In: Economics
what are the negative impact of culture on hindering economic development ?
Ans- The issue of economic growth has for several decades been at the fore-front of every country’s policy agenda and has been the most talked about phenomena spanning from the industrial revolution era up to date. With most of the world economies recovering from the shock and memories of the 2008 global economic downturn, the world still remains ascetically divided between affluent and underprivileged. These differences are so conspicuously clear to even the casual spectator that we live in highly disjunctive times. This has generated a lot of explanations pinpointing to the underlying causal factors. Geography, climate, previous historic situations such as colonization among others have been propounded in support of this huge economic divergence.
However, cultural traits and its influence on economic growth seem to have been given less attention. The reason for this gap is easily traceable. Anything invoking cultural attributes, values and predisposition has been pushed and sidelined within the field of social sciences and policy circles. The reason behind this marginalization is simply due to the fact that culture is difficult to address on several levels. What is perceived as culture in one locality or region might not be applicable to another. This makes culture definitionally problematic. Its relativity and ambiguity affected by contextual factors is actually difficult to objectify and assess.