benefits for society, and will lead to a greater well-being for society as a whole. However, this may be suitably sub-categorized for a more granular analysis. For example, accountants may possess different modal attributes from doctors and this may be reinforced through parenting. This is why doctors’ children may be more successful as doctors and not engineers. In some cases, changes may be introduced through rebelliousness and recalcitrance, and we have discussed this in another part of this paper.

-          Individual mind-orientation: In this case, the individual sends to be self-centric in his pursuits. This type of orientation is characterized by a great emphasis or satisfaction of individual goals and aspirations.  He may also attach a great deal of importance to his own personality or image makeup. There may be several variations of the basic theme, and each will be characterized by different personal traits or attributes. A variant for example may be the hedonistic personality type where are other endeavours are sacrificed to the pursuit of undiluted pleasure. Another variant is the Politician and the Manipulator, and this type of person typically seeks unnatural control over others, often going to great length to strategize and legitimize deviant behaviour. Yet another type may be the basic introvert who may be characterized by a general disinterest in the affairs of others around him. 

-          Societal Orientation: This type of Mind-orientation tends to put the well-being and needs of society above individual and all other needs. This type of mind-orientation is relatively rare in most societies, in spite of the fact that has some tangible benefits to offer to society.

-          Religious, spiritual or philosophical orientation: In this case, a great deal of importance is placed on religious, spiritual or philosophical needs often at the expense of all other needs. It may also be recommended to distinguish religiousness from spiritualism or a philosophical bent of mind for further analysis as there may be subtle differences between all the three. Religious, spiritual and philosophical orientation beyond a certain degree of measure may be counter-productive and lower the well-being of society.

-          Intellectual or creative orientation: In this type, a great deal of importance is placed on intellectual needs and creativity. A variant of this may be an Artistic Mind-orientation. A few may however, wish to treat the two as separate categories. This type of mind-orientation is relatively less common particularly in traditional or conservative societies, and may be the exception rather than the norm in most advanced societies.  The exact opposite of this kind of orientation is regimentation and adherence to bureaucracy or a procedural orientation, and this will stifle creativity and imagination in the ordinary course of events.

-          Militant-orientation: In this type of orientation, individuals are geared to fight and protect society from external threats and forces. This type of mind-orientation may be present to some degree in advanced societies, but may be more common in tribal and feudal societies.  

-          The Anarchist or the queer man: This type of mind-orientation may not be a bona fide category per se but a residual type and may be characterized by a partial or complete disorientation on some or many fronts. Many would not accept this as a mind-orientation and may be a resultant of unique personal experiences or a worldview shaped by cognitive dissonance.

-          Other types of Basic mind-orientation: Other types of basic mind-orientation may also defined with a proper justification, but most may be subservient to and slotted into the above categories. 

What are cultural orientations?

The following are Cultural orientations unlike the Mind-orientations described earlier, and we had proposed the Seven Cultural Orientations as described below in the same paper. We had also made a reference to Hofstede cultural dimensions, information about which can be found anywhere on the internet.

Past-orientation versus future-orientation

Past-orientation and Future-orientation is the relative emphasis placed by a society or culture on its past and future. Future-orientation is associated with characteristics such as planning, foresight, personality development directly and with other characteristics such as individualism indirectly. An over-emphasis on the past may lead to a vindication or exoneration of the cultural baggage of the past and may impede cultural progress, both material and non-material. Per the Vertical-horizontal model described in this paper, globalization leads to the multiplication of horizontal factors, thereby weakening vertical factors. We must also bear in mind the fact that Western societies have also been typically future-oriented since the age of Enlightenment. Thus, globalization and modernization gradually make more conservative societies future-oriented as well.

Inward-looking cultures versus outward cultures

Some cultures are undoubtedly more outward-looking than others, and many have traditionally or quintessentially been so. This may also be referred to as the internal or external orientation of society. The presence or absence of Cultural Elitism, key political and cultural institutions as well as the level of physical, educational and social infrastructure and the general intellectualism play a role in determining the Internal or external orientation of society. Remediation may be brought about by means of suitable changes in the education system through suitably-designed pedagogical techniques or an improvement in social or physical infrastructure. A change in a society’s orientation will increase its cultural receptivity and bring in attendant benefits.

A Xenophobic culture is one that harbors a deep-rooted suspicion or aversion towards other cultures as well-demonstrated pan-cultural trait. In some situations, Xenophobia may manifest itself in other forms such as condescension or a desire to maintain cultural or racial purity. Xenophobia may arise due to several reasons, one of them being ethnocentrism, though there may be other causes such as autarchy (autarky), cultural isolation or ignorance. This is strongly co-related with inward orientation, and often with past-centrism.  At the other end of the spectrum, xenocentrism may be observed, though this may not necessarily be accompanied with positive consequences, and a culture may swing like a pendulum from one extreme to another.  This may also be triggered by a popular disenfranchisement or disenchantment with a situation generating a yoyo effect as a precursor to normalization or stabilization (Yoyo theory of Socio-cultural change). Examples of Xenophobia have included the Islamophobia of the recent decades and Anti-Semitism of Nazi Germany. Xenophobia has also been attributed to mid-twentieth  century Japanese culture by some analysts and the more recent Hindutva movement of India.

Rigid versus flexible cultures

Cultures may also be classified into rigid and flexible. Flexible cultures are often those will less cultural and intellectual baggage, and are amenable to change. Cultures which are flexible in some respects, may be rigid in some others and it may be necessary to perform an analysis at the level of a cultural elements. An example to illustrate this point may be the Republican Party’s penchant for laissez-faire economics and neo-liberalism and right-of-centre policies in the USA. 

Individualistic versus collective cultures

Some cultures like the USA may be more individualist, while some others like the erstwhile and the now-defunct USSR emphasized collectivism of thought and statism. Most others can be placed in a continuum between these two extremes, and the merits and demerits of both points of view are still debatable.

Material and non-material orientation 

Some cultures like the USA may be more materialistic, while some other developed countries like Japan much less so. Most others can be placed in a continuum between a material orientation and various non-material orientations such as religious or spiritual orientation, and the merits and demerits of different types of orientation are still debatable.

Contentment versus innovation

Some cultures do not wish to effect changes to the status quo, while some others pursue a relentless quest for perfection and changes in the status quo.  This metric would indicate a culture’s appetite for innovation, and would be commensurate with its innovation indices. This metric may, however be affected by a cultures past or future orientation as well, and in some respects, all the six are inter-related.

Rational-orientation versus Non Rational-orientation

In a rational society, less reliance is placed on myths, legends, superstitions etc. It is expected that all non-rational societies will evolve into rational societies in due course, and the Cultural Anthropologist has a core and a crucial role to play here.

The time has come to bring about a change. People from India and other countries must hitch their wagon to a star. Racism and colonialism will increasingly become a thing of the past. They must forget old shibboleths and march confidently towards the future. As Bhimrao Ambedkar once famously said, “Freedom of mind is the real freedom. A person whose mind is not free though he may not be in chains, is a slave, not a free man. One whose mind is not free, though he may not be in prison, is a prisoner and not a free man. One whose mind is not free though alive, is no better than dead.”