Westernization – Anthropology by K.V RAMESH

Meaning of Westernisation

The concept of Westernisation introduced by Prof. M.N. Srinivas seems to be much simpler than the concept of Sanskritization. Like Sanskritization, this term is also of great help in analysing the socio-cultural changes taking place in India for the past 250 years. M.N. Srinivas has used this term mainly to refer to the impact of British rule on the Indian society. Srinivas has also tried to use this concept in a general manner to refer to the impact of the West on the non western societies. Thus, he wrote: Westernization refers to “the changes in technology, institutions, ideology and values of a non-Western society for a long period”-(1962)

Definition of the Term “Westernisation”

“Westernisation” refers to the “the changes brought about in Indian society and culture as a result of over 150 years of British rule in different aspects -technology, institutions, ideology, values.” .

M.N. Srinivas criticises Lerner’s concept of “modernisation” on the ground that it is a value-loaded term. According to him, “Modernisation” is normally used in the sense that it is good. He, therefore, prefers to use the term “Westernisation”. He describes the technological changes, establishment of educational institutions, rise of nationalism and new political culture, etc. as almost the by-products of Westernisation or the British rule for about two hundred years in India. Thus, by Westernisation, Srinivas primarily meant the British impact. “During the 19th century, the British slowly laid the foundations of a modern state by surveying land, settling the revenue, creating some modern bureaucracy, army and police, instituting courts, codifying the law, developing communications-railways, posts and telegraph, roads and canals-establishing schools and colleges, and so on …” [Srinivas]. The British brought with them the printing press which led to many-sided changes. Books and journals made possible the transmission of modern as well as traditional knowledge to a large number of Indians. Newspapers helped the people living in the remote comers of the country to realise their common bonds and to understand the events happening in the world outside.

M.N. Srinivas says that it is necessary “to distinguish conceptually between Westernisation and two processes usually concomitant with it Industrialisation and Urbanisation”. He gives two reasons for this: (i) Urbanisation is not a simple function of “industrialisation” and there were cities in pre-industrial world also. (ii) There are cases of rural people who are more urbanised than urban people.

Main Features of The Process of Westernisation

It is possible to identify some of the main features of “Westernisation” on the basis of the explanation of the term by its mentor. Some of them are listed below.

1. Westernisation compared to Sanskritization is a simpler concept. it explains the impact of Western contact (particularly of British rule) on the Indian society and culture. M.N. Srinivas defends the uses of the term when he says that there is “need for such a term when analysing the change that a non-Western country undergoes as a result of prolonged contact with a Western one”.
2. Some Main Areas Affected by Westernisation: The process of Westernisation, according to M.N. Srinivas, mainly refers to the changes that took palace in some main areas such as technology, institutions, ideology and values. The changes that took place in these areas especially during the British rule their own impact on other areas of our social life.
3. ” Westernisation is an inclusive, complex, and many-layered concept”: Westernisation, education and “life-styles” had a great impact on Indians daily life. The Western influences made them drop out some of their traditional customs, accept many of the new practices and make a compromise between the old and the new in some other areas of life. Example: Urbanised Indians dropped the practices of sitting on the floor to eat food served on dining leaves. They became accustomed to dining tables, Chairs, stainless steel utensils, spoons etc. Indians made use of various instruments of modern technology such as motor cars, printing press, sewing machines, typewriters water pumps etc., At the same time, they never forgot to attributed to them the religious beliefs and worshipped these instruments on the occasion of Dasara festivals as they used to do it previously.
4. Involvement of different sections of people who accelerated the process of Westernisation: Some of the British people, and a section of people in the Indian community served to accelerate the process of Westernisation. (a) Among the British-(i) soldiers and high-level government officials; (ii) merchants and big plantation owners; (iii) foreign Christian missionaries -All these exerted Western influence on those Indians with whom they had close contacts. (b) Among the Indians- (i) People who served in the houses British in the houses of British officials/ citizens as domestic servants, people who got converted to Christianity; (ii) Those Western educated Indians who served in the government bureaucracy; those who worked as advocates, engineers, doctors and such others; and those highly educated Indians with almost aristocratic life such as Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ravindranath Tagore, Pandit Nehru, Sir Syed Ahmedkhan, Mohammed Ali Jinna and others functioned to accelerate the Westernisation process.
5. The form and pace of Westernisation of India varied from region to region and from one section of population to another (Srinivas 1985): For example, one group of people became Westernised in their dress, manners, speech, sports and in the gadgets, they used; while another absorbed Western science, knowledge and literature, remaining relatively free from certain other aspects of Westernisation. For example, Brahmins accepted the Western dress habits and educational system and also used gadgets such as radio, television, car, telephone etc. But they did not accept the British diet, dancing, hunting and such other habits. This distinction is, however, only relative and not absolute.
6. According to Srinivas, Westernisation pervades political and cultural fields also. He writes: “In the political and cultural fields, Westernisation has given birth not only to nationalism but also to revivalism, communalism, “casteism”, heightened linguistic consciousness, and regionalism. To make matters even more bewildering, revivlist movements have used Western type schools and colleges and books, pamphlets and journals to propagate their ideas.”
7. The Concept is ethically neutral. As M.N. Srinivas claims, “The term Westernisation, unlike “Modernisation”, is ethically neutral. Its use does not carry the implication that it is good or bad, whereas modernisation is normally used in the sense that is is good:
8. Westernisation may speed up the process of Sanskritization: According to Srinivas, “the increase in Westernisation does not retard the process of Sanskritization. Both go on simultaneously, and to some extent, increase in Westernisation accelerates the process of Sanskritization. For example, the postal facilities, railways, buses and newspaper media, which are the fruits of Western impact on India, render more organised religious pilgrimages, meetings, caste solidarities, etc. possible now than in the past.”

Preference of the lower caste people towards Westernisation?

At present,the lower caste people feel that it is easier and more advantageous for them to elevate their social status through: Westernisation” than “Sanskritization”. Through sanskritization they could only imitate the upper caste people and their life-style to enhance their social esteem or respectability. Whereas Westernisation provided a wide opportunity for the lower caste people to attain equality on par with the upper caste people in important areas such as education, profession, politics, financial matters, etc., Westernisation helped them to withstand and resist the dominance of upper castes especially in the fields such as education, government jobs and politics. Hence, there is a greater trend towards Westernisation than Sanskritization. The extent, effectiveness, tempo and the urge towards Sanskritization, seem to be diminishing giving place to the process of Westernisation.

EFFECTS OF WESTERNIZATION

The term “Westernisation” as it is interpreted by M.N. Srinivas denoted in general, the impact of British rule over the socio-cultural life and activities of the Indian people. The advent of the British in India and their prolonged rule led to the introduction of the Western civilisation. Those who came under the influence of the Western civilisation started modifying their life and activities in accordance with the Western standards. Western way of life became very attractive for them. “Westernisation” virtually indicates the process of imitation of the Western life-styles by the Indians. The process of Westernisation brought about a number of socio-cultural changes in the Indian society among which the following may be noted.

1. Westernisation brought about immediate changes in the main areas, namely, Technology, Institutions, Ideology and Values.
2. Westernisation provided inspiration for a number of social reform movements such as the Brahma Samaj, Arya Samaj, Sri Ramakrishna Mission, Theosophical Society, Sarvodaya
3. Westernisation provided inspiration for the freedom movement. Western ideas and values also inspired a number of freedom fighters to fight against the British imperialism.
4. Westernisation has led to a new style of life. The western influences made Indians imitate the Western way of life and culture in several respects.
5. Westernisation has also brought about some negative effects. It made Indians to imitate the West indiscriminately. In this process of imitation, they blindly imitated and picked up the deficiencies, vices, and evil practices of the Western people.

Westernisation: Some Critical Comments

Scholars have recognised and appreciated the relevance of the terms “Westernisation” and “Sanskritization” in analysing the socio-cultural changes taking place in modern India. But they have not spared them from critical comments. A few of such critical remarks made about the concept of “Westernisation” are worth citing here.

As M.N. Srinivas has pointed out, “One of the many interesting contradictions of modern Hindu social life is that while the Brahmins are becoming more and more Westernised, the other castes are becoming more and more Sanskritized. In the lower reaches of the hierarchy, castes are taking up customs which the Brahmins are busy discarding.” It is true that with the Westernisation of Indian society, caste becomes more or less secular due to the new ideas introduced by the West. Westernisation as a process has influenced the various aspects of social life of the Indian community.

Comments in Appreciation

1. The concept of “Westernisation” is considered to be very useful in analysing the mobility taking place outside the framework of caste. It is a simple term which denotes the impact of the British rule on Indian way of life.

2. Scholars like Bernard Cohn and Milton Singer have justified Srinivas’ usage of these concepts. They relevantly commented that “while upper caste was Westernising its style of life and religious beliefs, the lower caste was Sanskritizing and assuming more traditional forms of ritual, practice and beliefs.”

3. As B. Kuppu Swamy has observed, the concept of Westernisation as used by M.N. Srinivas covers- (a) the “behaviour” aspects like, eating, drinking, dressing, dancing, etc; (b) the “knowledge” aspects like literature, science, etc. He has also said that the process of “Westernisation” represents a middle-class phenomenon and as such, is very useful in understanding the major social changes of the 19th century India.

Some Comments on its Limitations

Scholars have also criticised the concept of “Westernisation”. Some such critical remarks are recalled here.

1. The concepts of Sanskritization and Westernisation primarily analyse social changes in “cultural” and not in “structural” terms. This denotes that these terms have a limited range of application and use.

2. “Srinivas” model explains the process of social change only in India which is based on the caste system. It is not useful for other societies”

3. Though Srinivas claimed that the concept of Westernisation is “ethically neutral”, it is not really so. He himself says that it implies “certain value professes” such as humanitarianism, egalitarianism, secularisation, and some degree of rationalism. A reference to these values definitely implies that Westernisation is, in general, good and desirable.

4. Daniel Lerner has raised a few objections to the use of Westernisation as conceived by Srinivas.

(i) it is too local, a label and the model which is imitated may not be a Western country, but Russia.
(ii) “One of the results of prolonged contact with the West is the rise of an elite class whose attitude to the West is ambivalent”. It is not invariably positive. In this context, Lerner refers to the appeal of Communism in non- Western countries.
(iii) Westernisation in one area or level of behaviour, does not result in westernisation in another related area or level. The two remain discrete.
(iv) While there are certain common elements in Westernisation, each European country along with the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and New Zealand, represents a particular variant of a common culture and significant differences exist between one country and another.”

5. Further, Srinivas equates Westernisation with the British impact on India. But, Yogendra Singh points out that this is too narrow, since after independence the impact of the Russian and American versions of modernisation has considerable. Further, for many new elites in India, as also in the other new states of Asia, the term Westernisation has a pejorative connotation because of its association with former colonial domination of these countries by the West. He states: “It is, therefore, more value-located than term modernisation which to us appears a better substitute.”

6. Daniel Lerner who prefers to use his own concept of “modernisation” has commented that “the term Westernisation is inadequate and parochial.” According to him, Westernisation has “penetrated only the upper level… affecting mainly leisure class fashions. On the contrary, “modernisation today diffuses among a wider population” touching not only public institutions but also private aspirations.

7. The concept has its own limitation in yet another sense. The concept will be of little use in explaining the nature of social change taking place in post-Independent India. Professor Srinivas is aware of this limitation. But he maintains: “I would like to state that I am using when analysing in spite of its vagueness and omnibus character. There is need for such term, when analysing the changes that a non-Western country undergoes as a result of the prolonged contact with a Western one. When the entities involved, as well as the emergent processes are extremely complex, it is hardly realistic to expect that a simple unidimensional and crystal clear concept will explain them fully.”

8. The concept has contextual limitations. Chanana does not consider it to be a simple process. He says: “As regards the present [situation in Punjab] it would be better to say that Indianisation is at work; by this we mean Westernisation to a large extent in externals and the reassertion of largely Indian values, mingled with the humanitarian values of the West in matters of sprit.”

9. It is also commented that the Western model which Srinivas has praised has its own contradictions. The Western model sometimes conveys values that are contrary to the ones such as rationalism, humanitarianism, equalitarianism, etc. In this context, mention can be made of the facts of Western life such as racial prejudice, colour segregation and exploitative nature of the Western economy, etc. These facts contradict humanitarian ideals, equalitarian principles and rational outlook on life.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be stated that the twin concepts of Srinivas are “Truth-asserting” (Zetherberg 1965) concepts. Endorsing this opinion Prof. Yogendra Singh writes: “Obviously Sanskritization and Westernisation are theoretically loose terms; but as “truth-asserting” concepts they have great appropriateness and viability.” Finally, it can be said that the twin concepts of Sanskritization and Westernisation introduced by M.N. Srinivas in explaining the cultural changes that are taking place in India, do have their own importance. But the basic question is this: Do these twin concepts explain cultural change with all its ramifications? Are they inclusive and universal enough to provide a satisfactory explanation to all the major cultural changes that have taken palace throughout the country? According to Yogendra Singh, only the concept of “modernisation” can provide a satisfactory answer to these questions.