Speak Life

Speak Life

Syed Jamal Shah

W

e are like ignorant shepherds living on a site where great civilizations once flourished. The shepherds play with the fragments that pop up to the surface, having no notion of the beautiful structures of which they were once a part.

                                                                                                                                    

             The cluster of intangibles and tangible aspect of life passed from generation to generation is called culture. Social behavior, custom and traditions set by human beings in society is termed as culture. It is shared by individuals or between groups, based on symbols, we learned from former generations in integrated manner, human beings are the shaper of culture. According to Pope John Paul II “All human activity takes place within a culture and interacts with culture”.

             Moreover, it has two main kinds, material culture and non-material culture. The physical objects, resources, and spaces that people use are called material culture. These include homes, neighborhoods, cities, schools, churches, offices, factories and plants. Non‐material culture refers to the nonphysical ideas that people have about their culture, including norms, language and religion. Culture lag becomes true, when changes in material aspect of our values occur before or at a faster rate than changes in non-material aspect of our values, as result social evils take birth in society. This concept of cultural lag was first developed in 1922 by sociologist Williams F. Ogburn, he introduced it in his book ‘social change’.

             For example, First, our streets were suitable for horse drawn carriages, automobile was introduced before we could broaden our streets and enforce traffic rules, streets which were suitable for horse traffic became route for cars, now vehicles are roaming on it, therefore happening of road accidents started.

         It is a crying shame, that Culture lag with in our society is stretching in negative domain and squeezing the compromise paradigm to exist. Due to a minute conflicts mankind have adopted the attitude of wolves and in the hot water, they are thirsty each other blood. Gap is devaluing the noble relationships among Human Beings. This break in culture persuades negative influences of individuals or groups to ignite conflicts in a flourished society. Culture lag is dwelling in the narrow mind of slumbering inhabitants and penetrating in their social circle, compelling them to do wicked acts, which give birth to wreaking havoc and create disorder in rational society. Different aspects of the society are being infected by this inevitable disease, it is like adding fuel to fire. The world is the people oyster now everything is an accepted fact. Cultural lag has been around since man first invented the wheel.

    Due to cultural interval, the societies are wearing more than a one hat, like Lack of knowledge, fear of new things and conflict. The above example indicate that lag appears, when technological innovations move more rapidly than social innovations. The gap between material and non-material is the result of speedy developments in technology. On one hand, it is better to adopt the material changes in culture, but on other hand, certain group of people in different societies are not willing to allow material things in social domain. Liberals in society consider technological development as an important ingredient for survival and always guarantee that now the world is safe and its inhabitants are secure.

Culture does not make people. People make culture.

                                                                                                     

           A group of sociologists conducted wide survey around the world in different communities, founded that there are many impacts of non-material culture over material culture like major crimes, which is shaking the fundamental ideas and norms of society, and fashioning an environment of anarchy and chaos. In mentioned societies people are the victims of mistrust, misunderstandings, hatred and leave no space for the victims to debate on this unavoidable issue. The growing inventions in technology and determination of mass-media is escalating this dispute in more drastic shapes and limiting the chance of justification for the victims. These toxic diseases are spreading around the society, under banner that more have to lose their lives, and leaders and influential are unable to prepare or advise syndrome of this disease.

         Societies seem to preserve non-material cultural values and ideas, nor they are willing to allow new emerging ideas or solid cultural items in their cultural sphere. Custodians of culture do not want to lose the identity and solidarity of their respective culture. Moreover, they are trying to kill two birds with one stone, not willing to accommodate more developmental changes, neither they are avoiding the luxury of developmental technologies. Developmental technologies play vital role in material culture and these technological developments are conquering the material culture by clandestine way and shakes the central structure of culture in society.

         Is there a Cure? The human intellect will always be in pursuit to find ways, and to do things faster and more easily.it has always attempted to fix problems through instrument’s. In the long run, to resolve this issue by political action, parliamentary democracy should be adopted, before implementing parliamentary democracy, countries need to invest in the habits of thoughts, temperament and attitudes of its people to enable them for the best use of machinery. With avoidance of developmental technologies, custodians of culture cannot keep the wolves of non-material culture at bay. Common narrative is that culture evolves with passage of time.