Culture and Civilization with its Behavioral Aspects

Civilization includes all the materialistic developments of the world which are the products of human advancements. It includes material or concrete things used by human being such as house, household commodities, and different kind of apparatus, instruments, weapons, pots and any means of conveniences. Both civilization and culture are changing but the rate of change of civilization is much faster than culture. Civilization, the comfortable condition of modern society, passes from one society to another easily but culture, the value, attitude and beliefs of a society takes a long time to change. Civilization has precise standard of measurement but not culture. The products of civilization are more easily communicated than those of cultures. Culture and civilization are interdependent to each other.

Behavior of man reflects his culture as culture has great influence in humanoid beings life. Culture includes performance learned intentionally or unintentionally through different formal and informal modes – that exert influence directly or indirectly on the individual in a society. Culture is one particular kind of observable behavior which behavior is the rest of observable behavior. We should study culture in behavior, not in of it. Culture as a constitutive part of development. Culture factors influence economic behavior. Both culture and civilization are man-made. One is for ease and luxury and other is for his pleasure and delight.

Development today does not refer to the economic development, but the overall development of society and its people. People cannot exist in isolation, they live in groups, compete with each other and interact in many ways. There are also different symbols which reflect the development of individuals and civilization. The cryptograms may be different in different civilization but there are different symbols which are used to reflect different aspects of society. Culture can help a country in economic development. The cultural factors influenced by religion are the principle obstacles to modernization. 

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Culture and Development Process in Rural Development

Study of anthropology, as well as development, culture is one of the major dimensions of development. Culture is one of the major branches in anthropology and without considering cultural aspects, no development projects can be successful. Culture and development together studies the role of culture on human beings and their development. This is the study of role of culture on development action of human beings in group and vice versa. Culture generally refers to patterns of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activities significance and prominence. Culture is manifested in melody, fiction, image and statuette, cinema and film and other things.

Most of the human behavior comes from learning and communicating with other socialized being. Human beings acquire some characteristics and become social by associations with other people. Culture may be started as embodiment of customs, traditions, spirits, views, feasts, delusions, organizations, etc. Culture consists of mode of life created by man and includes all the arts and artifacts resulting from symbolic interaction among men. A particular culture consists of the mode of life characteristics of a particular society. Culture is a process and involving culture in development implies the shift from goal oriented planning with open ends and branching goals. 

Culture is an essential dimension of development. The core of culture is a system of knowledge and a set of shared ideas. It catalyze local level development through communities using their diverse social, cultural and economic resources. Diversity strategies of human development and capacity building for knowledge based dynamic societies. It helps to support their cultural norms and values for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity. Culture includes behavior learned consciously or unconsciously through different formal and informal modes that exert influence directly or indirectly on the individual in a society. Everyone knows that people may specify a norm or rule for proper behavior in particular circumstances in fact not everyone. Every man/society believes that their culture is superior then other’s culture. 

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Development Discourse assemblage with Social Science

There is increasing recognition of social science knowledge in development discourse. In recent times, social science has been significantly observed as a discipline capable of making major contributions to an understanding of what hinders and facilitates the development practice. Prior to that date, there was a prodigious impact of economics in the development programs and policies. There was completely absence of Anthropologists and Sociologist within the development community. Much of past beliefs about the exercise of non-economic social sciences become now out of date or vanishing. Discourse subsume performs and provisions, with very factual possessions. The progression discourse is dynamically interrelated with development practice, affecting the actual design and implementation of projects.

Considering development as discourse has raised important question about the nature of development knowledge and its interface with other representations of reality. Development is just taken as an organizing discourse, Anthropologists views the development discourse as inconstant, and they can service to transmute growth discourse from within. They preach that growth dissertation is liable to change than being monolithic and static. The discourse can be changed and new practices and knowledge can be and are introduced. The discourse is also far more diverse and challenged. Development discourse is fundamental to how the world is represented and controlled by those power and social science has much to say about it.   

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Inevitability of Anthropological Knowledge in Rural Development

Rural development involves extending the benefits of development to the poorest among those who seek a living in the bucolic area. Hence, rural development is a plan intended to develop rural people, especially those who are socially, economically and politically retrograde and underprivileged. Rural development does not only means monetary enrichment of society or people, but overall development such as empowerment, participation in all development activities, right to speak and vote, access to education and health services, access to law and all the basic needs of life.

Development is the eradication of poverty, but today poverty does not only mean economic poverty but it means human poverty, such as lack of education, health services, low life expectancy at birth, empowerment, etc. Rural development is a strategy designed to uplift the living standard of people living in rural areas who are deprived of basic needs of life. It is simply not possible to neglect the poor any more. They are loudly demanding their share in the development process. In Nepal, where development and welfare programs for the very poor have always been accorded higher priority, (though those programs have not been success due to different reasons) the one overriding objective of all major government socio-economic plans and programs today is all alleviate wide spread poverty.  

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Development and Practicing of Anthropology and Critique

Development is a universal problem which has drawn the attention of third world or developing countries to the identical problem. Different rehearses which were used in the past are viewed as antecedents of development, thought the term development was not used at the time. Development anthropology is the application of anthropological knowledge, theories, methods, and approaches for the purpose of betterment of people of particular societies. Development anthropology implies both an approach in applied anthropology and a specialization and modernization of anthropological knowledge on development field.

Development anthropology refers to the application of anthropological perspectives to the multidisciplinary branch of growth studies. It takes global development and global aid as key substances. The various influences on the local populace, environment, social and economic life are to be examined. They prepare development projects which are compatible to the local ethnic systems. They influence native peoples to develop their self-mechanisms to face environmental problems. Anthropologists are most aware of the human problems while formulating development policies. Anthropologists conduct detail field work to collect sufficient information required for the project. 

Practicing anthropologists also known as vested interest anthropologists. Those anthropologists who choose to trade their ability or information to the market. Basically they become consultants and they do whatever the official customized to do. Many of these classification anthropologists call themselves advocacy anthropologists. Anthropologists have commenced the study of human problems involved in the technological changes which are taking place in all underdeveloped areas.  

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Development as Freedom, Liberation and Empowerment

Development is considered as a process of expanding the real freedoms that people enjoy. Growth of GNP or of individual incomes can be very important as means to expanding the freedoms enjoyed by the members of the civilization. But freedoms depend on social and economics arrangements as well as political and civil rights. Similarly, industrialization or technological progress or social modernization can substantially contribute to expanding social sovereignty, but choice depends on other influences as well. The relation between individual freedom and the achievement of social development goes well beyond the constitutive connection-important as it is.

Development requires the removal of major sources of unfreedom. Freedom in central to the process of development. Overcoming these problems is a central part of the exercise of growth. Development of freedom is viewed both as the primary end and as the principal means of development. The removal of substantial unfreedoms is constitutive of development. Although there has been a lot progress in health, education, trade, commerce and communication yet there are many new problems as well as old ones.

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Why Third World Diversities and Dilemmas for Development Discourse?

The world has been divided in First and Third World. The problems are more serious to the poor groups and they are the most victims. They are suffering from poverty, displacement, unemployment and so on. Affluent groups are not losing since they are in better position to adjust to change.

Development is not undertaken to provide opportunities to any particular group. It seeks to promote wider national interests for the benefit of all. For the same reason, the environmentally harmful technologies, the dependence on non-renewable resources, and even the possibilities for tragic calamities are also seen as acceptable risks. Social, cultural and political systems reflect an innate human attribute of decision-making on what is good or what is bad, and together decide the direction for development.

Still, there is no doubt that without irrigation works, it is impossible to meet the demand of growing populations for food; without hydro power the programs of industrial growth will come to a halt; without transportation and such basic amenities as housing, water, etc. the life in cities just cannot move on. The fact also needs to be faced that the process of development affects different groups differently. Some stand to gain, while others lose. This seems to be a continuing dilemma in development. 

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Monolithic to Polycentric Notion for Development Discourse

Monolithic notion of development has tried to define and understand the development process as static and unchangeable while polycentric notion defines the development process as changeable. Polycentric notion states the development discourse can be modified by the introduction of new objects and variables that could be introduced in time intervals.

It is based on the conventional notion of transfer of technology providing technical information passed form the experts to the ignorant. The approaches are based on the one way model of development, communication which is incompatible with a focus on participation of the people. It is based on the materialistic and mechanistic philosophy born of the west and rejects the reinforcing material, social and spiritual part of non-western society. It has a national framework and pays little attraction to the interest of the group for whom the development is meant for.

The development concept is conceived and implemented by a central authority which determines priorities as well as the areas and strategies of development without prior consultation with people about their feelings and needs of development.

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