Page No.154-163
Walter Renner, Panch. Ramalingam, and R.S. Pirta,
Alpen-Adria-Universität Klagenfurt, Pondicherry University, Himachal Pradesh University
Klagenfurt, Austria Puducherry Shimla
India is known for her rich, ancient culture and tradition. Based on R. A. Shweder’s
cultural psychology, Moral Foundations Theory poses that the Moral Foundations of
“Harm/care” and of “Fairness/reciprocity” emphasize individual rights, as being
characteristic of Western respondents. African and Asian participants, in contrast,
additionally endorse the Foundations of “Ingroup/loyalty” and “Authority/respect”.
The Indian culture is presented as an outstanding example of the Moral Foundation
of “Purity/sanctity”, thus, placing high value on the sacredness of humans and
animals, and emphasizing eating taboos in order to avoid spiritual pollution. Although
many Asian cultures still orient by these cultural values, probably as a result of
westernization, empirical tests by Jesse Graham on the basis of an online survey
only found small differences between Asian and Western respondents. In Part-I we
present additional evidence of theoretical nature from evolutionary viewpoint. The
Part-II of this paper review studies on westernization in India and recommends that
Indian youth, while accepting the challenge of westernization, should remain aware
of their unprecedented cultural and spiritual heritage. Theoretical arguments and
empirical findings point to the importance of cultural identity in order to preserve
self-esteem, well-being, and coping resources
s
.