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  • Title: Culture and population: a theoretical perspective.
    Author: Mann RS.
    Journal: Man India; 1983 Dec; 63(4):370-8. PubMed ID: 12313107.
    Abstract:
    Social scientists, and especially anthropologists, have failed to provide the type of cultural information needed to develop effective strategies for increasing family planning acceptance among India's rural ethnic and tribal groups. Anthropologists have provided detailed description of the social behavior and of the material culture of these diverse groups, but they have not furnished information on the mental or emic aspects of their cultures. Effective program strategies must be tailored to the underlying cultural codes which govern, organize, and integrate the observed behavior of these groups. Knowledge of the cultural codes, or cognitive maps of the culture, permits an outsider to understand why individuals in specific cultures behave the way they do and how the diverse aspects of observed behavior are interconnected. Strategies developed on the basis of observed behavior often fail to effect change because they are based on false assumptions about how the culture operates. A technique, componential analysis, for ascertaining the underlying code or cognitive map of a culture was developed during the 1950s, and this approach should be more widely applied in anthropological investigations in India. An approach for developing effective population and family planning programs should include: 1) strengthening the academic training of anthropologists and preparing them to undertake microlevel research aimed at delineating the cognitive maps of India's ethnic communities, 2) using the cognitive maps derived from investigations to develop program strategies, 3) assigning specific tasks to the various organizations and agencies involved in family planning in accordance with the cultural requirements of the target population, 4) coordinating the tasks of the different organizations, and 5) conducting ongoing evaluation research to assess the effectiveness of the programs and to detect weak program components which need to be brought more into line with the cognitive reality of the cultural groups.
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