Analyse the causes and discuss the consequences of separatism (40 marks) Separatism is the advocacy or practice of separation of a certain group of people from a larger body on the basis of ethnicity, religion, gender, ideology, authority and wealth. In this essay I will analyse the impacts and consequences of separatism. When the residents of a region or state have apposing beliefs and views to, or feel alienated against, the central government, they often attempt to seek to gain more political control or to break away from the government to set their own laws and dictate their own way of life. These groups of people may seek separation as their religion, culture or language may be different from the rest of the nation and are often geographically peripheral. This may lead the area to feel remote from the central government and that they may not receive the same amount of economic development or support as such inner regions would receive and this could lead to an attempt of separation.
Analyse the reasons for separatism within and across national boundaries, and discuss its consequences. (40 marks) Separatism is the movement by a minority group or a region of a country to gain greater independence or separation from the country that governs them. Reasons and consequences behind this, as well as different case studies will be further discussed in this essay. Living within an ethnocentric community has led to major influence in separatist activity. Ethnocentric individuals judge other groups relative to their own ethnic group or culture, especially with concern for language, behaviour, customs and religion.
Moreover, source 1 also explains that there may be a ‘future struggle’, therefore implying that there maybe a form of rebellion that could occur in response to the act being implemented. As a result, the source also admits that there could be the likelihood of conflict occurring from the changes brought about by the act, with the lower class possibly becoming unhappy and losing respect for the Source 3 further corroborates with source 1 as the act could ‘root up the feelings of respect, reverence and loyalty, which are the only sure foundations of government.’ Peel therefore suggests that there could be drastic change to the character of the constitution, where the traditional political hierarchy could be destabilised and in effect, agrees with source 1 as they support the view that the act could lead to increased factions and disputes. Taken at face value Sources 1 and 2 clearly conflict with Peel’s claims in Source 3. Both emphasise the limited nature of the proposed reforms and emphasise that the intention is to strengthen the existing system by getting rid of ‘blemishes’ and adding new voters of the most respectable and reliable kind. Palmerston asserts that the changes
Separatism refers to the desire of a group of people who are of the same ethnicity, religion, race or another characteristic to separate themselves from a larger group or nation. Separatist movements can form in response to a number of reasons that are mainly based upon cultural and political factors; such as is evident in the Kurdistan conflict. Location can be a major reason for a people’s desire for separatism, for example the Scottish in the UK currently feels that the government does not represent them well and that a more local government would be more suited to their own needs for independence. Although they do have some level of autonomy where they have their own parliament some feel that they should proceed further and become fully independent of the UK in order to form their own nation. The psychology of a group of individuals is a key feature in determining the success of a nation.
Prejudiced views between cultures may result in racism; in its extreme forms, racism may result in genocide, such as occurred in Germany with the Jews, in Rwanda between the Hutus and Tutsis and, more recently, in the former Yugoslavia between the Bosnians and Serbs. Henri Tajfel proposed that stereotyping is based on a normal cognitive process – the tendency to group things together. In doing so, we tend to exaggerate the differences between groups and the similarities of things in the same group. We categorize people in the same way. We see the group to which we belong (the in-group) as being different from the others (the out-group), and members of the same group as being more similar than they are.
When speaking from the personal level, the answer tends to be negative. As to one certain person, his appearance and behavior would probably derive from many factors, such economic situation, religious faith, living circumstances and even a transient frame of mind. If someone tries to judge a society's ideas and values according to a mere handful of people, then the conclusion may turn out to be meaningless or absurd. As the viewpoint fails to stand true while considering isolated issues, it evolves into a valid claim when we promote our discussion from the personal level up to the social level. Karl Marx, the founder of
There are different concepts & Perspectives of Anthropology which play a role in this discipline. We can refer a few related Ideas: Ethnocentrism; Culture; Identity; Ethnicity; Race & Racism Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism is a phenomenon whereby an individual may be biased about their own culture with beliefs that their culture is the one and only or rather should be one and only. They are centered around their own culture as assume it’s the centre of the universe. To give an example, our president Jacob Zuma has many wives, now in Strict Christian culture most individuals (including myself) may perceive or regard this issue as being immoral, wrong and unethical all because our culture has taught us that a man
Examples of Ethnocentrism Ethnocentrism is a major reason for divisions amongst members of different ethnicities, races, and religious groups in society. Ethnocentrism is the belief of superiority is one's personal ethnic group, but it can also develop from racial or religious differences. Ethnocentric individuals believe that they are better than other individuals for reasons based solely on their heritage. Clearly, this practice is related to problems of both racism and prejudice. While many people may recognize the problems, they may not realize that ethnocentrism occurs everywhere and everyday at both the local and political levels.
Do cultural or religious characteristics provide an answer? This essay would first evaluate the orthodox approach of Relative Deprivation, then discuss the novel approach of Resources Mobilization Theory. Alternatives approach to cultural and religious factors would then be examined, at last a new direction of Internet Revolution would be introduced. Traditional Perspective: Relative Deprivation Theory The classical argument of why people rebel was provided by Gurr (1970), who stated that deprivation-induced discontent is the main factor that leads to rebellion. He defined relative deprivation as “perceived discrepancy between value expectations and value capabilities”, namely people cannot achieve what they expected in their life.
Religion as a force for social change There is a constant and great debating concerning the role of religion in society. Whereas some claim that religion acts as a conservative force, suggesting that in fact inhibits change. Others would argue that religion is a major contributor to social change. As expected many sociologists have taken the middle ground and argue that religion is in fact both a conservative force and an initiator of change. The view that religion is a conservative force stems from theories from Functionalists, Marxists and Feminists.