OPINION: Cultural change necessary for modernization

Last Updated on Sunday, 24 March 2024, 7:24 by Denis Chabrol

By Dr. Randy Persaud, Professor Emeritus

Change is unquestionably the most sought after thing in this country. Everyone wants it, including those in government. The problem is that there is too much focus on change brought about by the government, and hardly any attention paid to necessary changes within the population itself. Stated differently, we need to examine necessary changes in the population’s worldviews, and how they conduct themselves at the individual level. We also need to examine the institutional changes that are necessary for there to be forward movement.

Before I comment on some specific changes that are urgent, let me say upfront that cultural change is the most difficult of all dimensions of modernization. Three levels of change are needed, namely change is behavior, change in beliefs, and change in values.

Change in behavior is actually the easiest to get results. This is so because behavior (or conduct) is observable and can be empirically verified. For instance, if an individual in a company is habitually late, that practice can be easily documented. Numerous measures can be taken to bring about change, and if there is no alteration in conduct, the employee can be fired.

Beliefs are harder to tackle than behavior. The main reason is beliefs are in our heads, and unlike conduct which can be easily acquired, beliefs take much longer to be fully digested, and to become part of our personality. Beliefs are also developed though social practice, often involving key institutions such as the family or faith. On a more technical level, many beliefs are products of historical development. Intellectuals play an important role here. In Guyana, for instance, East Indians are widely believed to be ‘capitalist’ by nature. I can assure you that this is sheer bunk. Note that many Indian ‘intellectuals’ are the ones who peddle this idea. In fact, the vast majority of East Indians are in the working class. Many Indians went into small businesses because in the post WWII period, it was difficult for Indians to get jobs in the civil service.

Values are incredibly difficult to deal with because they are complex, hard to decipher, develop at a snail’s pace, and there is vehement resistance to change. Values are existential in the sense that to change them is to revolutionize the entire cultural ecosystem. The idea that all human beings are born equal regardless of sex, race, gender, class, and so on, took a very long time to be even minimally accepted. If fact, until today, the value of universal equality is still not accepted.

I suggest changes in three areas, one in each of the levels noted above.

At the behavioral level, instead of the government alone having the responsibility for quality of life, real civil society institutions need to take on more responsibilities. The civil society groups we have now are actually located more in political society. The best thing that can happen in this regard is the proliferation of neighborhood societies that are not politically driven. Community policing comes closest to the ideal type, but these are still linked to the state in the existing arrangements.

As for beliefs, it is critical that we give up on the idea that we know someone’s politics by just looking at them. You saw the mess at 140th session of the UN Human Rights Committee where Indians who are leaders in media are assumed to be PPP supporters despite incontrovertible evidence to the contrary. Apparently, Glen Lall and GHK Lall are believed to be closet PPP supporters simply because of their ancestry. They are actually anti-PPP fundamentalists. The belief that politics in this country is purely based on race is something peddled by race merchants. The 2023 local government elections demonstrated that the PPP has support across the national demographic configurations.

What about values? On this level, we must at all cost, take the cause of freedom to be both immutable and glorious. The attempts to steal the elections in 2020 by the same forces that ruined this country with rigged elections before, must serve as a stark reminder that your freedom is tenuous. The cause of freedom must become a fundamental value and cherished with the same veneration that people love their religious faiths.

There can be no modernization without major cultural changes in this country. These changes should and must emerge organically from the society. Government and the state are doing their part; civil society must take up it civic duty, and individuals must reflect on their personal conduct.

Dr. Randy Persaud, Advisor, Office of the President