Culture Essay Samples

Abstract

The essay looks into the Middle Eastern customer and the influence of the Western culture and societies on the region. It looks into the cultural beliefs, value, attitude systems and to what degree the western culture has affected Middle Eastern culture. It looks at the meaning of Intercultural communication and briefly touches the concept of semiotics and dialogism.

Introduction

The socio-cultural complexity of the Arab Middle East arises because of the cultural discontinuity and a will to adhere to modernity and progress. Often, the indicator of success or failure among the Middle East is evaluated on how fast one has adapted the Western standards and technological tools such as Internet and other IT-solutions.
The national cultures carry their own characteristics, and the language, ethnicity and religion of a region define the cultural dimensions. Islam is the common religion in the Middle East. The cultural diversity of the region goes beyond the represented Arab culture. The Middle Eastern Arab culture carry certain paradoxical characteristics that exist at all times. The Middle Eastern region is made of ethnic Arab societies consisting of different tribes. The era of colonialism in the Middle East has led to inconsistent effects on the region. While the Middle East has gone through different cultural, economical, and political forces, it has undergone diverse set of influences from the Western powers and now from China.

The culture

During the 19th century, when one spoke of culture it was meant for the Western civilization that was seen as the culminating for different societies. Western cultures have always been considered to be superior. However, today, cultures hold a different understanding and are not synonymous with countries or limited to political boundaries. The culture reflects a community or population that can exist on its own without relying on outside people and the behavior, thought, experiences of the population. Complex societies such as the made up of a large number of cultures that carry their distinct values and norms based on social class, ethnicity or geographic region, for example in the United States. Ethnic identity and the word minority are used to identify a certain group (Defining Culture and Identities, 2015).
The Islamic Middle East is one of the few regions across the world that has experienced globalization to a large extent. The spread of ideas, customs and attitudes, which originate in one part of the world and these are typically Western in origin to other parts of the world is referred to as globalization. When certain aspects of Westernization are looked upon as challenges, the feeling of nationalism comes into the forefront. Under such circumstances, globalization can be seen as a threat and intruder and a source of conflict for traditional practices, cultural values, and religion.

Intercultural communication

The human beings alone are capable of semiotics and consciousness. Global semiotics means interactions and behavior among living beings. Semiotics describes and explains relationships and events that result from obeying certain conventions. Dialogism labels a development that takes place in relation to global semiosis. It forms the basis of all communication processes. One's identity is dialogic, and the very core of the self is the seat of Dialogism.
Intercultural communication takes place when the individual living in a society or community get influenced by the different cultural interaction. It is the communication taking place between individuals from different nationalities and cover inter-religious and inter-regional communication. A successful communication across cultures will rely on the competency in the language and how competent the communicator is to convey a successful communication in diverse cultural contexts. Certainly proficiency in the cultural languages is essential for intercultural competence (Ponzio, 2004).

The culture in Middle East

When one speaks of the Middle East culture, one talks about Turkish, Arab, Israeli and the Iranian culture. The Middle East is also referred to as the cradle of civilizations as the Tigris-Euphrates in Iraq and the Nile Valley in Egypt witness some of the earliest civilizations in the world. The region is also the oriign point of the three major religions of the world, namely Islam, Judaism and Christianity. The landscape in the Middle East is made of harsh desert conditions or mountainous terrains. A large number of tribes have existed in the Middle East that have their own cultures and identities. The most widely spoken language in the Middle East is the Arabic language which is a rich language carrying culture influences. Other languages spoken in the region include Turkish, Farsi, Kurdish, Hebrew, French, English and some more.
The rivalry among the Soviets and the United States to create polities in their own image in the Middle East is not unknown. However, it is not an easy task to create a socialist regime and liberal democracy in an Islamic country. The collaboration between the Islamic traditions based on faith and Western ideas of a demarcation between religion and government is likely to continue. Westernization of art and literature have transformed modern poetry among the region. Because of the influence of Western discourse, the language of the modern literature has changed extensively. Although the impact of Western music is still relatively small, the change is still noticeable. Music is perhaps the closest expression of a culture, and it is natural to see the local music yield to alien influence. Another exceedingly noticeable sign can be seen on the clothing. There are ancient traditions regarding the Muslim clothing and their attire. Even when men started wearing Western clothes, women were only allowed to wear a traditional dress. Gradually by the mid-twentieth century, an increasing number of women were seen adopting a Western style of clothing. The economic participation of women and other social changes have led to certain changes in favor of women, who have made significant progress in the field of education. There is a rise in the number of enrollment in universities and women can be seen in other faculties and professions where they were not known to foray (Lewis, 1996).
Religion holds a great importance in the daily lives of people living in the Middle East. Fridays are the holy day for the Muslim, Sundays for the Christian and Saturdays for the Jewish Sabbath. Easter Sunday, Id al-Fitr and Jewish Passover holiday are all recognized as National holidays in different countries.

Globalization and the socioeconomic forces of the industrialized West

Globalization is based on its own economic, social and political roots and carries different consequences in different parts of the world. It is seen as a powerful medium for the exchange of ideas and transfer of knowledge. Still, it needs not carry positive influences all the time. For example, the subject of the influence of globalization and Western culture on the Arabic culture an Middle East is relatively controversial. Many nationalists of the Arab world look down upon the influences of the Western world on their culture. The Arab culture supports the technological information devices and applications but is anxious about the disintegration of their identity and culture. The supports of globalization see the possibility of unification of civilizations and enhanced communications.
The organic structures of culture are based on intellect, traditions and activities that have been set in a particular geographical and historical setting. Although the improved networks of communication because of the satellite communication technologies and global media networks have truly extended the global reach, it should not be used as tool to reshape national cultures. Today, the communication and interaction between different cultures of the world is fast, certain and clear. The new tools of technology are bringing cultures closer, but also raising certain fears. The socioeconomic forces of the industrialized West are opening up many opportunities to learn and take advantage of the wider range of choices. Still, these forces can be very threatening to culture. The speedy economic, technological and social intrusion of the Western culture into the Arab is forcing the fear of the people losing their religious and societal characteristics. With a little careful attitude, Arab countries can certainly flourish and take advantage of the significant educational, social and economic support.
In order to bridge those cultural gaps, one needs to have a superior ideology and social structure that can adopt the foreign cultures without any cultural hindrance. An alternative approach of coordinating economical and cultural diversities should be followed to dispel any fears and protect the cultural standing of Arab countries.

Limited influences of the West

No matter how evident is the influence of the Western culture on the Middle East, there are certain realms where it has failed to penetrate. Although other regions and nations in the world have been more tolerant of the Western cultures, the situation is different in the Middle East. The very magnitude and unity of an Islamic community builds a kind of wall against many aspects of globalization and Western influences. Islam is a religion that instills a certain order for society and carries its set of laws. It is true that the religion has undergone its period of reinforcement and regularization under the modern technologies (Globalization and the Middle East, 2015).
One finds a limited use of Western and European languages in the Middle East and the chief language in the Islamic Middle East is Arabic. Thus, the western languages find it hard to penetrate the linguistic wall. Middle East does not ignore globalization, but on certain aspects, expects the others to adjust to Middle Eastern beliefs. The Middle East dictatorships have survived generations because of their ability to mobilize mass support. Technological use and determinism were seen in the Middle East with the use of television, radio, and cassettes and satellite television to make spread the Islamic identity and culture. Internet, television programs, movies, computers, and clothes are influencing Middle East in a new way.

The political conditions

The radicalization of militia groups in Libya, civil war in Syria, and the questioning of the Muslim Brotherhood have only strengthened the forces throughout the region. The political transformations in the region are seen because of economic stagnation, corrupt regimes, and the disillusioned population. The war against terrorism led by the US has been protested against in the Arab world. The Western geopolitical interests are seen to fluctuate in the region. Commercial interests of the Western governments made them reluctant to give complete power to the authoritarian rulers, and what followed was an uneasy equilibrium in the region. The new political forces and decisions led to a power vacuum and an increasingly incoherent pattern. What damaged the credibility of the Western influences further was Palestinian elections and regime change in Iraq that led to an angry view of the west? The growing influence of the Gulf countries and rise of Asia lead to significant geopolitical shifts, thus declining appeal of the west further. The Western forces failed to understand the evolving regional dynamics (Held & Coates, 2004).
Social media and online networking were used to spread revolutionary messages. However, it is a complex reality as to why political upheavals and uprisings were experienced in a Yemen and not in Saudi Arabia or United Arab Emirates. The widespread calls for political reform are yet to translate into democratization.

Conclusion

The influence of Western culture and technology on the Middle Eastern communities is a topic of an active debate. The encroachment of Western influences seeks some answers. The Western culture carries some presence in almost parts of the world. Still, it is not present in its complete and perfect form, as it often gets largely mixed with other local cultures. It dominates in Western and European nations and exists in modest presence in other countries such South Korea, Taiwan, India, and China. In Africa and the Middle East, it still holds little presence. Muslims get exposed to Western influence as they need to spend in dollars and euros to sell oil. It is getting increasingly difficult for the Western countries to satisfy Muslim demands and severe all cultural and political ties while conserving economic relations.

References

Defining Culture and Identities. (2015). Retrieved from http://www.sagepub.com/upm- data/45974_Chapter_1.pdf
Globalization and the Middle East: Part One. (2015). Retrieved from http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/content/globalization-and-middle-east-part-one
Held, D., & Coates, K. (2014). The Arab Spring and the changing balance of global power ULRICHSEN. Open democracy.
Ponzio, A. (2004). Dialogism and biosemiotics. Semiotica, 2004(150) doi:10.1515/semi.2004.053
Lewis, B. (1996). The Middle East, Westernized Despite Itself. Middle East Quarterly, 53-61.