N S FO CONT u· R Xenocentris
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All refe rences should he listed alphabeticall y in Bib liograp hy at the end of (he
••rticles according to the following exam ples:
Ali Cho udhry M . (1967) Eme rgence ofPakis tan . Ne w York. Co lumba Unive rsity
Press. . strengthen a nd prolong their rule in this region. No n-material element of culture cou ld
Cockburn, C. (1980) The Local Sta le: Mana gem ent or Cities anti Peopl e (3r d
end.] London: Plunto Press.
Gyford, 1. ( 1980 ) "Po litical Parties and Central-Loca l Relations", In Jones, G. (cd.)
NCf" App roaches to th e stud v of Centra l -Lo cal Government Relationshlp ( ed.) Lo ndo n:
~ \) wt:r.
Jones, D.C. & Jo nes, R.W. (1977) " Nationalizing Education in Pak istan: Teac her's
As soc i.rtlon and the Peo ples Party " Pacific AjRlirs. Vo l. 50, No.4, pp.274-90.
anusc ripts shoul d be sent to: P rof. Dr. S., Kha wnj u Alq:ana Ed itor, Jo urnal of
"Research ( Huma nities) , HahaucIdin Zakariya University, l\..t ultan - Pakistan.
- - - - - - -- - - -:- - - - -_.-:--:------ - -_ .
Title Page: "Keshi work" of a shrines In M ultan.
Pakistan
Cultural patterns of differen t socie ties are naturally di verse from o ne another. /\ 11
the cultures kee p changing with the social chan ge of their resp ect ive soc ie ties. T he
resea rcher is concern ed with the change that occ urs in both the structure as well as
culture of the soc iety. An ide ntical distinc tion betwee n social and cultural chang e is
not a sharp one , because most c hanges are the outco me of both cu ltural and structu ral
forces. So me times the te rm socio-c ultural c hange is used to include change of both
kinds. William F. Ogb urn ( 1933: /22- 166) a nd Al vin (1970 & 19 81 ) have counted the
[actors of discovery, inven tion a nd diffusion among the most vital sources of soc ial
cha nge. Mos t of the socia l c hanges in all the know n socie ties have occurred through
diffu sion - - the spread of cu ltural traits from group to gro up. Wheneve r, di ver se
cultures come into contact, so me exc hange o f Cu ltural traits always takes pl ace. Such a
.u ltural co ntact i naugura ted be twee n the areas inclu ded in P aki stan and othe r
ivilizations of the world with the fore ign invasio n. T his area indeed , has been subject
of influences of people through out its history. Peo ple of this area kept absorb ing the
impact of tbese infusions, beca use they were recepti ve to ass imilate or tolerate foreig n
ideas a nd peopl e (La lif; 1894 :21 ). Potenti al outsider who ca rne to So uth As ia inclu de
the Greeks under Alexa nder the great, the Kushanas from Ce ntral Asia, the Mon gol s
under Gen gis Khan, Muslim , traders and invade rs from the M iddle Eas t and Central
As ia, and finally the Britis h and other Europe a ns. They all bore some or the other
influe nces o n the political, social , econo mic or religious institutions of the soc iety in
one-way or the other. Foc us of this study is not to cove r them all but only the late st one
i.e, the British.
A direct cultura l co ntact between the two civi lizations i.e. the Indi an and the
British lasted up to three centuries, which initiated a cultural ex change. The research er
sees it as an intercultural exc hange result ing in cu ltural diffu sion. India adopted so
many things earlier through British impositions, later due to its ow n xenocentric attitude.
The Briti sh. actually, ruled this region for a lon g time. They brou ght many changes .n
both the material as wcll as no material elemen ts of Indian c ulture in order to the
not match with the cha nge in material eleme nts of c ulture. T he result of this disparit y is
a cultural lag. (Og burn, 1922:200- 2 13).
O win g to this situation it is hypothesized that a c ultural lag in the local culture Jed
it towards the xenoce ntri srn.
T he term xen oc entrr srn means a prefe rence for the fore ign. It is the exae t opposite
of ethnocentrism (Shills, 1972, Wilson et al, 1976:271-274). It. indeed, is tbe bclief that
our own products, sty le or ideas are necessarily inferior to those, which o ri ai nate
* Lecturer. Department of Pakistan Studies, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Multun.
57

Jo urnn l of Rrc cu tch (Humanit ie v} 2005 Vul. 24
elsew here . It is basically, the co nvictio n that the exotic has a special c harm. which the
familiar call never attain. It is based on the glamour of the strange and fara way and
pres tig e of distant centers. Having such enticeme nt of the forei gn cu Iture, the peo ple
livi ng in xe noce ntric soc ieties i ncl i ne to ass ure that they are superio r beca use of the
lure of the foreign label,
Brass ( 1999), Hutchin son and Smith ( 1996), Sara n and Ea mes ( 1980), I naya tullah
( 1998), Amin ( 1988) a nd many others have e nquired the phenomenon of ethnoce ntrism
ill So uth As ia and decla red it a culture of eth nic i ty , Th ey all were addressing the issue
in po litical co ntext not in the soc ial o r c ultural o ne. They indeed were notin g the
ex tro ver t not the intro ve rt or idea! not the real cultu re o f the society. The ideal culture
incl udes the formall y approve d folkw ays and mores , w hic h peopl e are supposed to
follo w i.e. the c ultural norms. T he rea l culture , co nsists of those which are act ually
pra cticed i.e. the statistical norm s (Warriner, 1958: 165-1 68). Tbe same clash betwee n
the real and ideal c ultures is obse rved by the present researcher as a clas h betwee n
ethnocentris m and x enocentri sm in Pak istan. T his soc iety clai ms to be ethnoce ntric
bu t as a ma lter of fact has become xenocentric towards its colo nial master i.e the
British.
In ord er to draw the co ntours of the Bri tish and Pakis tani c ultures the resea rcher
has marked the institutions of both the c ultures. Instituti on s, indeed , are amo ng the
most fo rmal and co mpelling among the norms of a society. Organized clusters of folkways
and mores of any soc iety dea ling witb highly importa nt ac tivities are embo died in the
social institutio ns of that society. (Ho rton and Hunt (198 4:62). In most complex societies
there are five basic instituti ons i.e. familial, religious, gove rnmental, educa tional and
eco nomic.
In the contempo rary cultural scene, Eng la nd's co ntrib ution to Britis h c ulture is
lela vast for anythin g. English culture ce rtainly tend s to domina te the c ultural life of the
Britain, but Wales , Sco tland and Irel and have also made so me importa nt contributions.
All these arcu s share fully in the commo n c ulture but they also prese rve the lively
traditions that pre- date politica l union with Engla nd (Brita nnica, 1994- 2002).
Po litica l ins tituti on pr esent s Bri ta in as a co ns titutio nal mon arch y and a
parlia me ntary dem ocr acy. The co untry's head of stale is the rei gnin g ki ng o r quee n.
The head of gove rnment is the Prime Mi nister, who ce rtainly is the leader of the majority
political party in the House of Co mmons. The main elements of the British gove rnment
are the exec utive, the legislature and the judi ciary. Sove reignty lies in parliament, which
co mprises the head of sta le, Hou se of Lord s and Ho use of Comm ons.
Economic institution of the Bri tain is the represent ative of capitalism based upon
the laissez-fairc [French, "Let things alone") theory ofAdam Smith ( 1776) and is following
the policy of co nsume rism since 1893 under the England 's Sa le of Goods Act of J893 .
Con sumeris m mea ns the pol icies aimed at regulating the produ c ts, se rvices, methods
and standa rds of manu facturers, selle rs and advertisers in the in terest of the buye r
(Nadir, 1965).
58
XCJl(JCeH.f ri sm IH Pu ki. tau
Co ncerning religious instit ution , the vario us Christian denom Ination s in Brit ain
ha vc emerged fro m schis ms that divided the church over ce nturies . The grea test of
these happen ed in Engl.md in the L6'1' century, when He nry VIII c hallenge d the
suprem acy of the pope. Thi s c hallenge fucilitcted the adoptio n of some protestant
enets and the establis!Jme.nt of the Church of E ngla nd, wh ich is still the sta te churc h
III England. Whereas, the Rom an Catholicis m has re tained adherents. In Sco tland, the
reformation ele vated the Church of Scot land. ThIS was run by presby teries- ....-- loca l
bu.dles co mpos ed of min isters and elde rs- - rather the n by bishops as in E ngland .
The ofltctal religIo n of the B rita in is basica lly the religion of the C hurches of England
a nd Scot land. T hese c hurches are pro tected by the state but are not "offlcial"(Co llinson,
1982).
The B ritish traditi on of re ligio us toler ance has bee n particul arl y i mporta nt , since
the 2 .l World War, when the imm igrants sta rted i ntro c uc i ng a great variety of ref i giou s
'
iJd iefs. There are co nside rably large and still grow ing co mmunities that practice Islam,
Hinduism and Sikhism (Havigha n st, 1985) . T he larges t number of Mus lims migrated
fro m Pakistan, Ba ngladesh, with a sizable group from India. There are also many Buddhist
grOups. In total M uslims constitute 2 .6% Hindus 0 .6% and Sik hs 0 .5% of the total
populatio n of the Britai n and total immi grants from So uth Asia co unt 4.5% of the total
p..'1 pulation (Brnannica, 1994-2000). All this divers ified people .
Th e form al inst itutions, age ncies and o rganizat ion that transmit knowledge and
promote c ult ura l, socia l and intellectu al grow th o f the indivi dua l co nstitute the
educa tio nal institutio n of that soc iety. So me countries have ce ntralized while other
have decentral ized education sys te m. A third type of system is hybrid of these two.
National a nd local a uthorities share adm inistratio n and co ntrol in this system. Suc h is
the case in Britain, where ed ucation laws originate in parliament but actua l administration
is in the hand s of local govern me nt. In some cases priva te sc hools and othe r educational
facilities may be co ntro lled but not financed by the ce ntral authority. Sometirnes, private
institutions may recei ve full o r partial subsidies with varying degrees of auto nomy.
The same type of educa tional sys tem was inherited and is still preva ili ng in Pa kistan .
Q uite like all institutions, the family is a sys tem of accepted norms and procedures
fo r ge lling some impo rtan t job do ne. Br itish soc iety has bee n cha racte rized by a great
diversity of family orga nization, since medieval tunes. This dive rsity has had se ve ral
interrelated aspec ts, includin g geographic region , occ-upat ion. soc ial class and whe the r
he famil y in ques tion was rural o r urban . There were co nsiderable d ifferences between
diffe rent areas in the co untry. A ristoc rats and co mmo ns established fa mily cu stoms
and values pecu liar to their respecti ve soc ial clas ses , as did merch ants a nd peasa nts
(Anderson, 1980).
The base of the unit of family is, ho wever. neolocal marriage rather tha n pat rilocal
o r matril ocal marria vc. The British folklore warns ag ainst in-laws and urges the co uple
to se t up a hou seh old of its ow n through neolocal mar riage (Ib id , 1980) , which is
pro moting the conj ugal o r nuclear family.
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Journ nl ,!t" N" ." ·'lIT·h 1 IIIIIIl a'l ill~", ) 2005 Vol . 2-1
The traditional culture o f Pakistan is predominantly rural, traditional, co nservatives
and reli gious in outlook. It changed somewhat in the last 150 years under the impact of
British rule. Among other factors of change include western education, technological
development and political change, all brought by the British (Ma loney. 1974).
Most o f the people of Pakistan live in villages and follow the traditional pursuits
of an agricultural economy (weiss; 1991:20-23). Eco nomic model of the co untry is the
. of the socie ty and that of the culture.
same as inheri ted from the Britis h t.e. Capitalist economy with the application of the
same Laissez-fnire theory of Adam Smith (1776).
Simi larly, the same west minister model of parliamentary democracy is the base of
the po litical insti: uuon of the country. This model of parliarnentary democracy is being
implemented at (he cost of the local political institution i.e. Jirga, Panc liayat, or Biradari
etc .
Religion is the central force controlling the life of the people of Pakistan. Islam the
faith of about 97 percent of the peopl e is the officra! religion o f the co untry. Hindu ism
and Christianity from the leading minor ity religious, other religious groups include the
Sikhs. the Parri s. and a small number o f Buddhists. The Constitution of Pakistan 1973
defines Pakistan as an Islam country. but guarantees freedom of religious. Life in Pakistan
reve lyes around religious beliefs and practices. Belief in supernatural entities is strongest
among the tribal communities. Such kind of supersu uous thinking however, got u
breakthrough earlier with the arrival of Muslims in the 8'h century AD and later by the
British in I T" century. Religio us tolerance and peaceful co-existe nce of the diverse
religions is the outcome o f the intercultural and inter-religious exc hange betwe en the
local and British cultures (Griffiths; 1995: 4-6).
The educa tional insti tution has also bee n transformed from local to the Western
orientation. The traditional religious Institutions are being replaced with the mode rn
fines. The o verall educational system is (he same legacy of the British. The E nglish
language as a medium of educat ion is also part of the British legacy (Ib id ; 1952 :76).
amily set up in this region. however, is somewhat di fferent from the British.
Being an agricultural soc iety, joint family system still is popular in Pakistan . In the
urban centers, ho wever, this system is being replaced with (he nuclear family (Weiss;
199 1:2). The trend of nuclear family sys tem IS . however, more popul ar in the western
oriented soc ieties. mainly impressed by the British style. Th is, indeed . is the outcome
of that very intercultural exchange (Ibid; 1952:81 ).
All the abo ve-mentioned and man y others, like popularity of E nglish dress and of
western ideas o f population control, human rights. women rights and child labor etc.
are also the rnaniIestation of that very xenocentric attitude o f the people in this country.
Xcnocentrisrn has, actually, both negative as well :IS posi tive implications. There is
nothing wrong in adopting. good things, ideas and products from other cultures. But
en!iccrncnt of the foreign ut the cost o f one' s own culture, both material as well as non­
material makes it xenoccntnc.
60
Xt' Jloccn/ ,.;sJlI in Pa ki st an
Such kind of xe nocentrism is a social problem, which ca n eliminate some of the
cultures, their herit age and cultural identity. The researcher recomm ends that the
followers of any culture should not take their culture inferior as compared to that of the
foreign. The researchers should promote the idea of cultural preservation . At last but
not at all least, the government should accept or borrow different policies and models
from the foreig n after the necessary modi fications, better suiting with the local structure
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