Two Individuals Can Never Be the Same in All Aspect of Their Lives - Term Paper Example

INTRODUCTION Two individuals can never be the same in all aspect of their lives. Not even identical twins. There must be areas of similarities, semblance or commonness and areas of differences or uniqueness. Beyond individual differences, every man is a product of many factors external to his system. The society one lives, the culture, values, norms or traditions of such society; they people he has familial or fraternal relationship with; his religion; the environment he lives; and many others. In this essay, I compared myself with Murtala Ibrahim to bring out those areas of similarities and differences between the two of us. From the sociological point of view, there are basically two approaches to studying social relations among individuals. The functionalists cum conflict approach sees society from a macro-sociological view and asses it as an objective structure and process. The school focuses on large-scale groups and processes. The interactionists focus on individuals and the relations among them. This is largely a micro-sociological approach, which places heavy emphasis on human subjectivity. Thus the school stresses the individual actor in the society as the source of human action. A major assumption is that “social reality consists of behaving individuals” and these individuals create society and culture “using those aspects that they have incorporated into their personalities”. Social relations, therefore, “consist of agreements and disagreements among individuals who incessantly define and redefine the world around them” (Rossides, 1998: 269) Apart from the scope of analysis, sociological analysis of social relations highlights differences between objectivity and subjectivity of social actors in a social relation. The Weberian perspective, however, provides a middle-of-the-road approach that blend objective facts with subjective interpretation given to these facts (Swenson, 1999: 30). This is captured in Weber’s own words: ...very frequently, the world images [views] that have been created by ideas, like switchmen, determined the tracks along which action has been pushed by the dynamic of interest. “From what” and “for what” one wished to… and… “could be” redeemed depended upon one’s image of the world” (Weber, 1995: 26). It is also important to note that in history, world views are concentrated in the inspiration of a few but eventually such views become the conviction of many. The creation of such world views coalesces around the interest of a few, who use the consent of many to protect narrow interests. This few normally constitute a class and this class uses the state and its apparatuses to promote and protect that narrow interest. Ideologies and intellectual fantasies are developed as tools for securing a common world view. Thus it was very easy to distinguish during the cold war era, on a global scale, capitalists’ world view from the socialists’. Perhaps, in our post-ideological world, it is assumed that such lines of differences will cease to exist and the consent of global citizenry becomes engineered by a few so that the world thinks and acts in the same way. Giving the nature of this study, we adopted the micro-sociological approach to compare two individuals with different backgrounds. After a brief introduction of the two subjects, their areas of similarities and differences are discussed under three sub-headings: Class, Health and Religious view. THE SUBJECTS AND THEIR SIMILARITIES I am an Anglo-Saxon female and Australian by origin. I am twenty-six years old. I am single, and I work and study full time. My income places me in the middle class. I am from a broken home with divorced parents. I have three siblings (1 older brother, 1 younger half-brother and 1 younger half-sister). I am devout Christian and a catholic. I am currently in Bali, Indonesia as a volunteer but I am permanently resident in……… Murtala Ibrahim is a Nigerian. He is a black African male working (part time) and studying at undergraduate level. Murtala is thirty-one years old. His father was a polygamist. Murtala’s mother died when he was young but he grew up with his step mothers and siblings (three half sisters and six half brothers). He considers himself to be in the lowest class of the low income class. Murtala is a Muslim. He has never travelled outside his country’s shores but he is in touch with the world via the internet. Murtala loves reading and nothing but reading. Murtala and I have a lot in common despite the fact that we have quite different backgrounds. Generally, my belief, just like that of Murtala is influenced by my religion although the degree of influence varies considerably. Both of us believe in God as the creator, good and bad deeds, heaven and hell, angels and devil, holy books as guidance to man, among others. We both share on moral grounds the values of protecting the environment, caring for other animals, and on controversial issues such as same sex marriage and abortion. I attribute this similarity partly to enlightenment brought about by Western education and to some extent our religious beliefs. This is what Inglehart and Basanez (1998: 9) describe as “post-modern world view”, which “reflects a shift in what people want out of life”. This world view is “transforming basic norms governing politics, work, religion, family and sexual behavior”. Thanks to globalization. These values have been promoted as global norms, which people cherish regardless of their racial, religious, national or socio-economic backgrounds. HOW WE DIFFER Murtala and I differ in some ways. The differences between us are influenced to varying degrees by our religious belief, social status and health inequalities in our different societies. In this section, I highlighted some of the area differ and why the differences. Religious Views I was born into a catholic family that practices strictly the Christian religion. Murtala was born to a Muslim family but he considers himself a devout Muslim but not a practicing one. He is more liberal in his thinking. He had at different times explored the Indian-based Harikrishna and Ekankar, the religion of light before ascertaining his faith in Islam. His spiritual expedition resulted from his readings of philosophical literatures. He used himself to experiment how religion, faith in God or spiritualism affects ones life, his relations with God and other human beings and more generally, how one views the world. Murtala learnt a lot that since his u-turn to Islam he had decided to study religion in the university. To him his studying religion and particularly religious philosophy will afford him to scientifically clear his many haunches. He has thus far taken cultural relativists’ view of the religion. He sees his belief and those of others as essentially okay even though there appear to be contradictory account of how one can, for instance, transit from this world and to the world after. On this ground, we differ. I believe in the superiority of my faith and its acceptability to God as the only way to the promising hereafter. I believe that it is only true Jesus Christ that one can be saved from the bondage of devil, his sins forgiven and rewarded with heaven. However, my strong religious belief does not mean that I am belligerent or aggressive to people with other beliefs or cultures. I have found challenges in other cultures. Strangely, Murtala’s belief is influenced to some extent by his African traditions. He believes in superstition. This is very unusual of Muslims especially those that have Western education. Murtala believes that his is not dogmatic about his superstitious beliefs. Unless these beliefs are scientifically proven wrong he sees them as mere hypothesis. Moreover, he believes he is connected to his ancestors by holding unto their beliefs. Disbelieving them means loosing his traditional heritage. In the West superstitions have long been disregarded and have been taken over by scientific reasoning and to some extent by religious beliefs. Superstitions are seen as part of traditional societies, a stage Africa is battling to transit from. In terms of values, we differ to some extent. To me The Western value system revolves around capitalists’ economic determinism and political democracy. This presupposes an egalitarian society which promotes freedom and equality of all citizens. But much as I cherish these values my religious belief places a restriction on me. For instance, I see same sex marriage and abortion as morally wrong even though they are characteristics of a free society. So there is a limit to which one can exercise his rights. I believe the society will be better if we inculcate the moral values the church preaches. Inculcating these values has made to be charitable. I find volunteerism a good way to serve humanity, a good way of sharing my endowments with the less privileged. So I travel to far way Bali, Indonesia to render free teaching service to the poor who do not have the privilege of having good education. Protecting the environment and caring for other animals is another value in the West that I cherish so well. I believe in the Green campaign not because of the political rhetoric but I see it as morally justifiable. Yet we have some differences. Murtala still respects his traditional values, which in the Western world considered barbaric. Murtala believes that diversity is natural and civilization does not mean harmonization of cultures and values. He therefore sees nothing wrong with, for instance, a woman subordinating herself to her husband in a matrimonial relation. And from his bad experience he sees the African tradition of communal life exemplified in the extended family still good and relevant. One other way we differ is in our sense of self identity. Identity he simply means “the degree to which all activities of [a] person are controlled by well defined norms enforced regularly and effectively by people in the environment, as opposed to morality determined by the individual himself by his own decisions” (Stinchcombe, 1987: 15-16). Murtala believes he is highly individualistic. His belief and way of life has made it difficult to categorize himself among his family members and people he relates with. In essence constructing an identity for himself has been a problem he faces continuously. At best Murtala’s identity can be explained by “optimal distinctiveness theory” (Taylor 1987: 93). Murtala is caught up between two opposing forces of assimilation (inclusiveness) and differentiation (distinctiveness). His unique religious belief and way of life makes him feel individuated hence making him vulnerable, isolated and even stigmatized. Thus he has to be associating himself with his family and their compact social identity while at the same time retaining within him that distinctive identity of an individualist. To a great extent I can say that while Murtala’s self identity is that is individualists, my self identity is more of the collectivists. This is because of the considerable influence of my family religion, which is a heritage I unbendingly cherish. This is ironic giving the fact that Western societies are known for their individualistic tendencies while the African societies are more communal and have a collectivist sense of identity. Class Differentials, Health Inequalities and Social Life My social life is influenced by a number of factors. I am an INPF in the Myrer Briggs (www.personalitypage.com/INFP.html, accessed January 22, 2008). I am very quiet person, I like to listen to people, and find about them. I am also very reserved and private person. I consider myself to be warm and receptive but I find it difficult to make friends, male or female. Rather, I concentrate on my work and books. My religion, being raised in a Christian household also influences my behavior towards others. I am more loving, kind, and I understand that what you give, you will get back seven fold. I am also more of service to mankind, as I volunteer as an English Teacher in Bali for 5 months each year. My family life, and upbringing has an effect on my social life. I grew up with my father and step mother who only on occasion went out for social gathering. I have adopted these traits, and only socialize with very close friends. Even when I go to such social gatherings, I don’t smoke or drink alcohol. So as far as I am concerned, I am not a social person. Beyond personal relationships, my working relations as a sales person is affected by these traits. I am not too free with customers or clients and as such I cannot make good sales. Murtala’s social life is more complicated than mine. His social life is influenced by more factors. First Murtala’s family background and socio-economic status makes life a bit more difficult Murtala was born to a polygamous family. He lost his mother when he was just three years old and had to stay, at different times with his two step mothers. Murtala was the last born of his mother but he had six half brothers and seven half sisters all from his two step mothers. Murtala’s father used to be big businessman but he went bankrupt, and had to survive on the goodwill of his business protégés and on rents he gets from his landed assets. This misfortune had tremendous effect on Murtala’s life. Murtala had two full sisters. Both are married and remain strictly housewives. This means they are totally dependent on their husbands’ income. Unfortunately, their husbands were living from hand to mouth and had virtually nothing to eke out from them. His psycho-social life changed. His perception of the world and relations with others outside his world changed. He was left to himself and at the mercies of others. He therefore developed cardiac problems at the tender age of twenty-three, which combined with his diabetes and ulcer to make life a bit more miserable. Murtala had to fend for himself since his teen ages. The implication of this is that he has to work extra hours to generate enough money to pay for his school fees and maintain himself. No time for social life. He was not lucky to have entertainment set in his room. At the end of the day’s job he studies. Thus, reading became Murtala’s de facto hobby. his health condition worsens because of the stress. So he is always depressed. Ironically, Murtala is attractive to female colleques in school. Perhaps, this is due to his handsomeness and his life style—always alone. Many ladies approach him for friendship but Murtala sees this as an unnecessary burden. First, he consider himself too poor to maintain any relations. Secondly, he has no time for any relations. Thirdly, even he has the money and time, he feels naively that most of the ladies will end asking for he can not give them, sex. He believes this is morally wrong. Lastly, and more importantly, he finds it difficult to break away from his former self. He is diffident and shy thus psychologically inept to stand any long term relationship. Murtala’s psychological health is a major constraint to an active social life. His health is also affected by his social status ably defined by his income level. He works eleven hours daily and yet hardly get enough to have balanced diet that could help his system function optimally or even to rent a comfortable accommodation that will help him reduce the effect of stress. His work is therefore one of the major sources of his psychological stress. And as Bartley, Blane and Smith (1998: 41) noted, lack of social support can aggravate disease-related stressors. The near absence of social security in Nigeria and the fact that his family members are very poor makes things worst for him. A typical Africa society has a well developed social support system under the extended family structure. Ironically, however, the supportiveness of such a society has been highly reduced by increase in population and consequential deepening of poverty. But in the West, the social security system is functional enough to reduce the effect of individualism (as reflected in the nucleic nature of family system). More importantly, here in the West the gap between the poor and the rich is not uncompromisingly wide. Besides, my position in the middle class insures me against adverse effects of material deprivations. Unfortunately, Murtala feels deprived of a socially aceptbale material standard of living. CONCLUSION Murtala and I have some things in common with regard to our social lives. We are bit naturally psychologically handicapped, which makes social life not too attractive. Certainly our religious backgrounds make us to be comfortably reserved. However, our responses to these shortcomings differ. In Murtala’s case, peers significantly influenced his response. In an attempt to break up with the past and to be free from the bondage of his personality, Murtala has resorted to seeking ephemeral pleasures while complicating his psychological health. The level of development of our countries and the resultant social stratification and inequalities also affect our social lives differently. Interestingly, however, Murtala poses some characteristics of Westerners (his individualistic nature and cultural relativism). REFERENCES Inglehart, Ronald and Basanez, Miguel Human Values and Beliefs: A Cross-Cultural Sourcebook Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1998. Weber, Max The Russian Revolutions Translated and edited by Wells, Gordon C. and Baehr, Peter New York: Cornell University Press, 1995. Rossides, Daniel Social Theory: Its Origin, History and Contemporary Relevance Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield, 1998. Stinchcombe, Arthur L. Constructing Social theories Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987. Bartley, Mel, Blane, David and Smith, George D. The Sociology of Health Inequalities Boston: Blackwell Publishing, 1998. Swenson, Donald S. Society, Spirituality and the Sacred: A Social Scientific Introduction Peterborough: Broadview Press, 1999. Read More