The Generalization about the National Character - Essay Example

Certainly there is a sound enough basis for doubting the validity of generalizations about national character (Gjerde, 1998). To begin with, many of these generalizations have been derived not from any dispassionate observation or any quest for truth, but from superheated patriotism which sought only to glorify one national group by invidious comparison with other national groups, or from a pseudoscientific racism which claimed innately superior qualities for favored ethnic groups. Further, the explanations which were offered to account for the ascribed traits were as suspect as the ascriptions themselves. No one today will accept the notions which once prevailed that such qualities as the capacity for self-government are inherited in the genes, nor will anyone credit the notion that national character is a unique quality which manifests itself mystically in all the inhabitants of a given country. Between the chauvinistic purposes for which the concept of national character was used, and the irrationality with which it was supported, it fell during the 1930's into a disrepute from which it has by no means fully recovered. The Skepticism of John Higman, the conflicting nature of the images of the American as an individualistic democrat or as a conformist democrat would have seemed simply to illustrate further the already demonstrated flimsiness and fallacious quality of all generalizations about national character (Gjerde, 1998). According to Haney-Lopez, the inhabitants of one country may, as a group, evince a given trait in higher degree than the inhabitants of some other country amounts almost to a denial that the culture of one people can be different from the culture of another people. To escape the pitfalls of racism in this way is to fly from one error into the embrace of another, and students of culture -- primarily anthropologists, rather than historians -perceived that rejection of the idea that a group could be distinctive, along with the idea that the distinction was eternal and immutable in the genes, involved the ancient logical fallacy of throwing out the baby along with the bath. Accordingly, the study of national character came under the special sponsorship of cultural anthropology, and in the 'forties a number of outstanding workers in this field tackled the problem of national character, including the American character, with a methodological precision and objectivity that had never been applied to the subject before. Every person, in addition to having their own personal identity, has a good judgment of who they are in relation to the larger community-the nation. Each nation, province, island, state, neighborhood and individual is its own unique union of history, culture, language and tradition (Gjerde, 1998). Children are raised to correlate with nation in lieu of unity and government. Communities and culture give people their identity. It is not some secret that human have migrated since their emergence as species. Their original differentiation into ethnic groups appears to have been a result of isolated development of separate groups of people who journeyed from a central point of origin. However, this isolation is not complete, for migrations resulted in complicated patterns of blood relationship through widely separated groups. Sadly nowadays, there are about a thousand people who migrate to other countries. Their reasons might be personal. They might be either interested or they just want to experience new cultures in other places. Or simply because they got tired of the place they situated and want to experience something new. Migration in a sense means the breaking up and scattering of a people. While this may be advantageous to many people who have good reasons for migrating, it also affects the traditions of the place they're leaving . (Gjerde, 1998) Sources say that the rate of migration has increased. Although, there were some minor differences between them by size of vicinity. It is recognized that most males would likely go to a medium-size and extra large cities whereas females goes to large cities (Gjerde, 1998). The influence of migration is multifaceted bringing both benefits and disadvantages. Immigration is a foundation of low cost labor for host countries, while the remittance of emigrant workers can be an important source of foreign exchange for sending countries. On the other hand, migration can strengthen resentment and trepidation in receiving, as immigrants are blamed of lowering wages and causing crime. For the economies of sending countries migration leads to a loss of well-educated and highly productive citizens. The wide-scale progress of people is as much a significant feature of globalization as the movement of goods, services, and capital. And countries are just as hesitant-if not more so-to open their borders to people as to those items. As with trade and capital, general public fear that their culture and their jobs are prone to being eradicated by uncontrolled immigration (Gjerde, 1998). At the same time, again as with free trade and investment, economies and societies need input from outside their borders in order to continue economic growth. Furthermore, some countries are ideologically devoted to open borders because of the nature of their national identity as a mix of different immigrant groups. European countries are less open to immigration and significant social clash has developed between native citizens and new arrivals. Even countries that send migrants to other countries and benefit from the remittances they send back are apprehensive about "brain drain" that may limit their development. Nevertheless, migration will be a major, unstoppable fact of global life until the economic inconsistency between sending and receiving states are abolished, if ever. Even when goods, services, or capital can be barred by government action, the smuggling of human beings and the resulting population of illegal immigrants in host countries is a common trait of developed countries (Gjerde, 1998). Dealing with both legal and illegal immigration, then, is one of the pressing issues facing governments and societies across the world. Much development has been made in the study of human migration. Economists have played a role their experience in developing human behavior in a straightforward, clear-cut and consistent way. Highly sophisticated econometric procedure have been harnessed to test theories and to provide pragmatic proof on current effects and conditions. However, there is still a long way to go before a adequately acceptable stage is reached. What are, in our limited judgment, the most important and promising ways to go First, due to the preconceived notion of the literature towards the US there is still a considerable lack of international comparable pragmatic evidence for many important questions (Gjerde, 1998). Topics where there is an vital need for empirical evidence in other immigration countries than the US include the effects of diverse migration policies on the quality of migrants, the labor supply of migrants in a family perspective, self-employment of migrants, the use of social benefits and the effects of immigration on the location choice of natives. Second, migration is a multidisciplinary and robustly policy-oriented research topic. It seems important to integrate institutional limitations and to appraise policy measures. Third, international migration flows are not sufficiently monitored at the individual level. Therefore, we need to create international panel data sets that should be made widely available to the research community. Fourth, migration is an question of dynamic economies. The movement of people is caused by the need for modification in economies, and the major economic virtue stems from the migrants' contribution to a faster adjustment process. Our theories and measurement methods do not yet provide sufficient tools to deal with this problem. References Gjerde, Jon, editor. (1998). Major Problems in American and Ethnic History: Documents and Essays. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Read More