Price Of Progress By John Boopley: The Price Of Progress

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! The Price of Progress by John Bodley Paper Written by Carly Pagel ! America and other developed countries have far less worries when it comes to economic development than developing countries do. The economies and societies of developed (advanced) countries are full of progress, and the members of those countries/cultures believe that every culture should be progressing the same way because it presents obvious advantages. Government planners may realize that people in these less advanced countries have to sacrifice their traditional cultures to obtain these benefits, but they think that is only a small price to pay (Bodley, 2012). As people of the more developed countries continue to push progress onto other tribal people,…show more content…
In turn, these examples weaken the culture, and destroying traditional culture and quality of life is a big ethical issue. ! Bodley goes on to give examples of the negative effects of pushing progress can have on cultures. Diseases are brought in from the advanced people. For example, a study was done on the Pukapukans of the Cook Islands, the Europeanized New Zealand Maori, and the developing Rarotangans. The results were then compared to evaluate disease rate. The Pukapukans were not economically developed and had low levels of imported sugar and salt and low levels of heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. In Rarotonga, economic success was introducing town life, so sugar and salt intakes nearly tripled, dramatically increasing the rates of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. In New Zealand Maori (which had been Europeanized), gout, diabetes, and heart disease were much higher than the rates in Pukapuka. This study shows negative effects of pushing economic progress…show more content…
These effects are ones that should not be taken lightly. However, government planners refer to them as a “small price to pay”. ! Pukapuka is one of the most remote places in the world and is part of the Cook Islands. The islanders practice traditional conservation which calls for entire villages to move from atoll to atoll for periods of time (“Pukapuka,” 2007). This is not a nomadic existence, rather it's one with a focus on conservation. The chopping of trees is also prohibited without permission from village elders (“Pukapuka,” 2007). If a bird is killed out of season, or crabs or coconuts taken early, small but humiliating fines are imposed (“Pukapuka,” 2007). They have their own Pukapukan language, but there is not a written form (“Pukapuka,” 2007). Pukapukans mostly follow a conservative form of Christianity ("Pukapuka-religion and expressive," 2012). The Pukapukans have their own unique culture and quality of life. Pukapuka is unchanged from their traditional culture and remains to be secluded and not affiliated with more advanced cultures. It would be beneficial for the Pukapukans to stay that way and not be pushed

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